Reimagining the 4M Framework in Educational Development for SoTL

Abstract

In this paper, we seek to contextualize our work in SoTL-focused educational development and those who work to support others in SoTL, as interstitially spaced across the 4M Framework, re-envisioned as a flexible but formalized professional continua. The establishment of a model for educational development SoTL-related activity allows for the opportunity to explore how this work is done in a systematic manner. We offer our ideas and visions through, what we term, the 4M Continua for Educational Development as a possible understanding of the work that SoTL-focused educational developers do, as well as those who engage in educational development more broadly. While the 4M Framework provides a guide through four interrelated organizational lenses: micro; meso; macro; and mega, we have adapted a model to situate educational development work using the 4M Framework to inform the ways in which we do, contribute to, consume, advocate, and support SoTL broadly, including at local, provincial, national, and international levels. The 4M Continua can be an avenue for those who do educational development to describe their work, where the work is situated, and how support can be offered throughout the community.

Improving Equitable Access to Graduate Education by Reducing Barriers to Minoritized Student Success

“…Although one of the most important groups for improving equity includes faculty members, we argue that all members of an institutional community can support minoritized students' success through one of the most established evidence-based practices: mentorship [41]. Although individuals can, and often do, work in isolation to provide mentorship to minoritized students, systemic change is more likely to occur through an embrace of a SOTL framework that involves generating change across individuals, departments, and broader institutions [3].…”

“…In this section, we suggest practices that faculty can adopt to create departmental cultures that encourage and sustain learning environments that are inclusive and supportive of minoritized students. As departments work to change their internal operations to be more equitable in their support of all students, it would be helpful for them to consider sharing those efforts in the spirit of the SOTL to foster similar changes within their institution and in comparable departments at other institutions [3].…”

“…Sci. 2024, 14, 298 2 of 12 often conceptualized at the level of individual instructors or classrooms, it can also be implemented at broader levels spanning from individual departments to entire fields of study [3]. In this way, SOTL may help serve as an implementation and dissemination framework within which programs, departments, colleges, and universities can reconsider the influence of existing systems in perpetuating the ongoing marginalization of students from non-majority cultures.…”

Una experiencia sistematizada de implementación de SoTL

“…SoTL constituye un espacio de investigación y desarrollo profesional para la toma de decisiones basadas en evidencia (Frake-Mistak et al, 2023), que puede ser llevado a cabo con impactos en diversos niveles (Simmons & Taylor, 2019). El qué y cómo desarrollamos investigaciones universitarias se ancla en procesos de problematización que experimentan docentes y estudiantes, con implicaciones en múltiples ámbitos (Bass, 2020).…”

“…SoTL ha cobrado relevancia por su aporte a la mejora de los procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje (Vander Kloet et al, 2017). Sin embargo, es necesario avanzar en lineamientos de cómo llevarlo a cabo, con experiencias que trasciendan las fronteras disciplinares (Frake-Mistak et al, 2023). Así, nuestro objetivo es presentar una experiencia sistematizada de implementación de SoTL, en el contexto de una comunidad de aprendizaje profesional.…”