SoTL in Human Movement Sciences: Moving Forward in South Africa
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.11.31Keywords:
Community of practice, Human Movement Science, Participatory Action Learning and Action Research (PALAR), South AfricaAbstract
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is an emerging focus within South Africa (SA). In Human Movement Sciences (HMS) in SA, research is primarily discipline-specific, and many researchers are unfamiliar with SoTL. To explore how we (as HMS lecturers) could integrate SoTL into our research, we formed a community of practice (CoP). The SoTL unicycle depiction of Swart et al. (2016) suited our visual analogy since the focus of HMS is on the human body that is in motion. For us, the unicycle represented HMS SoTL in motion. Swart et al. (2016) viewed the SoTL movement as an academic’s individual journey, whereas we saw SoTL from a CoP perspective. Therefore, we adapted the unicycle into a tandem bicycle, representing our collaborative engagements. Participatory action learning and action research (PALAR) formed our theoretical framework. Through our dialogue, each tandem wheel’s focus emerged. The back wheel was about deciding to SoTL (or not). This became a linchpin of our critical dialogue during the relationship-building phase of our CoP. Once we committed, we needed to learn how to keep our CoP moving forward. This became the middle wheel of our tandem bicycle. Next, the front wheel and handlebar became our guide into what the future of SoTL would be for us. The tandem bicycle, therefore, represents our collective cycles of learning as we became SoTL researchers. We believe our learning can support others transitioning from discipline-specific research to engaging in SoTL.
*Please note that this poster is best viewed in Adobe on a computer/laptop for interactivity.
Click here to read the corresponding ISSOTL blog post.
References
Brewster, Liz, Emma Jones, Michael Priestley, Susan J. Wilbraham, Leigh Spanner, and Gareth Hughes. 2022. “‘Look After the Staff and They Would Look After the Students’ Cultures of Wellbeing and Mental Health in the University Setting.” Journal of Further and Higher Education 46 (4): 5–60. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2021.198647.
CHE. 2017. Learning to Teach in Higher Education in South Africa. An Investigation into the Influences of Institutional Context on the Professional Learning of Academics in Their Roles as Teachers. Pretoria: CHE. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/66524.
Christiansen, Iben M., and Lionel Slammert. 2006. “A Multi-faceted Approach to Research Development (II): Supporting Communities of Practice.” South African Journal of Higher Education 20 (1): 17–30. https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC37228.
De Jaeger, Amy E., Brenda M. Stoesz, and Lori A. Doan. 2022. “Tensions and Partnerships: Understanding Research Ethics in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL).” In Ethics and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, edited by Lisa M. Fedoruk, 43–63. Cham, CH: Springer International Publishing.
García-Peñalvo, Francisco Jose. 2021. “Avoiding the Dark Side of Digital Transformation in Teaching. An Institutional Reference Framework for eLearning in Higher Education.” Sustainability 13 (4): 1–16. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042023.
Harvey, Marina and Sandra Jones. 2021. “Enabling Leadership Capacity for Higher Education Scholarship in Learning and Teaching (SOTL) through Action Research.” Educational Action Research 29 (2): 173–90. https://doi.org/10.1080/09650792.2020.1803941.
Jawitz, Jeff. 2009. “Academic Identities and Communities of Practice in a Professional Discipline.” Teaching in Higher Education 14 (3): 241–51. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562510902898817.
Kim, Alice S. N., Celia Popovic, Laura Farrugia, Salma A. F. Saleh, Genevieve Maheux-Pelletier, and Mandy Frake-Mistak. 2021. “On Nurturing the Emergent SoTL Researcher: Responding to Challenges and Opportunities.” International Journal for Academic Development 26 (2): 163–75. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2020.1842743.
Molosi-France, Keneilwe, and Sinfree Makoni. 2020. “A Partnership of Un-equals: Global South–North Research Collaborations in Higher Education Institutions.” Modern Africa: Politics, History and Society 8 (2): 9–24. https://doi.org/10.26806/modafr.v8i2.343.
Pranjić, Sanja Simel. 2021. “Development of a Caring Teacher-Student Relationship inHigher Education.” Journal of Education Culture and Society 11 (1): 151–63. https://doi.org/10.15503/jecs2021.1.151.163.
Simmons, Nicola, Earle Abrahamson, Jessica M. Deshler, Barbara Kensington-Miller, Karen Manarin, Sue Morón-García, Carolyn Oliver, and Joanna Renc-Roe. 2013. “Conflicts and Configurations in a Liminal Space: SoTL Scholars’ Identity Development.” Teaching & Learning Inquiry 1 (2): 9–21. https://doi.org/10.2979/teachlearninqu.1.2.9.
Swart, Arthur James, Nicolaas Luwes, Lienie Olwagen, Cameron Greyling, and Carel Korff. 2017. “Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: ‘What the Hell’ are we Getting Ourselves Into?” European Journal of Engineering Education 42 (6): 653–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2016.1214689.
Tierney, Anne M., Dorothy Aidulis, Julian Park, and Katherine Clark. 2020. “Supporting SoTL Development through Communities of Practice.” Teaching & Learning Inquiry 8 (2): 33–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.8.2.4.
Vorster, Jo-Anne. 2020. “SoTL: A Mechanism for Understanding and Finding Solutions to Teaching and Learning Challenges.” Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the South 4 (2): 6–21. https://doi.org/10.36615/sotls.v4i2.149.
Wilson-Mah, Rebecca, Jo Axe, Elizabeth Childs, Doug Hamilton, and Sophia Palahicky. 2022. “A Collaborative Self-Study: Reflections on Convening a SoTL Community of Practice.” International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 16 (2): 1–10. https://doi.org/10.20429/ijsotl.2022.160204.
Wolff, Ralph, and Melanie Booth. 2017. “Bridging the Gap: Creating a New Approach for Assuring 21st Century Employability Skills.” Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning 49 (6): 51–54. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2017.1399040.
Zuber-Skerritt, Ortrun, Lesley Wood, and Ina Louw. 2015. “Repositioning the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in an Engaged Scholarship.” In A Participatory Paradigm for an Engaged Scholarship in Higher Education: Action Leadership from a South African Perspective. 67–208. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Cornelia M. Schreck, Alretha du Plessis, Dané Coetzee, Christo Bisschoff, Jacobus Oosthuizen, Samantha Kahts-Kramer
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
