Sustaining and spreading the positive outcomes of SoTL projects: issues, insights and strategies

Abstract

While the goal of improving student learning in a personal teaching context is considered by many to be a hallmark of scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) projects, the outcomes are almost invariably communicated to other teachers. The intention may be to gain endorsement and support for ongoing implementation of new practices and/or to prompt other teachers to consider whether the project outcomes are relevant to their context. However, concerns have been expressed about the duration and pervasiveness of the impact of SoTL project outcomes. Impacts often have a limited shelf-life and ripple effects are few. I discuss this concern, taking into account conceptions of SoTL and views about the transferability of learning and teaching practices. Insights and recommendations concerning strategies that increase the likelihood that positive outcomes will be sustained and transferred are presented. These insights are derived from projects that the author has been involved in and related literature.

Keywords:

• SoTL
• outcomes
• strategies
• sustain
• transfer

Acknowledgements

This article has its origins in rewarding conversations with my colleagues at Auckland University of Technology (Lindsay Neill, Alison Kirkness, Jim Lester, Lorraine Parker) and in other New Zealand universities involved in the project “Unlocking Student Learning” (Kogi Naidoo – Project Leader, Alison Holmes, Alison Kuiper, Billy O’Steen, Sarah Stein, Gordon Suddaby, Kathryn Sutherland). This project was funded by the Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) fund, New Zealand Ministry of Education.