Scholarship of Learning and Teaching (SOLT)

Scholarship in Learning and Teaching (SOLT) has been defined as “a systematic, scholarly inquiry into student learning which advances the practice of teaching” (Ciccone, 2004).

It is different from scholarly teaching which is anchored within the boundaries of academic disciplines and describes how academics engage with their teaching, their students’ learning and the literature within their discipline and how they reflect on their teaching practice and how it supports disciplinary learning. Scholarship in Learning and Teaching goes one step further, i.e. the academic actually makes his/her teaching and/or students’ learning a subject of investigation and research.

At the heart of the scholarship of learning and teaching is the improvement of student learning. It emphasises an evidence-based approach to learning and teaching practice through critical reflection; research methods include reflection and analysis, interviews and focus groups, questionnaires and surveys, case studies, content analysis of text, secondary analysis of existing data, and observational research.

Results of research into student learning are shared among the community of teachers and published in conference papers and articles in scholarly journals and books.

The scholarship of learning and teaching presents three key characteristics

• it is public,
• it is open to critical review and
• it is accessible to peers.

Huber, M. T. & Hutchings, P. (2005) Surveying the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (PDF Version). In Huber, M., & Hutchings, P. (Eds.), The Advancement of Learning: Building the Teaching Commons, p. 9). San Francesco: Jossey-Bass.