Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Resources

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL or SOTL) is scholarly inquiry into student learning which advances the practice of teaching by making inquiry findings public.

SoTL builds on many past traditions in higher education, including classroom and program assessment, action research, the reflective practice movement, peer review of teaching, traditional educational research, and faculty development efforts to enhance teaching and learning

Wikipedia contributors. (2023, July 19). Scholarship of teaching and learning. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:34, August 15, 2023,

When considering a SoTL project, researchers often have one of four kinds of questions to address in the classroom or in their teaching.  These are:

• What works?
• What is?
• Visions of the possible
• Theory building

Often these questions come from the scholar’s own experiences and a curiosity to understand or a need to improve what is happening in their own teaching or classroom experience.Exploring these themes can help to formulate a path forward to answering questions about the teaching and learning processes.

From “Opening Lines: Approaches to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning” Hutchings (2000)

Support and many resources can be found at UC's Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CET&L).