Asking Bigger Questions

This week we continue to engage in SoTL conversations and its potentially larger impact, so would like to share a paper entitled, "Asking Bigger Questions: An Invitation to Further Conversation", an essay by the editors of a special issue of SoTL in the Arts and Humanities (A&H). The authors note the shortcomings of SoTL when discipline-specific contexts and their diversity are not embraced. At its origin, SoTL encouraged a breadth of participation, but narratives from the A&H convey methodological challenges and criticisms that distract from opportunities for broader investigations that stand to transform higher education. This empirical emphasis can also discourage and even marginalize contributions from the A&H. However, by integrating humanist perspectives rather than striving for methodological conformity SoTL research would return to its original intent, become more inclusive, and gain significant contributions.

Bloch-Schulman, S., Conkling, S. W., Linkon, S. L., Manarin, K., & Perkins, K. (2016). Asking bigger questions: An invitation to further conversation. Teaching & Learning Inquiry, 4(1), 1-7.