Teaching Excellence Scholars
The Teaching Excellence Scholars program provide a small award (up to $1500) to support 3-5 individuals with a teaching role at USU to engage in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Teaching Excellence Scholars are provided with funding for professional development and resources associated with conducting a SoTL project.
Director of Teaching Excellence
Office of the Provost and Chief Academic Officer
travis.thurston@usu.edu
Pedram Jahangiry
Jen Burbank
Jesse Jones
"We are constantly curious about our teaching and our students' learning because we want to be better teachers"
What is SoTL?
Simply stated, "SoTL aims to understand how student learning has been developed and to share that knowledge with other practitioners” (Bright, et al., 2016, p. 215). Those who engage in SoTL are not only engaging in evidence-based scholarly teaching, but take it a step further to evaluate teaching and student learning in the classroom in order to become better teachers and to contribute to the field. Felten (2013) shares the following principles as key to effective SoTL:
- Inquiry focused on student learning
- Grounded in context
- Methodologically sound
- Conducted in partnership with students
- Appropriately public
Want to learn more about SoTL? Take a deep-dive into SoTL with Drs. Peter Felten and Katie Linder by listening to episode 19 of the Research in Action podcast. In this episode they discuss Felten's five principles of good SoTL, they describe SoTL and its purpose, define Boyer's model, and discuss potential challenges of partnering with students on SoTL projects.
Teaching Excellence Scholar Program
Teaching Excellence Scholars will have access to current SoTL literature through Canvas course resources. They will also engage in an initial discussion and subsequent one-on-one meetings with SoTL mentors as needed. Scholars will gain knowledge of, and experience in, the various stages of conducting a SoTL project including the initial articulation of a classroom-based research question, determination of the appropriate research methods to answer this question, ethical considerations that are relevant to conducting classroom research and submitting to IRB, considerations of potential outcomes of the proposed study, and sharing results.
Participants can expect to achieve the following objectives:
- Understand the process of developing, implementing, and disseminating a SoTL research project through the resources and peer feedback provided by ETE.
- Collaborate with a community of SoTL scholars who use their research to improve their own teaching.
- Contribute to SoTL through publication in academic journals or presentations at academic conferences about teaching and learning.
Program Eligibility & Requirements
To apply for the Scholars program you must meet the following eligibility requirements:
- Be a current instructor at any USU campus, including tenure track faculty, VITAL (visiting, instructor, term, adjunct, lecturer) faculty, and graduate student instructors.
- Teach a class at USU in the 2023-24 and/or 2024-25 academic years.
- Be already engaged in improving your teaching practice.*
- Be interested in conducting an inquiry project surrounding teaching and learning.
- Be committed to improving student learning and student success at USU.
*Preference will be given to individuals enrolled in ETE10 , those who have earned a Teaching Scholar Certificate, and those who have previous experience developing and implementing SoTL research.
ETE Scholars are expected to:
- Participate in an initial meeting during the fall semester after acceptance. Meetings will be determined by the availability of the participants and will be facilitated over Zoom
- Follow the recommended project timeline
- Present their SoTL project at the annual ETE Conference
- Disseminate their results at a conference or in an academic journal related to teaching and learning
Funding Award Requirements
Funding for Scholars can be used for the following:
- Professional development (books, course(s), or attend/present at a conference, etc)
- Technology to be used in teaching your class(es)
- Funding graduate or undergraduate student(s) to collaborate on your SoTL project
- Transcribing, captioning, copyediting or other services associated with your project
- Other related spending associated with your SoTL project or disseminating results
Award funding from this program should not be used as a course buyout.
Three Steps to Get Started
Determine Eligibility
Review the eligibility requirements and the expectations for those who are enrolled in the program. This program takes commitment and a willingness to do the work of SoTL.
Apply to be a Scholar
Applications will be reviewed and Scholars will be notified if they have been accepted by the start of Fall semester. A cohort of 3-5 instructors will be selected by the ETE Faculty Committee to participate.
Application Questions
Become a Scholar
Scholars will meet with awardees for an initial meeting to discuss content from the Teaching Excellence Scholars Canvas course, and to plan and implement their SoTL project.
We're looking forward to collaborating on a SoTL project.
References
Bishop-Clark, C., & Dietz-Uhler, B. (2012). Engaging in the scholarship of teaching and learning: A guide to the process, and how to develop a project from start to finish. Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Bright, J., Eliahoo, R., & Pokorny, H. (2016). Professional Development. In H. Pokorny & D. Warren (Eds.), Enhancing Teaching Practice in Higher Education (pp. 206-226). Sage.
Felten, Peter. (2013). Principles of good practice in SoTL. Teachng & Learning Inquiry: The ISSOTL Journal, 1(1), 121-125. Retrieved from
https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/TLI/article/view/57376/43149.