Nancy's Note (April 2026)

“Is this publishable?” This was the question that brought me to Texas State University last week, where I was invited to lead a workshop on presenting and publishing scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). The faculty in the room had completed a course redesign program in which they collected learning artifacts from their students, but many were unsure how (or if) what they'd done was worth sharing. 

Faculty often assume that presenting or publishing SoTL requires a fully polished, complete study—something tidy, conclusive, and generalizable. That assumption can make going public feel distant, even out of reach, so we explored the idea that any SoTL project holds multiple possibilities for sharing. 

This shift—from aiming for a single, neat outcome to seeing many possible forms— reframes what counts as contribution. Sharing SoTL is not only about presenting finished results; it’s also about engaging others in questions, processes, and emerging understandings.  Our knowledge about teaching and learning in higher education is still developing, so it advances through many small, situated contributions about our products and processes rather than a few definitive answers.  In this sense, going public is less a final step than an ongoing practice of participating in a scholarly community.

Rather than identifying the “right” venue or format, this shift also helps faculty recognize that, through the process of inquiry, they already have something to offer. The question becomes less about crossing a high threshold of readiness and more about carrying that work into ongoing conversations.

By the end of the workshop, the question in the room had changed—from “Is this publishable?” to “Which part of this project should I share first?”

April 2026