Understanding scholarship of teaching and learning : a narrative inquiry into a community of university teachers

Abstract

This thesis inquires narratively into the practice of scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) and teachers’ personal practical knowing process in a self-initiated community of university teachers in China. Following a conception by Boyer (1990) that research should be incorporated into teaching as the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), Huber & Hutchings (2005) theorize SoTL in a four-core-practice framework of a linear process of individual expression for research and publication. However, not much attention has been given to the important dynamics of collaborative learning. Adopting a social theory of learning and Wenger’s “communities of practice” (1998, 2002), this thesis extends the framework by Huber & Hutchings to investigate the integrated form of individual and collaborative SoTL practice. “Personal practical knowledge” by Connelly, Clandinin & He (1997) is considered in the light of Palmer’s “community of truth” (1998), which is aimed at developing an integrated perspective for understanding teachers’ evolving personal practical knowledge in the SoTL community.

This study involves four university academics who are ready to cultivate a SoTL community. They become learning associates for one another, as they went beyond merely sharing concerns and practices about teaching to reach collaborative inquiry into their perceived problems. In response to new circumstances, the SoTL community evolves from an initial grouping of four to increased membership in the formal structure of the system.

Narrative inquiry is adopted as the basis for research methodology. Data are collected via ethnographic observation of community meetings, writing correspondence and documentation. The study is naturalistic, collaborative and developmental by nature, enacted within Clandinin & Connelly’s narrative inquiry space along three dimensions (2000). The richness of the narrative experiences and the salient details of the community learning are organized into four narrative profiles, and each carries consistently three progressive steps, followed by the summary of narrative analysis, and concluded with an overview.

From teachers’ lived experience in the SoTL community, the adapted framework by Huber & Hutchings is validated, showing that (1) inquiry evidence is multiplied through sharing dynamics; (2) teaching problems are re-defined from diverse resources through collaborative inquiry; (3) changes in teaching as a SoTL initiative are experimented; and (4) learning relationship is woven for further development in the community of inquiry. The study extends understanding of “personal practical knowledge” (Connelly, Clandinin, & He 1997) from moral and intellectual dimensions to shed light on the development of teachers’ personal practical knowledge in the SoTL community. Morally engaged, teachers not only fasten their commitment to teaching improvement, but also become aware of ethical dilemmas with readiness to tackle them. On a moral ground, teachers are empowered to make intellectual progress. They are capable of cultivating an authentic, critical, moral self to withstand the external pressure. They acquire growing competence to address the complexities of teaching and learning, from which to harvest context-specific knowledge. In conclusion, the study presents an alternative paradigm of SoTL for teachers to strengthen their capacity and learn together for professional development.