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On the constitution of SoTL: its domains and contexts

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Abstract

In this paper, we present an analysis of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (SoTL) which contributes to SoTL both as a field of research practice and as a background to professional development in higher education. We analyse and describe the constitution of the field, and in so doing address its nature in the face of the dilemma of, on the one hand, its diversity and, on the other hand, its generally agreed set of purposes. Our analysis of SoTL knowledge is conceptualised as relational, connecting SoTL practitioners with the work they disseminate to the community at large. We describe and exemplify the internal horizon of the field in terms of five domains: the didactic and the epistemic, which we refer to as the knowledge building domains, and the interpersonal, the moral/ethical and the societal domains, which we refer to as the axiological domains. The external horizon is described in terms of four aspects of the context that can impact the production and implementation of SoTL knowledge: the disciplinary, the professional, the cultural and the political aspects. Methodological emphasis is equally on the axiological underpinnings of SoTL, its values and attitudes, as the ontological and epistemological underpinnings that are predominant.

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Acknowledgements

The work of the Swedish and South African group involved in our collaboration was financed by grants from the Swedish Research Council and the South African National Research Foundation, through the Swedish Links programme, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pedagogical, Curriculum and Professional Studies, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden

    S. Booth

  2. School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2050, South Africa

    L. C. Woollacott

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  1. S. Booth
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  2. L. C. Woollacott
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Correspondence to L. C. Woollacott.

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Booth, S., Woollacott, L.C. On the constitution of SoTL: its domains and contexts. High Educ 75, 537–551 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-017-0156-7

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