SoTL research methods from literature


  • Survey
    • background of students
    • demographics
    • self-reported personal info
    • perceptions + responses
  • Journals
    • “map of (learning) activities for a week”
  • Content analysis
    • text, audio, video…
  • Artifacts from class
    • student-producced work during individual and group project tasks
  • Video recording of discourse – later analysis
  • Observation of class activities
    • anthropological description of interactions as culture
  • Course portfolio
    • vision, design, enactment, outcomes, analysis
    • for/by instructor or students
  • Interviews
    • structured or open-ended/ethnographic
    • individual, pairs or groups
  • Focus groups
  • Secondary analysis of existing data
    • logs?

Application fo multiple methods to refine the research question. – may start with a broad question, have students do a survey. responses may identify further questions and/or refine the original one. Follow up with additional methods as appropriate.

Survey –> Interviews/Focus groups/Observations/Artifacts –> ?

Scholarship as more than just reflection or “highlighting our practice” – investigating practice not just sharing what was done. Not just documentation & showcasing!

Must be grounded in critical reflection, not just journal-writing.

Must use systematically and strategically gathered evidence.

Important to do SoTL in context of disciplinary communities rather than as a generic central “performance” improvement model. How to do both? Role of TI?


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