STLHE 2016 SAPES

In the Fall of 2015, the Teaching Commons at York University launched a new course with a specific focus on SoTL in an effort to promote pedagogic research across the institution, contribute to the enhancement of the student experience, and to make visible the ways in which university teachers can research their own classroom activities. EduCATE, the Education, Curriculum, And Teaching Excellence course, includes university teachers representing a variety of disciplines, who are each engaging in a SoTL project.

In this session panellists share reflections of EduCATE and the community that they have forged within the course context. Each speaker will describe their SoTL projects, insights they have gleaned as a result of their participation, and how the course has helped them in doing this research. The presenters direct analytic attention to SoTL in their varying teaching contexts: a) information literacy from the perspective of students, teachers and librarians to learn how prepared grade twelve students are for the demands of university-level research; b) the effectiveness of slide-design on student learning and retention; c) how motivation assessments in the classroom can be used to improve course design; d) student centered curriculum in critical thinking classes and their effect on course planning and pedagogy, and; e) the use of social media in the classroom as tools to promote critical thinking. The combined use of qualitative and quantitative research methods enable important insights into varying teaching and learning processes that often remain invisible to students, administrators, and others outside of the classroom.

By the end of this session participants will gain fresh insights into doing and supporting SoTL research having listened to presentations by participants in EduCATE. Additionally, participants will have opportunities to engage in discussion of key themes and dialogue about supporting SoTL in respective institutions.