2000—2001 SOTL Introductory Messages
A Message from Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
and Dean of the Faculties Moya L. Andrews
Following the successful series last year when we had a wide variety
of topics and excellent presenters, we are pleased to present our SOTL
program for this new academic year. Once again, this promises to be a
series of events focused upon many issues that are important to all of
us within our academic community. At Indiana University we are fortunate
to have a tradition of excellence in teaching. We are determined to build
on our fine reputation by increasing the amount of scholarly projects
that inform and enhance how we teach in our classrooms, laboratories,
studios and offices.
We have already established a leadership role in the national initiative
of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Members of our faculty attended
and also presented papers at most of the major meetings last year to chart
the national agenda. This year even more research studies are under way
and more papers are scheduled to be presented at national meetings. We
are proud of the fact that increasing numbers of junior as well as senior
faculty from most of our disciplines are engaged in SOTL enterprises.
Their work is increasing the scholarly body of work available to all of
us.
The intellectual resources of our faculty are our most precious commodity
and we all benefit when faculty research skills are applied to gather
data about teaching. It is another important way in which we demonstrate
our collective commitment to continuing to improve support for student
learning.
This is a challenging time for the university as we try to cope with
change while holding fast to our long commitment to high quality educational
standards. By monitoring national trends, engaging in informed discussions
and collaborating on research projects that address fundamental issues,
we will be able to maintain a high profile nationally. More importantly,
we will be better positioned to be responsive to the challenges and opportunities
that students of the future bring to Indiana University.
While our lives are increasingly busy and there never seems to be enough
time, I urge you to take some time to attend campuswide events such as
those outlined in this booklet. There has always been something special
about the Bloomington campus community. Herman B Wells nurtured it, prized
it and left his imprint on it. He demonstrated that membership in the
campus community is one of the rewarding aspects of life at a university
and that we shape the future of the academy when we share our perspectives.
Please join your colleagues from other units for at least some of this
year’s SOTL events. Your participation is important because it increases
the breadth of the SOTL vision. Participation also provides opportunities
for faculty to form and maintain relationships with colleagues. These
relationships are crucial to the perpetuation of the campuswide sense
of community that has always been one of Bloomington’s most valued
assets.
Moya L. Andrews is professor of Speech & Hearing Sciences and Vice
Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculties. Born in Australia,
she graduated from Queensland University in Brisbane, completed a masters
degree at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a doctorate
from Columbia University. She is a Fellow of the American Speech Language
& Hearing Association and also a Fellow of the Society of Ear, Nose, and
Throat Advances in Children. Her work on voice disorders and her clinical
protocols are used worldwide. The author of four books and two manuals
of voice treatment for pediatric through geriatric patient populations,
she has also published extensively in the research journals. She founded
the voice clinic at Indiana University which she directed for twenty years.
She is active in national and state professional organizations and associate
editor of the Journal of Voice. In 1997 she was honored by the Indiana
Speech & Hearing Association for outstanding clinical achievements and
in 1999 received the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Office of Women’s
Affairs.
A Message from the Vice President for Research
and Dean of the Graduate School
One thing all university faculty constantly struggle with throughout
their academic careers is trying to balance the three traditional components
of their jobs—teaching, research, and service. Sometimes these three
areas are seen in conflict with one another, and certainly even the most
experienced professors get “stressed out” at times in trying
to divide their time, energies, and creativity among the three areas.
The beauty of the Scholarship of Teaching (SOTL) initiative at Indiana
University is that it affords us a unique opportunity to integrate all
areas of the academic enterprise in a new and exciting way, so in fact
the supposed teaching/research dichotomy disappears—as it naturally
should since both are ways of facilitating learning and developing a learning
community.
When I spoke to the Indiana University community about a year ago I noted
that it had been said that research is what you do and scholarship
is what you think about what you do. Scholarship is more reflective.
Research can be essentially learning to use big widgets to get certain
kinds of data, or learning certain kinds of techniques—learning to
use a hammer. Scholarship is the kind of thing that keeps you from seeing
everything as a nail, once you’ve learned to use a hammer. So there
is a reflectiveness associated with scholarship that complements or goes
beyond research, but they are still tied together. I believe that the
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning emphasizes this philosophy.
As a result of the efforts spearheaded by our Academic Affairs and Dean
of Faculties office and Research and the University Graduate School (RUGS),
we at Indiana University have “put our money where our mouth is”
by providing funds for those engaged in the scholarship of teaching and
learning on exactly the same basis as we provide funds for research in
any other academic area—and we have all already benefitted from it
and will find increasing benefits in the future. We have the same high
expectations for SOTL projects that we have for disciplinary research.
Specifically RUGS has provided matching funds for external funding on
the scholarship of teaching from federal, private, and individual donors.
Secondly, we have expanded the Summer Faculty Fellowship areas to fund
Summer Faculty Fellowships in research in teaching.
If we rejoice in the gifts of great teachers, and I believe we do in
the community that I’m proud to be part of, then it is all the more
important—in fact, it’s essential—for us to learn more
about great teaching. And that requires research, and then a body of research
and reflection. The scholarship of teaching and learning is the means
to that end, and therefore is a vital endeavor for a great university.
The good news is that there is broad interest nationally in the area
of scholarship of teaching and learning, and that Indiana University is
seen as a pioneer in this important endeavor. The better news is that
this issue is so important to our society and our democratic civilization
that the scholarship of teaching is going to flourish—it’s just
a matter of how long it will take and whether or not it will be on our
watch. The best news is that you personally as scholars and mentors
are going to have a profound and satisfying positive influence on generations
of learners by your efforts in this area—long after your specific
teaching, research, and administration has been outdated, the mentoring
you have carried out in this area (when you didn’t even know it and
thought you were doing other things) will profoundly affect those who
come into contact with you without time and space limitation.
George E. Walker is Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate
School. He has been a Professor of Physics at IU since 1970. He has published
widely in refereed physics journals, delivered many invited talks at international
conferences and workshops and served on numerous regional and national
advisory boards. Current appointments include Association of American
Universities (AAU) Task Force on Graduate Education, AAU Council on Federal
Relations, Graduate Record Examinations Board, Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory Physics and Space Technology Directorate Advisory Committee,
National Association of State Universities & Land Grant Colleges Board
of Directors, National Research Council Committee on Methods of Forecasting
Demand and Supply of Doctoral Scientists and Engineers, North Central
Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission of Institutions of Higher
Education, and the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) Policy
Council.
Retrospect of the SOTL Initiative’s First
Year and Prospect of the Second
Response within the Bloomington academic community to the SOTL initiative
exceeded expectations for the first year. Beyond the campus, Indiana University’s
ideas and materials are widely circulated. Developments here are watched
with interest elsewhere.
First year goals were to acknowledge the work of scholars of teaching
on the Bloomington campus, to make these scholars visible, to create awareness
of scholarship of teaching and learning, and to form a community of those
interested in such scholarship.
The program to achieve these goals was ambitious. It featured local scholars
in highly visible events approximately every two weeks of the fall and
spring terms. Participation was excellent. As a result, some scholars
and their work are better known on the campus now than formerly. More
faculty members are aware of this domain of scholarship now than a year
ago. We go into the second year with a growing community of interested
faculty who are acquainted with each other, mutually supportive, and working
on a large number of interesting ideas.
Vice President for Research George Walker’s talk expanding the vision
of Indiana University’s research mission to include scholarship of
teaching and learning launched our first year program last September.
The American Association of Higher Education invited him to give the talk
to a national representation of research universities in December. His
vision was unprecedented and the paper derived from his talk was widely
disseminated nationally. The series of SOTL events in Bloomington fired
imaginations elsewhere too, resulting in dissemination of our initiative
by AAHE and the Carnegie Academy as a model. Others look to Bloomington
as to a beacon at this point in time, and our institution is well positioned
to participate in future national initiatives at the cutting edge of this
emerging area of scholarship. It was a good first year, but much remains
to be done.
Faculty Are the Sine Qua Non of the SOTL Initiative
The structure and content originate almost exclusively in Bloomington
faculty. Some, but by no means all, of the most active contributors are
members of the SOTL Advisory Council. The creativity of faculty supporters
and the degree to which individuals contribute their own time and effort
without acknowledgement in tasks which they, themselves, often define
is both crucial and inspirational.
Why are academicians accommodating the SOTL initiative in their already
too busy schedules? Certainly challenges posed by changes in the world
external to the campus provide impetus for a scholarship of teaching and
learning. However, the SOTL initiative is not another attempted teaching
reform imposed from without. Rather it seems very much the enactment of
visions and ideals from within the hearts of Bloomington faculty. The
SOTL initiative embodies two interests common to most Bloomington faculty:
the creation of new knowledge and teaching. The initiative bridges the
weary debate over priorities of teaching and research, merging them in
refreshing and useful ways. SOTL opens additional avenues of productivity
thereby making greater use of our intellectual capital. SOTL also synthesizes
teaching-related interests across campus units thereby meeting latent
needs for community.
Concurrent Colloquia In the second year, “featured
topic and presenter” events like those in the first year will continue
both to demonstrate the scholarship and to disseminate the findings. They
are well received. However, a second event format, “concurrent colloquia,”
will also be piloted. The colloquium format affords obliging cross-disciplinary
venues for discussion of more topics than is possible with the first format.
Concurrent colloquia are opportunities for smaller groups to gather in
a pleasant and leisurely ambience for conversation about topics of mutual
interest. Perhaps the colloquia will serve as seedbeds from which scholarly
activities grow. If you have a topic for a colloquium, please contact
me directly (856 4231, samthomp@indiana.edu) or contact Sharon Smith (855-9023,
smiths@indiana.edu). Additional
concurrent colloquia sessions may be scheduled during the year to accommodate
demand. Follow this link for a description
of the first concurrent colloquia event.
Samuel Thompson
Chair of the SOTL Advisory Council
Assistant to the Dean of the Faculties
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