This month, our guest editor is Dr. Elisa Baniassad, Professor of Teaching in the Department of Computer Science, Acting Academic Director of the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology, and Director of the Institute for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISoTL). She shares information about ISoTL Press, a new way for UBC SoTL scholars to disseminate their findings.
ISoTL Press – Amplifying our Pedagogical Scholarship
UBC boasts thousands of instructors, and even more students, across hundreds of disciplines. We are internationally known for our world-class focus on teaching and learning. With the Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund, we are one of the best resourced faculty for direct funding for student experience, and with the strong presence of the Institute for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning , we are supported and coached in pedagogical inquiry.
Many of us, across the ranks and roles, have met, head on, the significant challenges that face modern education: we are elevating our practice in celebration of diversity, in commitment to accessibility and accommodation, and by embracing (or at least mitigating) new technologies. We are doing that all when faced with also very modern challenges, including educating at scale, and the lingering and, yet to be fully understood, effects of the strain of the pandemic. What’s more, we are meeting those challenges with intentionality, with robustness of methodology, and with validity.
The irony, though, is that as we are faced with more and more challenges, and learn more and more from rising to meet them, the less time we have for actually disseminating our findings! When we asked SoTL scholars around campus whether they have an unwritten paper waiting to happen, they almost unanimously said “many!” What struck us was the shame of this incredible lost opportunity. We could be learning from each other about how we can evolve, or inquire further, into our own teaching practice. These findings are especially valuable because they are from within our own context, within our own institutional environment, and may be directly applicable to our everyday experience!
We launched the ISoTL Press to illuminate this invisible work. We devised the press formats to allow for a diversity of styles, and a commitment to flexibility and accommodation as needs arise. The Knowledge Transfer format lets an educator extract practical and applicable lessons from their scholarly work, as a way of helping other educators in their own practice. The Opinion/Essay format provides an opportunity for exploration, reflection, and a free sharing of ideas. Educators can submit artifacts or artistic works of any genre – recognising and foregrounding that dissemination should not be constrained by our traditional notion of “the research paper.”
While we are committed to maintaining a high editorial standard, appropriate to the community here at UBC, we also instilled the philosophy of positive reviewing. We will provide rich feedback to authors to inform resubmissions if needed, ensuring our review process will infuse energy and positivity into the scholarly community through care and mentorship.
ISoTL Press will accept submissions three times a year (once per major semester), publishing a Fall, Winter, and Summer volume annually. Please find out more on the ISoTL Press website. We can’t wait to see your submission!
Additional SoTL resources
- ISoTL website: Supported by the ISoTL staff, this website supports faculty members in engaging in reflective practices and pedagogical research by providing training and professional development for faculty members who seek to engage in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.
- SoTL Dissemination Fund: This fund supports the publication of research on teaching and learning in higher education with direct implications for UBC. Funds are available to instructors from both UBC Vancouver and Okanagan campuses and may be used for expenses related to presenting or publishing SoTL work. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
- ISoTL newsletter: This newsletter features faculty publications, upcoming SoTL opportunities and events.
