Countering SoTL Marginalization: A Model for Integrating SoTL with Institutional Initiatives

Abstract

Despite SoTL’s development as a movement, most SoTL work remains institutionally marginalized at the level of classroom inquiry. Institutional planners do not come looking for SoTL to guide their efforts to improve the institution, even when institutional initiatives are squarely centered on teaching and learning. The chasm between SoTL and the institutional radar screen is wide and rarely traveled. Countering the marginalization from the institution that has plagued SoTL up to this point in its evolution requires a process that identifies a common intersection. Research-based frameworks about student learning, such as the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), can serve as a connective tissue that forges the intersection between SoTL and institutional initiatives. As the connective tissue between SoTL inquiry and institutional priorities is grown, SoTL will “advance practice beyond” and impact institutional decision making and planning, and the broader landscape of institutional initiatives that intersect with learning and teaching.