An introspective study examining the critical relationship between reflective tasks and their role in changing academic staff perspectives and practices through an analysis of participant responses to a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) certificate programme at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (South Africa).

1. Reflective Tasks and their role in
changing practice and perceptions
among Staff: An analysis of
responses to a Certificate of the
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Rita Kizito
Jenny Clarence-Fincham

2. The presentation
 About the study & study questions
 The programme
 Reflective tasks & SOTL
 Methodology & tentative findings
*N.B. This presentation covers the conceptual development
and preparative work of the study

3. • An introspective study examining the critical relationship
between reflective tasks and their role in changing
academic staff perspectives and practices through an
analysis of participant responses to a Scholarship of
Teaching and Learning (SoTL) certificate programme at the
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (South Africa).
• The findings will inform a re-examination and
reconceptualization of the approaches used in our
educational development unit – the Centre for Teaching,
Learning & Media (CTLM) - as we plan for future
professional development activities for academic staff at
NMMU.
About the study

4. …in two cities
The context – six campuses

5. IntroductiontotheScholarshipofTeaching&Learning
Not compulsory
Can be completed
over 1 year
Not accredited
1 Being a university teacher: the higher education context and
practices
2 Technologically –supported teaching & learning in a blended
framework
3 Understanding higher education curricular
4 The development of responsive curricular
5 Writing to Learn and Learning to Write: Academic Literacies in
Teaching and Learning
6 How to Integrate Academic Literacies (reading & writing) and
Multilingualism in Teaching & Learning
7 Teaching, learning and assessment in large classes
8 Authentic assessment of student learning
9 The teaching portfolio: developing teaching for learning
10 Scholarship of teaching and learning: professionalising teaching,
demystifying research
Professional
Development of
academic staff
Induction/
orientation
PG Dip in HE
practice
The Programme

6.  What are the differences in the way ‘reflective tasks’ were
experienced by the participants during and after attending
the programme?
 Did their participation in these reflective tasks have any
effect on their perceptions or practices in relation to
university teaching (and learning)? If so, in what ways ? If
not, why?
 What are the implications of these findings for provision of
the Introduction to SoTLC programme in the future ?
The research questions

7. Reflective tasks
 The reflective task incorporates a core reflective process in
relation to specific aspects of practice ( Grace et al, 2006)
“Reflection has been identified as a key
process in the scholarship of teaching
and learning” ( Kreber, 2006, p.90).
Reflective Practice
& Practitioner
(Schön 1983)
Reflective tasks
Reflective
thinking
(Dewey, 1933)
Reflective
processes
( Grace et
al. , 2006)

8. The emergence of SOTL
Early 1990’s
 Increasing pressure on institutions
globally to retain sufficient funding in
the context of diminishing resources
 Need to provide evidence of a
commitment to the development of
critical thinking, lifelong learning and
student independence
 Teachers expected to be more
innovative and to provide increasing
support and individual guidance despite
decreasing resources
 In the SA context increasing student
numbers and widening access to Higher
Education add to the total picture
 Ongoing dominance
of research over
teaching
 Very few staff
formally prepared to
teach
 Limited
opportunities for
staff development in
relation to teaching

9. Early beginnings
Scholarship reconsidered
“Scholarship means engaging in original research
… looking for connections, building bridges
between theory and practice, and communicating
one’s knowledge effectively [ and where]. . . good
teaching means that faculty, as scholars, are also
learners” - Boyer (1990)
9
Where are we now ?
Multiple understandings of SOTL but general
agreement Boyer’s Scholarship reconsidered
(1990) forms an early conceptual platform
for further development

10. Scholarly teaching and SOTL
Scholarly teaching
Viewing teaching as a profession
and the knowledge base on
teaching and learning is
considered to be the academic’s
“second discipline” (McKinney,
2007, p. 9) in which expertise is
developed. Scholarly teachers
read and apply the literature
base about teaching; reflect on
their teaching practices; use
classroom assessment to assess
student learning; try out new
ideas and discuss their teaching
practice with others.
Scholarship of teaching and
learning
We develop a scholarship of
teaching when our work as
teachers becomes public, peer-
reviewed and critiqued … it is
exchanged with members of our
professional communities so they,
in turn, can build on our work’
(Shulman, 2000).

11. Exploring the scholarship of teaching:
perspectives
 As discovery research: journal articles, conference presentations,
textbooks on disciplinary teaching
– Knowledge of effective ways to represent subjects
– Drawing strands together in coherent and purposeful way
– Ways of making subject accessible and meaningful to students
Is the scholar of teaching also an effective teacher?
 As teaching excellence: teaching awards, evaluations
• Extensive knowledge about teaching & learning
Are ‘excellent’ teachers able to articulate what they do in educational terms?
 As application of educational theory and research to teaching
practices
• Combination of reflection on theory and research and experience-based knowledge on
teaching
• Acquisition of knowledge about teaching through reflection on practice and research on
disciplinary teaching
(Kreber & Cranton 2000)

12. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL) is still a site of
contention ( Manarin & Abrahamson, 2016; Kreber, 2015)
Legitimate
research area Tool, vehicle,
framework for
improving
practice
So what is SOTL?
So the SOTL goes beyond good and scholarly teaching. It involves
the systematic study of teaching and learning; the outcomes of
which are shared publically, reviewed and evaluated critically by
members of the relevant community/discipline, can be applied in
practice, and provide a foundation for further research (Hutchings
& Shulman, 1999)
SOTL involves a critical reflection on the kinds
of research undertaken (Lebowitz and Bozalek,
2015).

13. Our perspective is all this and more ….
SOTL: through a transformational lens
SOTL viewed through the lens of transformational learning
theory “widens the perspective on the Scholarship of Teaching
and Learning to include critical reflection and critical
questioning of not only individual’s practice, but also the
context within which teaching takes place, that is the social and
institutional norms and expectations that inform and constrain
teaching and learning [and in which] assumptions, beliefs,
norms and values of the discipline, the institution, the
community and the state are directly and critically questioned.
Such as approach has the potential to yield a deep shift in
perspective on teaching and learning at both an individual and
a social level” (Cranton, 2010:76).

14. Sources of data
 Evaluation data from the Introduction to SOTL(C) NMMU Moodle site
 An analysis of completed assignments ( the reflective tasks) ( with
permission from participants
Main source of data
 Semi-structured interviews with volunteering participants who have
completed some tasks in the certificate programme
Sample of 10-13 participants
Method of Analysis
 Constant Comparison (Glaser & Strauss, 1967.
The methodology

15. Tentative Findings from evaluations
 Role of SOTL as an activity for improving practice
‘’… helps one to think about research in the context of improving one's teaching
and learning” (reflection in action)
“..it can influence teaching practice in terms of the T&L policy pertaining to
humanizing pedagogy” ( possibility )
“…it's so important that we really do reflect and improve our teaching to make
learning relevant”
“It is necessary for any HE teacher to continuously reflect in order to professionally
and personally develop and also student success”
 Role of SOTL as a research activity
“…it opens up new research/publish possibilities”
 Limitations
 Based on participant responses based on their ability to “look back” and reflect on-
action, not necessarily in-action (Schön 1983)

16. References
Boyer, E. 1990. Scholarship reconsidered: Priorities of the professoriate. Princeton ,NJ:
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Cranton, P. 2010. A transformative perspective on the Scholarship of Teaching and
Learning. Higher Education Research and Development,, 30 1:75 – 86.
Dewey, J. (1933). A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative
process. DC Heath.
Fanghanel, J., McGowan, S., Parker, P., McConnell, C., Potter, J., Locke, W., & Healey, M.
(2016). Literature Review. Defining and supporting the Scholarship of Teaching and
Learning (SoTL): a sector-wide study.
Grace, S., Pilkington, R., Rush, L., Tomkinson, B., Willis, I., Evans, E., ... & Wareham, T.
(2006). The role and effectiveness of reflective practices in programmes for new
academic staff: a grounded practitioner review of the research literature. UK:
University of Manchester.
Hutchings, P., C. Bjork. And M. Babb (2002) The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
in Higher Education: an annotated bibliography. Political Science and Politics 35: 2:
233-236.

17. References
Hutchings, P., & Shulman, L. S. (1999). The scholarship of teaching: New elaborations, new
developments. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning,31(5), 10-15.
Kreber, C 2015, 'Furthering the ‘theory debate’ in the scholarship of teaching: A proposal
based on MacIntyre’s account of practices' Canadian Journal of Higher Education, vol 45,
no. 2, pp. 99-115.
Kreber, C., and P. A. Cranton. 2000. Exploring the Scholarship of Teaching. The Journal of
Higher Education, 71: 4: 476-495. Ohio State University Press. Stable URL:
Lebowitz, B. and V. Bozalek 2015. The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning from a social
justice perspective. Teaching in Higher Education, DOI 10.1080/13562517.2015.1115971.
Manarin, K., & Abrahamson, E. (2016). Troublesome Knowledge of SoTL.International
Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 10(2), 2.

18. References
McKinney, K. (2007). Enhancing learning through the scholarship of teaching and learning.
Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing Company.
Schön, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action (Vol.
5126). Basic books.