The UA Teaching Academy has accepted eight faculty members to its inaugural Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Writing Group.
The writing group provides participants with structure, resources and guidance to generate publications on teaching and learning in higher education.
Dr. Claire Major, UA Teaching Academy faculty director, said one of the UATA’s objectives is to promote excellence in teaching across UA through the scholarship of teaching and learning.
“Scholarly teaching is learning about your teaching in a deeper way,” Major said, including attending UATA workshops or participating in the UATA faculty fellows program. “It moves from scholarly teaching to scholarship of teaching when they publish about it, when they start disseminating it through presentations and publications. We feel that’s important.”
The process takes a full year. SoTL writers will start with an idea and then formulate questions, review research, develop methods, prepare an innovation and finally write about what they learn. The cohort will come together to share ideas and critique each other’s work to make it the best it can be before submission for publication.
“A lot of times teaching happens behind closed doors, and we can’t learn from each other,” Major said. “We are trying to move beyond that and share information so that others can learn from what we have learned through our own work.”
Research will take place in the faculty’s own courses. SoTL writers will present their project proposals to each other prior to implementing them and collecting data in their Spring 2025 classes. For example, a faculty member can use a new teaching intervention or make a change in the class environment and then collect data through surveys, interviews or grades.
“We created this to help faculty through the process of the scholarship of teaching because not everyone has social science research backgrounds,” Major said.
Even those who have a background in research may want to sharpen their skills or want the support and structure a group offers.
“As a research university, part of our mission is to do research. People who teach can also do research on their teaching,” Major said.
In addition to meeting monthly, the UATA will provide a space for SoTL writers to write and collaborate with colleagues as they prepare manuscripts related to their scholarly projects.
Participants will write their final manuscript over the summer and submit them to a peer-reviewed journal by Aug. 1, 2025, for potential publication.
Dr. Robert Hayes, associate provost of UA’s Office of Teaching Innovation and Digital Education, said the program offers participants the opportunity to grow their confidence and subsequently embark on the process of publishing again on their own.
Hayes said participants will build their skill set, learn to lean on colleagues for feedback, become aware of the research and publication process and discover the importance of setting timelines. He also believes they will want to pay it forward.
“I think there are definitely outcomes for the participants that they will take with them that live beyond that one year,” Hayes said.
Major hopes faculty in the program can come back the next year to help the new cohort. If demand grows, she’d also love to expand the program to more specialized fields.
“We’re really excited for the program,” Major said. “I think we’re going to build a great community and have really great outcomes from the group.”
2024-2025 SoTL cohort members
| First Name | Last Name | College | Department |
| Rana | Al-Khatib Eloubeidi | College of Education | Educational Studies |
| Paton | Beck | College of Education | ELPTS |
| Bill | Bergeron | College of Education | Educational Leadership |
| Kim | Colburn | Arts and Sciences | New College |
| Cori | Crane | Arts and Sciences | Modern Languages & Classics |
| Anthony | Derriso | College of Education | ESPRMC |
| Justin | Goins | Human Environmental Sciences | HES |
| Jennifer | Humber | Human Environmental Sciences | Consumer Sciences |
| Sara | Kaylor | Capstone College of Nursing | Nursing |
| Deborah | Keene | Arts and Sciences | Blount Scholars Program |
| Murray | Silverstone | Arts and Sciences | Physics & Astronomy |