Characterizing SoTL Across Canada

SoTL Canada recently conducted a survey to gain insight into the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) activities of faculty and staff at institutions of higher education across Canada. Questions were guided by several principles, including: (a) identifying who is doing SoTL (such as personal, institutional, geographical and professional characteristics); (b) characterizing how SoTL is being conducted, supported, and disseminated (such as collaborations with peers and students, the number of active projects), and (c) differentiating the levels at which SoTL activities are occurring and funded. While we likely did not fully capture the work being done, our inquiry nonetheless provides important data related to the current nature and scope of SoTL in Canada. We noted that the people doing SoTL show a wide diversity of characteristics including appointments and disciplinary affiliations although a majority of respondents were female, and that collaborations with both colleagues and students were commonplace. SoTL continues to be conducted primarily at the classroom level, and approximately 65% of respondents have received funding, mostly from the institutional level. We also found an increased amount of activity compared to the last Canadian survey conducted in 2012, in particular by staff from Centres for Teaching and Learning. Survey participants reported discussing their SoTL findings with their colleagues more often than with their students. A number of areas of future research are identified.