Watch this (scholarship of elearning) space

I attended the 2010 SoTL (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning) Commons in Satesboro Georgia in March. This was quite a shift of focus for me, as I have only attended elearning / distance education conferences in the last ten years. As well as learning acronyms from a different discourse (and making up one of my own), I came away concerned that academic development (my field of professional practice) elearning (my specific focus) and the scholarship of teaching and learning (my broader focus) are creating silos without interconnecting tunnels. A more productive path would be to collaborate in the same way we recommend to colleagues from across the disciplines who are interested in pedagogical research. Hence, my newly created acronym SoAP for the scholarship of academic practice.

I am working on two publications as a result of the Statesboro conference. One is an opinion piece titled 'From a SoAP Box' accepted for the September issue 15(3) of the International Journal of Academic Development and echoing the sentiment expressed above. The other is a collaborative piece that will be submitted to The International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. This article, co-authored by speakers at an opening panel at SoTL Commons, aims to offer contemporary perspectives on SoTL from Israel, New Zealand. Denmark, the West Indies and the USA.

An extract from my contribution:

The scholarship of teaching and learning is key to successful elearning strategies. National and institutional aims to promote the use of technology in teaching and learning are not new. Computers have been a feature of educational design since the 1960s. Drivers are often practical as well as pedagogical, because scale and diversity challenge faculty to find creative ways to apply principles of scholarly teaching. Evaluation is a critical element, as new approaches need evidence to show they are different, perhaps better, and at least as effective as other methods.

Evidence is also needed to offset the kind of speculation that comes with every new technology. Observers predict a future where traditional institutions and teaching methods are replaced by convenient, contemporary, computer facilitated learning. For a recent example, see Tapscott & Williams (Educause Review, January/ February 2010). These predictions are generally flawed, because they make no reference to the scholarship of teaching, and often miscalculate the rate of diffusion of new technologies'.

The article will be submitted for review in April, and subject to acceptance, will appear in the journal later in 2010.