SoTL Assessment Funding, Information,
& Resources
Mini-grant funding for 2023/2024 available soon!
Getting Started
ATL supports faculty and teaching professor (lecturer) efforts to engage in SoTL by offering workshops and consultations, funding opportunities, and providing access to curated resources to facilitate the planning, execution, and publication of your research. Staff are available for consultations on your project and project ideas.
Note: If you intend to present and/or publish your SoTL research publicly – which we strongly encourage you to do – you will need IRB approval. The Office of Research Integrity provided an overview of the IRB process for SOTL research.
Funding to Support Your SoTL Research
Funding is provided to facilitate engagement of URI faculty/teaching professors (lecturers) or teams of faculty/lecturers in the development and execution of research focused on either undergraduate or graduate program-level student learning using outcomes assessment strategies. Projects should frame and systematically investigate questions related to student learning with the goals of improving student learning and contributing to scholarly literature and may focus on a critical facet of student learning for a program or on comprehensive program assessment. Multi-year projects and work already underway will also be considered. Please consider projects that infuse diversity and anti-racism teaching and learning approaches throughout the curriculum.
| Funding | Requirement | Timeline | Submission Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Assessment Office anticipates funding up to 8 proposals for $1,500 each per year. Funding may be used to provide summer support for faculty/teaching professors (lecturers), for professional development (books, webinars, virtual conferences with registration) or for securing graduate student hourly support. | The recipients of the SoTL award will: – Agree to participate in the annual Showcase of Teaching and Learning to highlight their scholarship. (Held in March/April of each academic year). – Submit a project report in the May after funding has been awarded. – Notify the Assessment Office upon the successful publication of any research product. | Proposals must be emailed to assess@uri.edu in order to be reviewed and considered. Award recipients will be notified of the status of their proposals shortly after the team has reviewed the application. | The Assessment Office in conjunction with an external peer faculty group will convene to select finalists. Selection criteria will include the feasibility of the proposed project, well-considered research design and execution, and the potential for the research to make a contribution to the scholarship of teaching and learning using assessment. Reminder: IRB approval needed for publishing. The Office of Research Integrity provided an overview of the IRB process for SOTL research. |
2023 Recipients of SoTL Awards
- Hana Mogawer, Xiao Song, Department of Chemistry: The Effect of Guided Problem Solving Sessions on Performance of Underrepresented Students on Introductory Chemistry Assessments, part 2
- Alisa Baron, Department of Communicative Disorders: The self-perceptions of speech language pathology graduate students before and after voluntary stuttering experiences
Past Recipients of SoTL Awards
Consultations
Conducting research on teaching and learning – whether in a specific course, for a program, or across disciplines – is part of strong reflective practice and building a healthy environment of teaching and learning. We can help get you started.
- Sotl Resources
- For Course Level Email: Faculty Development [Teach@uri.edu]
- For Program Level Email: Assessment [Assess@uri.edu]
Resources
Please check out the following for more information on successful SoTL Projects:
- New Directions for Teaching and Learning, Special Issue: Doing the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Measuring Systematic Changes to Teaching and Improvements in Learning: http://bit.ly/SoTLresource
- Nancy Chick (SoTL expert) has written the “SoTL Guide” to understanding and doing SoTL: https://nancychick.wordpress.com/sotl-guide/
- IRB and Ethical Concern: https://web.uri.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1970/IRB-for-SoTL-4.22.2021.pdf
- The University of Calgary developed a comprehensive guide to what is SoTL and the steps in conducting a SoTL project.
Share Your SoTL Results
Sharing your findings is a fundamental step in the SoTL process. In addition to sharing at the Annual Faculty/Teaching Professors (lecturers) Showcase, we strongly encourage sharing with the field at large (if you have obtained IRB approval.)
There are many conferences and journals looking for contributions. Illinois State University has compiled a great list of publications and conferences for consideration as does Kennesaw State University.
Selected Conferences (SoTL)
- Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education
- Lilly Conferences
- New England Educational Assessment Network
- The International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning
- POD Network
Selected Educational Research Organizations & Conferences
- American Educational Research Association (AERA)
- American Evaluation Association (AEA)
- Association for Institutional Research (AIR)
- Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE)
- Comparative and International Education Society (CIES)
- University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA)
Selected SoTL-Focused Journals
- Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education
- Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
- International Journal Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
- Intersection: A Journal at the Intersection of Assessment and Learning
- Research & Practice in Assessment
