The University of Findlay to host 6th annual SOTL Academy Conference
The University of Findlay’s Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) will host the 6th annual Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Academy Conference on May 18 and 19 at Winebrenner Theological Seminary. The focus of the conference is “Reflect & Refresh: 25 Years of SOTL.”
Nearly 25 years have passed since Ernest Boyer published “Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate.” Since then, SOTL has transitioned from an emerging concept to an evolving practice. Likewise, the spaces in which SOTL occurs and is delivered have evolved. It seems fitting, then, at this quarter-century milestone to take time to reflect on how SOTL has impacted higher education, how SOTL is currently defined across campuses and how SOTL might continue to refresh and support the reciprocal relationship between teaching and learning.
Dr. Nancy Chick, university chair in teaching and learning at University of Calgary, Canada, will be the keynote speaker on May 18. She will share her thoughts, concerns and hopes by discussing past highlights, addressing what’s currently happening in the field and elaborating on exciting visions for SOTL’s future. She will also lead a workshop entitled “SOTL 2.0” that will delve more deeply into topics such as the potential of qualitative research, and paths to presentation and publication.
Chick is also the University of Calgary, Canada’s academic director of the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning, and is the campus’s first teaching professor in the Faculty of Arts (English Department).
With Gary Poole, Chick is the founding co-editor of “Teaching and Learning Inquiry,” the journal of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. She has published peer reviewed articles and book chapters, and edited volumes on and about SOTL, signature pedagogies, literary learning and inclusive teaching.
Conference sessions will include such topics as “Using SOTL to Build Praxis in Rhetoric and the Digital Humanities,” “What Are Collaborative Structures and Why Should We Bother?” and “How Peer Mentors Facilitated Learning in a Campaigns and Elections Class.”
To register, visit www.findlay.edu, Keyword: SOTL. Scholars from colleges and universities in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Canada will present at the conference.
For additional information, contact Beth Stewart, the University’s CTE Program Manager at stewart@findlay.edu or 419-434-4538; or Christine Denecker, PhD., Center for Teaching Excellence director and professor of English, at denecker@findlay.edu or 419-434-6661.