The scholarship of teaching and learning as integrative practice

Abstract

In this issue of AJSoTL, the two original articles, commentary and book review demonstrate how the scholarship of teaching and learning is an integrative practice, drawing research and teaching into alignment at a number of levels. Hubball et al. refer to SoTL’s seminal articulation by Boyer in 1990, but in considering the articles in this issue, we could also usefully recall von Humboldt’s notion, in 1810, of the university as a place where both teachers and students are in the service of scholarship. In the university, he suggests, teaching and research are not separate domains. Through scholarship, teachers and students pursue knowledge together. Unlike school education, where teachers instil settled knowledge, the university is a place where everything is subject to the dynamics of scholarly investigation. Von Humboldt’s ideas are often cited as the foundation on which modern universities are built, but they pose a challenge to the way modern universities have split teaching and research. (Abstract taken from first paragraph of document)