A single case study on the practice of scholarship of teaching and learning

Abstract

This study examines the conception and importance of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) as perceived by a lecturer teaching in an engineering faculty in a local university in Malaysia. A case study was used to explore the way SoTL is understood and the extent the participant engages in research in teaching. Typical case sampling was used as sampling design to investigate the conception and practice of research in teaching and learning which might influence the effort and engagement in any activity related to the SoTL by lecturer. The qualitative finding showed that the importance of SoTL is undervalued due to lack of understanding of SoTL and its importance to students’ learning and development. SoTL is perceived as less important as compared to conducting research related to one expertise. SoTL is also regarded as a distinctive form of research that is commonly involved academics in social science fields especially education. It was also found that the pedagogical practice of the respondent is adopted from the pedagogical practice of his lecturers and senior faculty members that serve as his mentors. Even though the pedagogy of a discipline is related to its content knowledge, yet from this study, it was found that the respondent perceives that as long as one posseses the mastery of the content knowledge, one will have the mastery of the pedagogical knowledge. This assumption indirectly undermines the importance of pedagogical knowledge to be mastered as compared to the content knowledge. Based on the findings of this study, it further actions are suggested be taken into consideration to enhance the engagement of lecturers from scientific and technical based faculties in the scholarship of teaching and learning to enhance their teaching practice and their students’ learning.