Conestoga’s Annual Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (SoTL) Award 2023

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Theme for 2023: Any SoTL Theme

Conestoga faculty are invited to submit an entry for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (SoTL) Award. The competition seeks to fulfill the following goals:

• Share, promote and reward the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning
• Highlight ways faculty are using research to explore aspects of Teaching & Learning
• Build energy and momentum for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

Entries should follow the four principles of good practice in SoTL [1] that state SoTL:

1. involves inquiry into student learning that has clear goals and is critically reflective
2. is grounded in context, building on evidence-informed research
3. is methodologically sound using either discipline-specific or social science methods that connect the research question to student learning
4. is conducted in partnership with students (or at least must be ethical)

Details

The 2023 competition focuses on either action or formal research with a focus to be announced in the new year. Entries require a 4 to 5 page summary that describes a faculty-led research project conducted during the 2022-23 academic year. It can be an individual or team effort and report either work-in-progress or final results.

Reviewers will be representatives from College research-related departments (ethics, degree quality, institutional research) and at least one student. Each member of a winning entry will receive a certificate of achievement and up to two members will receive a tech-based teaching resource (choice of microphone/headset, selfie tripod stand with ring-light, or podcast-style microphone). 

How to participate

1. Review the essential requirements, format, and rubric below
2. Prepare a 4-5 page summary of your research including references
3. Submit your research summary by e-mail to teachingandlearning@conestogac.on.ca. Please use the subject line: Faculty Research Award
4. Due date: October 2 , 2023
5. Reviewer will independently review and score the submission using the rubric. Scores will be combined to determine the winner.
6. Winner(s) will be announced December 4, 2022.
7. Results will be shared on the Faculty Learning Hub and you will be asked to showcase your work at the next Conestoga Research Symposium.

Three Essential Requirements

The research must:

• align with all relevant teaching and learning-related College policies and procedures (Y/N)
• align with the principles of SoTL (Y/N)
• explore and extend knowledge associated with the SoTL award’s theme (Y/N)

Research Summary Format

The research summary should be written using APA @ Conestoga‘s recommended font, line spacing and margins.  Please include the following sections:

• Context: identify an issue, specifies why it is problematic, and locate the research within the context of a specific community or field
• Purpose / Goal: identify the specific question, issue, or problem to be examined
• Approach / Methods: outline the research method(s), sample, and analysis method(s)
• Results: answer the ‘What?’ question by defining the major research finding(s)
• Conclusions / Recommendations / Summary: answer the ‘So what?’ by explaining your findings relative to the issue and the ‘Now what?’ question by demonstrates the specific contribution your findings make to the field

Evaluation Rubric for the 2023 SoTL Award* (PDF)

*This rubric will only be used if the three essential requirements are met

[1] Felten, P. (2013). Principles of good practice in SoTL. Teaching and Learning Inquiry: The ISSOTL Journal, 1(1), 121-125.