Exploring our “wonderings”
Letting our curiosity about our teaching and our students' learning guide the research process.
This summer series began with an introduction and thinking about how SoTL research can fit into your identity as a faculty member and researcher. Now it’s time to start thinking about what you might want to study. Of course, the end goal is to get to an investigate-able problem, but to get there let’s begin with strategies for generating topics and problems we are curious about - our “wonderings.”
Last week you may have taken the opportunity to reflect on two important pieces of your identity: who you are as a teacher and who you are as a researcher.
Teaching Identity: What motivates you to teach? What are your teaching goals and aspirations? What is your overarching philosophy of teaching and learning? What are the key principles or theories that inform your teaching approach? What teaching strategies or approaches do you find most effective, and why?
Research Identity: Reflect on your research identity and its connection to your teaching practice. What are your primary research interests? How do these interests intersect with your teaching context? How do you approach research in your field or discipline? Are there any specific methodologies or theoretical frameworks that guide your research?
Now it’s time to think about . . .
What we wonder about teaching & learning
Generating potential classroom research topics should be an exciting and creative process, but it can be hard to know where to start. Here are some ways to get inspired:
Reflect on Teaching and Learning Challenges: Think about the challenges or issues you have encountered in your own teaching practice or observed in the classroom. Consider areas where you feel there is a need for improvement, gaps in knowledge, or aspects that could be further explored. These challenges can serve as a starting point for generating research topics.
Stay Informed about Educational Trends and Literature: Stay updated on current educational trends, research articles, and literature in your field of interest. Reading scholarly journals, attending conferences, and engaging in discussions with colleagues can spark ideas for research topics that align with current conversations and gaps in the literature.
Engage with Students and Seek Their Input: Interact with your students and listen to their perspectives on their learning experiences. Engaging in dialogue with students can provide insights into areas where they feel they could benefit from improvements, and their input can guide you in generating research topics that directly address their needs and interests.
Collaborate with Colleagues: Collaborate with fellow educators, both within your institution and beyond, to discuss potential research ideas. Collaborative discussions often lead to new insights and research topics that benefit from diverse perspectives.
Consider Emerging Technologies or Pedagogical Approaches: Explore the impact of emerging technologies or innovative pedagogical approaches on teaching and learning. Investigate how these tools or methods can enhance student engagement, improve learning outcomes, or address specific educational challenges.
Generating research topics is an iterative process, and it's normal to refine and narrow down your ideas as you progress. The goal is to identify research topics that are meaningful, aligned with your interests, and have the potential to make a positive impact on teaching and learning in the classroom.
HOMEWORK: Building from identity to research
Synthesize and Reflect: Review your responses from the previous steps and identify any patterns or recurring themes. Reflect on how your identity as an instructor and researcher influence each other, and think about the overall impact you seek to have on student learning and on the advancement of knowledge about teaching and learning in your field.
Action Plan: Based on your reflections, identify one or two areas where you would like to further develop or explore as an instructor and researcher. Try to write a short description of the topic or the problem you’ve identified - we will build on this next week as we develop research questions.
Optional: If you would like to share your reflections or discuss your findings with others, join us in the Substack chat.
It may be summertime, but the slower (or just different) rhythm of the summer semester is a perfect opportunity to engage in deep reflection and plan for the upcoming academic year. I encourage you to embrace this opportunity for introspection and consider how your insights can inform your teaching and research practices moving forward.
Questions? Suggestions? Leave a comment below!
