Communicating to contribute to the scholarship of teaching

Introduction

Over the last twenty to thirty years a significant body of research into teaching and learning has been published and has created the foundation for higher education as a discipline in its own right. Teachers actively formulating questions about their students' learning, making enquiries that will deepen their own understanding of their students' learning and the impact that their teaching makes upon this learning add their practitioner perspective to this field. Teachers who practice 'scholarly teaching' are contributing to the knowledge about university teaching. These teachers seek to understand their students' learning more deeply by

• reading the published research on teaching and learning,
• investigating their students' learning,
• reflecting on their teaching practice and their students' learning outcomes,
• engaging in a scholarly discourse with their peers,
• communicating their experiences and their learning to help deepen and expand the scholarship of teaching.

So far in this module we have presented a range of learning activities to assist individuals and small groups participate in purposeful conversations about university teaching and learning. This unit provides ideas and guidelines to support you to move on from here and to share the results of your enquiries with a wider audience and in so doing contribute to the further development of the scholarship of university teaching.

What does this program provide?

A series of guidelines and activities to assist teachers to contribute to the scholarship of teaching through

• a seminar presentation to departmental colleagues communicating at the local level
• delivering a paper at a conference communicating at the national level
• writing for publication communicating at the international level
• obtaining a grant for resources to improve student learning

What are the advantages of contributing to the scholarship of teaching?

Developing a profile as a contributor to the scholarship of university teaching whilst enlarging the understanding of others and contributing to the better recognition in the academic community of the scholarship of university teaching.

Publication and presentation will draw attention to the existence and practice of the scholarship of teaching. The disciplinary associations and the higher education community will become more aware of teaching that takes account of the interplay between disciplinary research and the education of undergraduate and post graduate students. They will see university teaching as a process of critical reflection on practice, open to the same kind of collegial scrutiny as any other kind of research.

What do you need to consider before undertaking this unit of work?

What is it that you have learnt, what is it that you wish to explore further, what would you like to see debated more widely? The answers to all or any of these questions could well be the basis for you to:

• contribute to your departments development
• present at a regional or national conference
• prepare materials for publication in a refereed journal
• make a successful submission