A model based on teacher engagement

Many authors have expanded upon Boyer’s initial call and offered definitions and models to help explain what the scholarship of teaching might be. One relatively early and quite useful model comes from Trigwell, Martin, Benjamin, and Prosser (2000). They consider the scholarship of teaching in terms of four dimensions of teacher engagement:

1. 1. The informed dimension: the extent to which a teacher engages with the scholarly contributions of others, including the literature of teaching and learning of a general nature, and particularly that in their discipline;
   2. The reflection dimension: the focus of their reflection on their own teaching practice and the learning of students within the context of their own discipline: whether it is unfocused, or whether it is asking what do I need to know and how do I find out;
   3. The communication dimension: the quality of the communication and dissemination of aspects of practice and theoretical ideas about teaching and learning in general, and teaching and learning within their discipline;
   4. The conception dimension: their conceptions of teaching and learning: whether the focus of their activities is on student learning and teaching or mainly on teaching (p. 163).

This definition helps us understand the different characteristics we can use to recognize an engagement with SoTL. Engaging with SoTL requires a teacher to be suitably informed and constructively reflective, to communicate effectively with others and disseminate information, and to adopt a conception of teaching that emphasizes student learning.

Further reading:
Trigwell, K., Martin, E., Benjamin, J., and Prosser, M. (2000). Scholarship of Teaching: A model. Higher Education Research & Development, 19(2), 155–168. https://doi.org/10.1080/072943600445628 Links to an external site.