SoTL and Students’ Experiences of their Degree-Level Programs: An Empirical Investigation

In the global higher education sector, government accountability initiatives are increasingly focused on degree-level competencies that may be expected from university graduates. The purpose of this paper was to examine the extent to which SoTL reflects this increased interest in student learning ac...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inTeaching and learning inquiry Vol. 1; no. 2; pp. 75 - 89
Main Authors Matthews, Kelly E, Divan, Aysha, John-Thomas, Nicole, Lopes, Valerie, Ludwig, Lynn O, Martini, Tanya S, Motley, Phillip, Tomljenovic-Berube, Ana M
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Calgary Indiana University Press 01.01.2013
International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL)
University of Calgary
Subjects
Academic Degrees
Accountability
Coding
Core curriculum
Curriculum
Curriculum Development
Educational Methods
Higher Education
Inquiry
Instruction
Learning
Learning Processes
Literature Reviews
Periodicals
Qualifications
Scholarship
Social networks
Student Attitudes
Student Experience
Students
Teaching
Teaching Methods
United Kingdom > UK
Australia
United States > US
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:In the global higher education sector, government accountability initiatives are increasingly focused on degree-level competencies that may be expected from university graduates. The purpose of this paper was to examine the extent to which SoTL reflects this increased interest in student learning across the degree program. Articles (N=136) published in three international SoTL journals, over the past three years, were systematically reviewed using a framework that concentrated on the extent to which they reflected a focus of (a) teaching-emphasis versus learning-emphasis and (b) unit-level (subject, course) versus degree-/ program-level. Our analysis indicated that the majority of SoTL publications (47%) were focused at the level of a single unit with an emphasis on teaching practice; in contrast, only a small minority of SoTL publications (9%) were focused at the level of the overall degree with an emphasis on learning processes. Drawing on our review, we highlight SoTL publications that exemplify the inquiry into student learning at the level of the degree program and offer questions to guide future SoTL inquiries.
ISSN:2167-4779
2167-4787
2167-4787
DOI:10.20343/teachlearninqu.1.2.75