BOOK REVIEW
TITLE: THE
SCHOLARSHIP OF TEACHING AND LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION: ON ITS CONSTITUTION AND TRANSFORMATIVE POTENTIAL
EDITORS:
Shirley Booth and Laurie Woollacott
PUBLISHER:
SUN Media under the imprint SUN PRESS. First edition 2015. SA Price: R250.00
The book
introduces Earnest L. Boyer in 1990, as
the creator of the concept of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) and
goes on to show the historical and social evolution of the idea. The notion has grown to encompass
many different views of the nature of SoTL since then. The book deals with the
philosophical underpinnings that gave rise to SoTL and traverses thinking on
the issue from Aristotle to the current times. The Aristotelian view that ‘Man
by nature cannot be without others’ concurs with the African philosophy of Ubuntu
and is reflected in the assumptions that underpin UNESCO's recommendations for
Higher Education that, “Higher Education personnel …. are expected to enhance
the observance in society of the cultural, economic, social , civil and
political rights of all people.”
In the
chapter “Invitational Pedagogy” by Teboho Pitso, he avers that, “The basis of
developing the alternative pedagogy was mainly to restore students’ agentic and
discretionary power through creating learning environments where students could
engage in independent research.
Invitational dialogic constructions were central to these efforts.” He
succinctly puts forward the case for SoTL and invitational learning in the
creative approach he uses in his ‘learnshops’.
Chapters 4
will be of interest to those in teacher education specifically and those in the
field of education generally. Laurie Woollacott presents an interesting case
study in MEDIATED INTERACTION GROUPS (MIGs). His findings suggest that this
innovative pedagogy (MIG) has a potential impact on educational practice.
The rest of
the chapters consider SoTL and transformation through a range of pedagogical
approaches in the Health Sciences, Engineering, Teacher Education and in
Academic Development. Overall the book is an interesting account of the
historical and philosophical aspects of SoTL together with real pedagogical
experiences of academics in the field. It confirms for those of us in higher
education that we influence, just as much as we are influenced by those with
whom we converse at a given moment and that our influences range over the scope
of the human condition – morals, habits and the political condition.
In the
final chapter, the editors, Booth and Woolacott summarize by considering the five core domains and two contextual domains of SoTL. The core domains are: didactic,
epistemic, social, moral and ethical and finally societal. The contextual
domains are the disciplinary and professional.
They
conclude that SoTL has a bearing on the status of the profession and the
potential for its transformation, at the individual, the institutional and the
societal levels.
For those who want a deeper understanding of where SoTL started, and where it is now, the first chapter is lovely. it is also useful for those who want to incorporate it into their teaching, and to make teaching more invitational, this is a book to buy.
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