Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) team, now part of the Evaluation & Assessment team in CTSI, works closely with instructors to support research on teaching and learning at the University of Toronto through workshops, regular consultations on a wide range of research process topics, and a new online resource repository (the SoTL Hub on Quercus). The team greatly contributes to a number of CTSI initiatives and programming, including the Course Design for Online modules, teaching feedback services, the Certificate in Effective University Instruction and the Teaching & Learning Symposium.
SoTL Team Highlights 2020-2021
SoTL Needs Assessment: To ensure CTSI captured the interests of instructors interested in conducting inquiry on their teaching, the SoTL team developed a needs assessment survey in Fall 2020. The team collected feedback from 50 instructors on possible programming topics, their research interests, and potential gaps in support and resources. These findings directly informed the SoTL program planning for Winter 2021, and there was a marked increase in attendance for these SoTL sessions.
SoTL Resource Hub on Quercus: Drawing on resources developed and compiled for the 2018-2019 SoTL Cohort and expanded to better serve our community during remote/online teaching, the SoTL Resource Hub was designed to serve as a central community for webinar materials, SoTL resources, and asynchronous interactive discussions. Engaging the CTSI team and U of T instructors through the creation and use of this repository, as well as sharing ideas and resources, this hub has laid the groundwork for more intensive and responsive SoTL work for the coming year.
SoTL Outreach: The team facilitated four SoTL webinars for U of T instructors (see appendix E) with significantly higher attendance than previous already popular in-person workshop offerings. The SoTL team also connected with other faculty developers in Ontario colleges and institutions through the Council of Ontario Educational Developers (COED) via a SoTL Action Learning Set (colleagues working together on specific issues). The CTSI team is continuing to serve as coordinators of the COED SoTL Action Learning Set.