Advancing Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) in the GenAI Era: A Systematic Review of Learning Activities and Assessment Design
Facilitator: Ju Li Ng, University of Sydney
This proposed literature review is driven by the urgent need for educators to critically examine the role SRL in fostering autonomous and self-directed learning in the era of GenAI.. The project aims to explore how learning activities and assessment design can be aligned to support SRL amidst technological disruptions.
Critical Posthumanism and Decoloniality in Higher Education
Facilitators: Amrita Narang, Arden University; Kay Sidebottom, University of Stirling
The project explores how critical posthumanism and decolonial thinking can transform academic development and student learning in Higher Education. Using a diffractive, creative methodology inspired by Rosi Braidotti’s cartographies, the review will map emerging scholarship beyond conventional scoping. It foregrounds epistemic justice, relational pedagogy, and Indigenous and subaltern knowledges to reimagine learning environments. The project aims to produce a rich, interdisciplinary synthesis that challenges dominant paradigms and supports ethical, post-anthropocentric futures in teaching and learning.
Educating for a sustainable future: A multidisciplinary scoping review of sustainability integration in higher education curricula
Facilitator: Victoria Willis, University of Bath
Integrating sustainability into university education is an increasingly urgent goal in response to climate change, social inequities, and global interdependence. While there is growing pressure to mainstream sustainability across the curriculum, evidence of effective pedagogical models, competencies, and student outcomes remains scattered across disciplines. By identifying transferable models and highlighting the unique contributions of different disciplines, the review will provide an evidence base for educators and academic leaders and identify areas for future research.
Human Cognitive Architecture for Knowledge Building in Teacher Education
Facilitators: Jodi Nickel, Mount Royal University; Jeanne Sinclair, Memorial University of Newfoundland
This literature review will examine how teacher preparation programs integrate “science of learning” principles such as human cognitive architecture – specifically, how knowledge enables thinking and learning – in curriculum and instruction. Recent research (e.g., Surma et al., 2025) contradicts conventional wisdom that “critical thinking skills” can be learned without robust schema (well-organized knowledge). We will explore implications for teacher preparation (and ripple effects for K-12) in the context of Canada’s goals for fostering culturally sustaining teaching practice.
Interdisciplinary Uses of Drama Informed Pedagogies: A Scoping Review
Facilitator: Lisa Aikman, University of Toronto
How are drama- and theatre-informed pedagogical methods being used in higher education beyond theatre classes? How is their efficacy being evaluated? Through three complementary searches across educational databases, this scoping review will provide a cross-disciplinary map of this field as it currently stands. By identifying patterns in pedagogical goals, outcomes, and evaluation methods, it will provide practitioners with an evidence-based foundation from which to innovate and provide researchers with an entry into future systemic reviews.
Re- imagining the First Year Experience for Gen Z
Facilitator: Kieran Higgins, Ulster University
This project aims for a realist synthesis of literature (2015–2025) to examine how first-year experiences (FYE) support Gen Z students’ success post-pandemic, documenting what works to enhance transition, retention, and progression, for whom, in what contexts, and why, and if these approaches remain effective when viewed through the lens of equity, decoloniality, and sustainability lenses, resulting in a more modern and nuanced programme logic for FYE interventions.
Statistics Anxiety and Self-Efficacy Among Underrepresented Students
Facilitator: Alissa Beath, University of Sydney
Statistics anxiety is common in higher education and can paradoxically both benefit and hinder students’ learning of essential skills across many disciplines. This proposed scoping review will examine research on statistics anxiety and related self-efficacy, with a focus on underrepresented student groups who may be at greater risk. As statistical and data literacy become increasingly vital, the review aims to inform evidence-based, inclusive teaching practices that better support diverse learners.
Ungrading in Post-Secondary Online Courses: A Scoping Review
Facilitator: Kaitlyn Watson, Ontario Tech University
The purpose of this scoping review is to map the empirical and theoretical peer-reviewed literature published between 2015 and 2025 about the benefits and challenges of using ungrading approaches in post-secondary online courses. The project aims to identify key themes and gaps in the existing literature, offer a foundation for future inquiry, and to inform educators interested in alternative grading practices in online learning environments.
What If They Don’t Engage? Recognizing, Interpreting, and Effectively Managing Student Resistance to Learning
Facilitators: Nancy Chick, Texas Woman's University; Michael Fosmire, Purdue University
This group will conduct a scoping review of research on student resistance to learning in higher education, focusing on the past 10 years. We aim to understand how and why students resist (particularly in the context of new technologies and social changes) and how seemingly resistant behaviors are often misinterpreted and thus mishandled. We will produce a practical guide for educators and a map of future research needs, supporting more empathetic and effective teaching practices.
What’s Trust Got to Do with It?
Facilitator: Theresa Southam, Selkirk College
A “growing mistrust” of Canadian post-secondary education is one of its most important challenges (Gillece, Education Advisory Board, 2025). Distrust can have catastrophic effects on student perceptions of quality (Ghosh, Whipple, and Bryan, 2001), and yet trust remains underexplored. Special sections on trust for the 2024 and 2025 issues of Teaching and Learning Inquiry represent SoTL practitioners from many countries, but not Canada. This collaborative group will conduct a descriptive mapping literature review of the role of trust in Canadian post-secondary education.
Choose your topics and/or facilitator which are listed here.
Please send your CV, with an email including a brief statement of interest and relevant experience (maximum 1 paragraph), to Janice Miller-Young, jmilleryoung@ualberta.ca by August 15, 2025.
Plan to attend the writing retreat on October 17-18 (see below).
Project Editors:
Julie Mooney, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, 3M National Teaching Fellow
Janice Miller-Young, University of Alberta
Formation of Collaborative Review Groups
Call for Participants
July 16 2025 All topics and facilitators posted; Call for collaborative writing group members
Aug 15 2025 Applications for group members due
September 2025 Confirmation of collaborative writers and formation of groups
Launch of Collaborative Review Groups work together
October 17-18 '25 Retreat: Writing groups meet at SoTL Symposium in Banff (remote participation is
also possible) to develop relationships, start work, and develop plans for moving forward
December 2025 Group leaders check in with Editors
March 2026 Group leaders check in with Editors
Dissemination
June 2026 Groups encouraged to present work-in-progress at STLHE 2026 (June 2026; Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; funding may be available depending on success of
a SSHRC Connections grant application by Editors)
November 2026 Groups encouraged to present at ISSOTL 2026 (Nov 2026; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada)
December 2026 Manuscripts are due to Editors for a special issue of a journal (TBA)
Julie Mooney is an experienced educational developer, educator in postsecondary contexts, mentor, and scholar in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). She holds a Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies, with a specialization in Adult, Community, and Higher Education. A 3M National Teaching Fellow, she is an active member of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE), and has served as a Mentor for the 3MNTF Network. In her faculty role at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), she is co-principal investigator on a study into teaching culture, in which she works with students as partners, and she leads the SoTL research table, a collegial response community of SoTL scholars.
Janice Miller-Young is a Professor in Engineering at the University of Alberta and an experienced leader, mentor, writer and editor in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. She is also an active member of STLHE, having served multiple times on the Board, on conference committees, as an Associate Editor of CJSoTL, and more. She has served as a past Academic Director of an Institute for SoTL (Mount Royal University), of a Centre for Teaching and Learning (University of Alberta), and is currently the Academic Director of Experiential Learning in her Faculty of Engineering which includes mentoring colleagues interested in SoTL research.
Chick, N., Nowell, L., & Lenart, B. (2019). The scholarship of teaching and learning: A scoping review protocol. Teaching and Learning Inquiry, 7(2), 186-197. https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.7.2.12