Session 3: Formulating a SoTL inquiry

Introduction

This session builds on Sessions 1 and 2 and takes you through some of the stages of a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) inquiry that you first came across in Figure 4 of Session 1.

You saw in Session 2 that the first stage of a SoTL inquiry is to determine the motivation for conducting it. Why is it important to investigate a particular aspect of learning and teaching? What evidence do you have to suggest the significance of this inquiry? What evidence will you need to prove that conducting this inquiry has been worthwhile? Is the project going to be focused enough for the inquiry?

This session will give you the tools to start designing your SoTL inquiry. You will conduct a stakeholder analysis to find out who can help, who will be involved as a collaborator or mentor or a research participant, who will be influenced by your inquiry or who will be interested in the outcomes of your inquiry.

You will learn to formulate aims and research questions. A seven-criteria framework will help to guide the design and evaluation of your inquiry. Finally, you will examine the process of conducting and writing a literature review.

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

• conduct stakeholder analysis for a SoTL inquiry
• formulate aim and research questions for your inquiry
• apply the seven-criteria framework to design and evaluate your inquiry
• conduct and write a literature review for your inquiry.