SoTL: Growing Lemon Trees

Last week we discussed some of the different ways to conduct SoTL research during our 20th Course Design Studio. Accordingly, we thought it timely to share the article, Growing Lemon Trees from Lemons: Lessons Reaped from a SoTL Faculty Learning Communities Research. The article reports obstacles encountered while conducting SoTL research and the role of a faculty learning community in overcoming these challenges. The central theme of the article asks the question:

“What does it mean to embrace obstacles and failures as part of our work as researchers and to treat it as central to our scholarship?”

Several examples are discussed, such as researchers who diligently worked to cover every eventuality through a detailed IRB protocol, however “Murphy’s Law” intervenes and derails the process. Another example provided speaks to the ‘accidental’ SoTL project, in which a researcher who was struggling to define their methodology, found the path to the literature that encapsulates the central tenet of the study as result of a number of failed events.

In summary, the self-reflective process that these researchers experienced through failure, allowed the weakness of their design to be realized, and other new exciting avenues explored.

Dich, L., Brown, K., Kuznekoff, J., Conover, T., Forren, J., & Marshall, Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Vol. 17, No. 4, October 2017, pp. 1-16. doi: 10.14434/josotl.v17i4.21377