Research into your own education
Research into one’s own teaching is carried out by lecturers who study their own teaching practice and/or teaching strategies. We also refer to this as the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). The aim of SoTL is to provide you, as a lecturer, with insights into student learning and to support your own professional development as a lecturer.
Lecturers who research their own teaching base their teaching on academic literature, critically reflect on their teaching practice and contribute to knowledge about teaching. For example, you might try out something new in your own teaching and study its effect on student learning. Or you might explore why students struggle to master certain topics.
My SoTL project gave me an insight into the potential obstacles that students, lecturers and stakeholders encountered when applying challenge-based learning, enabling us to improve its implementation.
Utrecht Roadmap for SoTL
The Utrecht Roadmap for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (UR-SoTL) takes you through eight steps in setting up a (first) SoTL study. You will learn to think critically about your teaching and its effect on students. Tips and questions will help you turn ideas into practice-based research.