6 Summary of Session 5

You have seen that the alignment of the research design with the aim and research questions of a SoTL inquiry provides a framework for making the choices of the research methods, for justifying decisions within the research process and for dissemination of the outcomes in and beyond the SoTL discipline (Mueller, 2018).

A SoTL inquiry is typically pursued as a kind of practitioner or action research by educators in their local context, situated in their disciplinary methods and frameworks, and which may not always be generalisable to other contexts. Shulman (2013) argues the value of these situated studies, the type frequently done in SoTL, should not be diminished, as it is no minor accomplishment to ‘know a small part of the world as it really is’.

However, for greater impact on student learning, SoTL research should be interdisciplinary to help broaden the horizons of individual practitioners conducting SoTL research and lead to (McKinney, 2013): (a) addressing many common teaching-learning problems across disciplines, (b) learning from or collaborating with colleagues in other disciplines on theories or methods for doing SoTL and (3) applying research outcomes beyond the individual classroom level or local contexts.

Now move on to Session 6 [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .