Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

In this article we — as academic developers in two different faculties within a large, research-intensive university — discuss the scholarship of teaching and learning as a strategy for institutional improvement of teaching and learning. We focus on three related issues. Firstly, how can individual engagement in the scholarship of teaching and learning be related to patterns of communication within academia and subsequently have an effect on issues concerning academic identity and status; and how can this be related to an institutional strategy for development? Secondly, what is the appropriate use of educational theory when academic teachers make inquiries into their own teaching, considering that in most cases they are not scholars in education? Finally, while a higher education institution evolves to become gradually more scholarly in relation to teaching and learning, how could the evolving use of theory be supported and monitored? Related to this third issue we describe two cases from Lund University where this has been done. The first case describes how individual teachers can be systematically supported in a scholarship of teaching and learning-direction through pedagogical courses. The second case describes how a faculty uses a reward system for the same purpose.

Keywords

change pedagogical courses reward system scholarship of teaching and learning strategy theory

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alvesson, M. (2002) Understanding Organizational Culture. London: SAGE Publications.

Antman, L. and Olsson, T. (2007) `A Two-Dimensional Matrix Model for Analysing Scholarly Approaches to Teaching and Learning', in C. Rust (ed.) Improving Student Learning through Teaching, pp. 54-72. Oxford: The Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development .

Becher, T. and Trowler, P. (2001) Academic Tribes and Territories. Buckingham: The Society for Research into Higher Education and Open University Press.

Berger, P. and Luckmann, T. (1966) The Social Construction of Reality. A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. London: Penguin Books.

Boyer, E.L. (1990) Scholarship Reconsidered. Priorities of the Professoriate . Princeton, NJ: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Cohen, M.D. and March, J.G. (1986) Leadership and Ambiguity: The American College President. New York: McGraw Hill .

Giddens, A. (2004) The Constitution of Society. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Goffman, E. (2000 [1959]) Jaget och maskerna [The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life]. Stockholm: Prisma.

Handal, G. (1999) `Consultation Using Critical Friends' . New Directions for Teaching and Learning 79(fall): 59-70.

10.

Hattie, J. and Marsh, W. (1996) `The Relationship between Research and Teaching: A Meta-Analysis' . Review of Educational Research 66(4): 507-42.

11.

Huber, M.T. and Hutchings, P. (2005) The Advancement of Learning: Building the Teaching Commons. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass .

12.

Hutchings, P. (2007) `Theory: The Elephant in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Room' . International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 1(1). Available at http://academics.georgiasouthern.edu/ijsotl/2007_v1n1.htm (accessed 15 July 2007).

13.

Kreber, C. (2002) `Teaching Excellence, Teaching Expertise, and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning' . Innovative Higher Education 27(1): 5-23.

14.

Lund University Faculty of Engineering (2005 ) `LTH's Pedagogical Academy'. Available at http://www.lth.se/fileadmin/lth/genombrottet/LTHsPedAkad2005_eng.pdf (accessed June 2008).

15.

Mårtensson, K. , Olsson, T. and Roxå, T. (2006) `Scholarly Dialogues and Significant Networks for Educational Development' . Paper presented at the International Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, City University, London, May.

16.

Middlehurst, R. and Elton, L. (1992) `Leadership and Management in Higher Education' . Studies in Higher Education 17(3): 251-65.

17.

Ministry of Education and Research (2003) Higher Education Ordinance, Government Offices of Sweden . Available at http://www.sweden.gov.se/content/1/c6/02/15/41/21a877c2.pdf (accessed 15 November 2007).

18.

Roxå, T. (2007) `Strategic Educational Development: Theoretical Rationale and Example of How to Change a University Faculty's View on Teaching and Learning'. Thesis granted Master of Higher Education by Griffith Institute for Higher Education, Griffith University, Brisbane.

19.

Roxå, T. , Mårtensson, K. and Olsson, T. (2006) `Significant Networks - Exploring Backstage as the Cradle of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning' . Paper presented at the conference of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Washington, November.

20.

Säljö, R. (2000) Lärande i praktiken. Stockholm : Prisma.

21.

Trigwell, K. and Shale, S. (2004) `Student Learning and the Scholarship of University Teaching' . Studies in Higher Education 29(4): 523-36.

22.

Trigwell, K. , Martin, E. , Benjamin, J. and Prosser, M. (2000) `Scholarship of Teaching: a Model' . Higher Education Research and Development 19(2): 155-68.

23.

Trowler, P. (1998) Academics Responding to Change: New Higher Education Frameworks and Academic Cultures. Buckingham: The Society for Research into Higher Education and Open University Press.

24.

Trowler, P. (2005) `Academic Tribes: Their Significance in Enhancement Processes' , in Proceedings from the 2nd Swedish National Conference on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, pp.15-24. Karlstad: Lunds Universitet.

25.

Trowler, P. and Cooper, A. (2002) `Teaching and Learning Regimes: Implicit Theories and Recurrent Practice in the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning through Educational Development Programmes' . Higher Education Research and Development 21(3): 221-40.

26.

Wenger, E. (1998) Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.