In 1998, Bill Clinton was president, gas was $1.15 per gallon, France won the World Cup, Google was founded, and SoTL at IUB got its start. This means, SoTL is celebrating its 20th birthday this fall. Happy Birthday SoTL!
During the fall 1998 semester, a small committee of faculty, teaching development staff, and the Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculties asked, “How can we best improve undergraduate learning?” At the same time, the Carnegie Foundation launched the CASTL Program (Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning), which sought to “support the development of a scholarship of teaching and learning that: fosters significant, long-lasting learning for all students; enhances the practice and profession of teaching, and; brings to faculty members’ work as teachers the recognition and reward afforded to other forms of scholarly work.” By spring semester 1999, the first IUB SoTL grants were available.
These grants as well as the speaker’s series have been a hallmark of the program over the past two decades. In the beginning, the majority of the speakers were faculty members at IU. As SoTL has grown as recognized form of scholarship and way to improve teaching and learning, so has the programming available to the IUB community. The speaker’s series brings multiple nationally recognized SoTL scholars to campus each year, and $35,000 in SoTL grants are available annually to IUB faculty who wish to engage in this work.
In addition to these programmatic hallmarks, faculty and graduate students at IUB can also engage with SoTL via reading groups, journal club, workshops, faculty learning communities, the SoTL database, regular blog posts, and more. Join us for a celebration of SoTL at IUB on September 14, 2018. Learn more about the SoTL work occurring on campus as faculty and graduate students present via short “ignite talks” and research posters. Representatives from various offices offering support for aspects of SoTL will be available to answer questions. There may even be cake.
If you would like to present a poster during the showcase, please submit a proposal by July 30, 2018.
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