Call for Proposals

Seeking Chapter Proposals aboutBeing and Becoming a Teaching and Learning Scholar in Higher Education (tentative title)

Edited by Janice Miller-Young & Nancy Chick

[ download a PDF of the full CFP ]

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), a multidisciplinary field that focuses on systematic investigation in teaching and learning, is now over 30 years old (Boyer, 1990). No longer just a grassroots movement of individual faculty committed to taking teaching and learning seriously, SoTL has become professionalized. It is supported by an international professional organization and various national or regional organizations. It is the focus of multiple peer-reviewed journals with “SoTL” named explicitly in their titles. It has been written into many (but not enough) tenure and promotion guidelines, and it is the scholarly work of many teaching stream faculty lines. Graduate courses, credentials, and degree programs focused on teaching and learning in a discipline and across disciplines have emerged, and research centres within faculties and institutions have been established.

Despite all of these hallmarks of professionalization, the processes for becoming and being a professional in the field remain idiosyncratic. We believe that it’s time to map out what it looks like and how to get there by design. Our book will articulate the pathways available to a prospective SoTL scholar, and what it looks like to plan intentionally for such a trajectory.

At the very least, a SoTL scholar is engaged beyond a single SoTL study (Billot et al., 2017), yet the vast majority of SoTL studies and resources refer to the research one study at a time (e.g. Miller-Young and Yeo, 2015; Divan et al., 2017; Chick et al., 2019). This book will reach beyond the development of individual SoTL inquiries by guiding readers in how to design SoTL research agendas. Becoming a SoTL scholar also involves reckoning with one’s academic identity, since SoTL occupies a kind of “borderland” or liminal space outside of traditional disciplines (Huber and Morreale, 2002, 21; Webb and Welsh, 2021; Miller-Young et al., 2018). For regular faculty members who become interested in SoTL, this new space is typically disorienting at first, as illustrated in one study that sketches the growth from these initial moments to ultimately finding a place in the SoTL community (Simmons, et al., 2013). This book will explore what happens after that phase, after one has come to embrace the identity of a SoTL scholar. It will also describe the traits that determine one’s credibility and expertise as a SoTL scholar, and delve into the ongoing collaborations, research groups, and networks that form much of that necessary SoTL community. This book will also explore the possibilities for students and early-career colleagues who choose SoTL as their primary career path. Although the identity development and socialization for graduate students in general is well documented (Gardner & Mendoza, 2010; Golde, 2006; Walker, Golde, Jones, Bueschel, & Hutchings, 2008), this book will address the socialization process for SoTL-focused students and early-career faculty, their mentorship needs, and what such a career might look like. Additionally, at the other end of the spectrum, the book will also address what leadership in this area might look like and what is needed to continue to drive the field forward.

Ultimately, this book will illustrate the different entry points offered by SoTL. Upper-level undergraduates and graduate students may want to know how to pursue a SoTL-focused career. Pre-tenured, non-tenure-track, and teaching-stream faculty may want to learn how to develop a SoTL research agenda. Tenured professors may look to SoTL for a way to energize an otherwise languishing passion for their work. While addressing some of the challenges of these choices (e.g. Smith and Walker, 2021), it will also provide inspiring narratives, practical advice, and aspirational proposals for the different aspects of being a SoTL scholar.

Chapter Topics

We welcome proposals for any topic that expands upon the description above, but we especially invite proposals about the following ideas as they directly relate to the description above:

• Embracing the multi/interdisciplinarity of SoTL as a field

• Adopting the identity of SoTL scholar

• Developing long-term SoTL research agendas

• Developing expertise/credibility in SoTL

• Pursuing a career in SoTL

• Mentoring colleagues and students in SoTL

• Forming sustained SoTL collaborations and community

• Exploring the intersections of identity, scholarly agenda, and scholarly community

• Change leadership for the future of SoTL

How to Submit a Proposal

Chapter proposals should include the following elements:

• Working Title

• Short Abstract: 250 words

• Long Abstract: 750-1000 words, including references

• Contributor Qualifications: approximately 200 words connecting contributor’s experience and/or expertise to the proposed topic

Submit chapter proposals along with a CV to jmilleryoung@ualberta.ca and nchick@rollins.edu.

Timeline

February 18, 2022: Chapters proposals due

March 15: Chapter authors notified, writing commences

August 1: Chapters due, authors provide feedback on other chapters

August 31: Peer and editor feedback provided to all authors, revisions commence

November 1: Final revisions of chapters due

Questions?

Email Janice Miller-Young (jmilleryoung@ualberta.ca) and Nancy Chick (nchick@rollins.edu).