Motivations for SoTL
– Faculty development opportunities.
– Increased reflection on teaching and learning among colleagues.
– Renewed excitement about teaching and learning, and greater self-awareness.
Above are the 3 motivations I picked from the list provided. My personal choices here related more to intrinsic value instead of extrinsic rewards such as money or publications, although they are also important. I think ‘renewed excitement on teaching and learning’ is #1! It was my first choice, though it is last on the list. This ties into my 2nd choice which was ‘increased reflection on teaching and learning’. In order to have a renewed excitement you need to be analyzing and identifying what you think is important and then trying it out and experimenting with it. Sharing with your peer group of colleagues is a perfect opportunity to reflect with individuals doing similar work as you, but perhaps in different disciplines with different perspectives. Being passionate about teaching and learning should be mandatory for all educators; if you do not love what you do, how can you expect your students to?
My final choice for this activity was ‘faculty development opportunities’. I think this is important because faculty need to be given an opportunity to grow and change in order to continually improve their own methods and therefor the learning conditions for their students. Sometimes there is a misconception that teachers know everything, but in reality teachers should be advocates for lifelong learning for students and themselves. Opportunities to learn and grow are invaluable and should offered to them as well as students. This way, the teachers can know how students feel and can design courses from first hand experience of having tried the methods they expect their students to execute.
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