More Hawk, Less Seagull: The Importance of Community-Led SoTL Research

Michelle J. Eady; J. Michael Rifenburg

doi:10.20343/teachlearninqu.11.21

Authors

Michelle J. Eady University of Wollongong https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5624-0407
J. Michael Rifenburg University of North Georgia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0074-8356

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.11.21

Keywords:

community-led scholarship, SoTL research, community engagement, ethics of reciprocity, autoethnography

Abstract

This systematic reflection essay blends research and community engagement with Margaret Kovach’s keynote address at the 2022 conference of the International Society of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL) and with the coauthors’ autoethnographic accounts reflecting on their challenges across Australia and the US in conducting ethically responsible SoTL scholarship. The essay is a call for engagement with community-led projects drawing on Neil Drew’s (2006) metaphor of a seagull, who flies in, takes what it wants, and leaves a mess behind. Two stories provided by the co-authors invite further discussion into the hopeful challenges of conducting community-led SoTL research.

Click here to read the corresponding ISSOTL blog post.

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Author Biographies

Michelle J. Eady, University of Wollongong

Michelle J. Eady is an associate professor of curriculum and pedagogy at the University of Wollongong (AUS). She is the incoming president of ISSOTL (2023–2024), an ISSOTL fellow, SFHEA, HERDSA fellow, ACEN director and sits on the International Research Group of WACE. She looks forward to meeting and collaborating with other hawks!

J. Michael Rifenburg, University of North Georgia

Michael Rifenburg is a professor of English at the University of North Georgia (USA). He serves as senior faculty fellow for scholarly writing with UNG’s Center for Teaching, Learning, and Leadership and on the ISSOTL Convenings Committee. Like Michelle, he looks forward to soaring with other hawks.

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