International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Volume 6, Number 1, January 2012

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Essay About SoTL

Excerpt

Case Study of a Shoe-String SoTL Center

This paper provides a case study of a faculty-driven, cost-effective center focused on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) at a small private liberal arts college. Prior work on teaching and learning centers has focused on large institutions. Our case study shows that a “teaching commons” (Huber & Hutchings, 2006) can be created at a small college (approximately 1600 students) with relatively little expense. Thanks to a grant from the Teagle Foundation, we were able to establish a SoTL center focused on the dissemination and production of SoTL. The center sponsors a biweekly lunch series (with 25% of the faculty attending each session), learning communities, and a summer grant program. Participation in SoTL activities has been excellent with 69% of faculty attending at least one SoTL event during the 2010-2011 academic year. The SoTL center has been instrumental in building assessment oriented skills and structural support for teaching effectiveness.

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Bio

Philip T. Dunwoody
Juniata College
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, USA
Dunwoody@juniata.edu

I am currently an Associate Professor of Psychology and past director of the James J. Lakso Center for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning. My research areas include rationality in judgment and decision making, political psychology, and psychological critical thinking. I teach courses in introductory psychology, cognition, research methods, and aggression & prejudice. I am currently developing a measure of authoritarianism as well as a measure of psychological critical thinking. I was the 2010 recipient of the Gibbel Award for Teaching Excellence.
Website: http://jcsites.juniata.edu/faculty/dunwoody/


Kathryn Westcott
Juniata College
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, USA
Westcott@juniata.edu

At Juniata, I am currently Assistant Provost and Associate Professor of Psychology. With a background in School Psychology, my transition to research in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning was natural. I teach courses in school psychology and developmental psychology and I most enjoy research projects that help me to better understand and improve student learning. During my time at Juniata I have been involved in a wide variety of SoTL projects across a number of courses including school, abnormal, and health psychology. During the 2010-2011 academic year, I served as the first Director of the James J. Lakso Center for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

David Drews
Juniata College
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, USA
drews@juniata.edu

After getting my Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the University of Delaware, I taught in the psychology department at Juniata College until I retired in 2004. Then, as an emeritus professor, I taught part time as a Senior Fellow in Juniata’s Baker Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies and served on the initial advisory board for the James J. Lakso Center for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Though I have done research on topics as varied as dominance in galagos to tattoos in college students, SoTL research has been the most consistent theme on my research vita.


Jay Hosler
Juniata College
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, USA
hosler@juniata.edu

I am currently an Associate Professor of Biology at Juniata College. My research training focused on the role of the nervous system in insect behavior. I teach courses in neurobiology, sensory biology, animal behavior, invertebrate biology and evolution. In addition, I write and draw science comics and teach a general education course called Comics and Culture. My current SoTL research interest assesses the use of comics in collegiate instruction. The first paper from this work was recently published in CBE-Life Science Education. In addition to my teaching position, during the 2011-2012 academic year I am the Director of the James J. Lakso Center for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at Juniata College.
Website: http://www.jayhosler.com/jshblog/

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