Reimagining the 4M Framework in Educational Development for SoTL

Mandy Frake-Mistak; Jennifer Friberg; Melanie Hamilton

doi:10.20343/teachlearninqu.11.14

Authors

Mandy Frake-Mistak York University https://orcid.org/0009-0001-2417-617X
Jennifer Friberg Illinois State University
Melanie Hamilton University of Saskatchewan https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5382-3092

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.11.14

Keywords:

educational development, postsecondary education, 4M Continua/Framework

Abstract

In this paper, we seek to contextualize our work in SoTL-focused educational development and those who work to support others in SoTL, as interstitially spaced across the 4M Framework, re-envisioned as a flexible but formalized professional continua. The establishment of a model for educational development SoTL-related activity allows for the opportunity to explore how this work is done in a systematic manner. We offer our ideas and visions through, what we term, the 4M Continua for Educational Development as a possible understanding of the work that SoTL-focused educational developers do, as well as those who engage in educational development more broadly. While the 4M Framework provides a guide through four interrelated organizational lenses: micro; meso; macro; and mega, we have adapted a model to situate educational development work using the 4M Framework to inform the ways in which we do, contribute to, consume, advocate, and support SoTL broadly, including at local, provincial, national, and international levels. The 4M Continua can be an avenue for those who do educational development to describe their work, where the work is situated, and how support can be offered throughout the community.

Click here to read the corresponding ISSOTL blog post.

Author Biographies

Mandy Frake-Mistak, York University

Mandy Frake-Mistak, PhD, is the associate director, Program Evaluation and Pedagogical Design in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, at York University, in Ontario, Canada. She is an active SoTL researcher and advocate, with a particular focus on higher education policy as it relates to teaching and learning and the everyday lived realities of university teachers. She is a named 2020 fellow of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Jennifer Friberg, Illinois State University

Jennifer Friberg, EdD, is the director of Scholarly Teaching and Cross Endowed Chair for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning for the Center for Integrated Professional Development at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois, United States, where she also serves as a professor of communication sciences and disorders. Her interests in SoTL relate to work focused on advocacy and the expansion of SoTL to public spaces beyond higher education.

Melanie Hamilton, University of Saskatchewan

Melanie Hamilton, MN EdD, is the director for the Jane and Ron Graham Centre for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at the University of Saskatchewan. She is the current chair for SoTL Canada and VP Canada for ISSOTL. Her interests in SoTL relate to mid-career faculty, professional development, and early-career researchers. She is a 2020 fellow of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

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