Who is Represented in the Teaching Commons?: SoTL Through the Lenses of the Arts and Humanities

Abstract

As the community of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) scholars has flourished across Canada and around the world, there has been a growing sense among humanists that SoTL work has been dominated by the epistemologies, philosophies, and research methods of the social sciences. This is a view that has been supported by SoTL journal editors and resources dedicated to introducing faculty to SoTL. To quote Nancy Chick (2012) in a recent book on the current state of SoTL in the disciplines, “while many well-known SoTL leaders come from humanities backgrounds …, the on-the-ground work largely marginalizes the practices of their disciplines” (p. 15). The question then follows: “How does the apparent under-representation of (arts and) humanities-based disciplines affect expectations for SoTL, from norms for research design and methodology to the genre and style of its products?” (McKinney & Chick, 2010, p. 10). This paper, which frames the special issue looking at “SoTL through the lenses of the Arts and Humanities,” explores the difficulties with, and opportunities provided by, creating an inclusive teaching commons where the scholarly traditions of the arts and humanities are recognized for the value they bring to the SoTL research imaginary. Alors que la communauté des universitaires qui oeuvrent dans le domaine de l’avancement des connaissances en enseignement et en apprentissage (ACEA) s’est épanouie à travers le Canada et dans le monde, on constate l’éclosion d’un sentiment, parmi les humanistes, que le travail de l’ACEA a été dominé par les épistémologies, les philosophies et les méthodes de recherche des sciences sociales. C’est une opinion qui a été appuyée par les rédacteurs de revues sur l’ACEA et par les ressources consacrées à l’introduction des enseignants à l’ACEA. Pour citer Nancy Chick (2012) dans un livre récemment publié sur l’état actuel de l’ACEA dans diverses disciplines, « alors que de nombreux leaders éminents en matière d’ACEA proviennent des sciences humaines ..., le travail sur le terrain marginalise grandement les pratiques de leurs disciplines » (p. 15). Ce qui nous mène à la question suivante : « Comment l’apparente sous-représentation des disciplines du domaine des (arts et des) sciences humaines affecte-t-elle les attentes pour l’ACEA, allant des normes de recherche et de méthodologie au genre et au style de ses produits? » (McKinney & Chick, 2010, p. 10). Cet article, qui encadre le numéro spécial consacré à « L’ACEA à travers le prisme des arts et des sciences humaines », explore les difficultés qui existent à créer une commune d’enseignement inclusive ainsi que les opportunités créées par cette commune, où les traditions de recherche en arts et en sciences humaines sont reconnues pour la valeur qu’elles apportent à l’imaginaire de recherche de l’ACEA.

The Role of Faculty in Connecting Canadian Undergraduate Arts and Humanities Students to Scholarly Inquiries into Teaching: A Case for Purposeful Experiential Learning

“…If, as Potter and Wuetherick (2015) indicate, SoTL is being directed by the social sciences, the challenge for Arts and Humanities faculty is particularly acute. What better allies can we enlist than the reasons for our inquiries in the first place -our students?…”

“…As Potter and Wuetherick (2015) remind us, the research approaches used in the humanities can result in a depth of understanding that the social sciences cannot ignore (p. 6). The nuances of qualitative research, of close reading, of narrative, and of ethnography, for example, can be captured by Arts researchers.…”

“…Is not such involvement especially beneficial to Arts and Humanities faculty, who have the additional challenge of coping with social science conventions as they engage in teaching inquiry? (Potter & Wuetherick, 2015).…”

Challenges to Disciplinary Knowing and Identity: Experiences of Scholars in a SoTL Development Program

“…Indeed, in a study of the threshold concepts experienced by faculty in a SoTL development program, some of which were epistemological in nature, Webb (2016) explicitly describes SoTL as a social science. However, humanities scholars have also shared experiences of discomfort and marginalization due such expressions in the majority of SoTL discourse that imply SoTL is empirical, objective research, and have argued for the benefits of humanities approaches to SoTL (Bloch-Schulman et al 2016;Chick 2013;Potter and Wuetherick 2015). Further, SoTL's lack of a single epistemological stance nor consensus about validity of findings or contributions, can also cause anxiety for scholars new to the field (Fanghanel et al, 2016;MacKenzie et al, 2010).…”

Defining the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

“…Despite the fact that many foundational SoTL texts emphasized a 'big tent' and multidisciplinary vision (e.g., Huber & Hutchings, 2005;Huber & Morreale, 2002) the question of disciplinary approaches to SoTL has been especially fraught. Numerous scholars from the Humanities, for example, have critiqued implicit positioning of SoTL as a brand of Social Sciences research, urging for a broader conception that admits a wider range of questions, epistemologies, and methodologies (e.g., Chick, 2013;Potter & Wuetherick, 2015;Bloch-Schulman et al, 2016). With such considerations in mind, Felten (2013) argues simply that SoTL must be methodologically sound, rigorously deploying tools that are appropriate to the question at hand, without specifying particular traditions from which those methodologies might be drawn.…”