Conceptualizing SoTL: Situating One Research-Intensive University into a Broader 4M Framework

The conceptualization of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning [SoTL] has evolved over its 30-year history. This study sought to understand how faculty, staff, and students at a research-intensive institution in Ontario, Canada label and describe SoTL. We performed an environmental scan that consisted of: 1) mining academic journal titles to identify names commonly used to describe systematic inquiry into teaching and learning; 2) a campus-wide survey of faculty, staff, and students; and 3) interviews with select faculty members who perform SoTL work. We identified several dichotomies between the findings from these three methods and discuss the meanings of these findings in relation to the 4M, micro-meso-macro-mega levels, framework.