Letter from the Editor Vol 11, no 1

Volume 11, no. 1 presents ten articles addressing SoTL from various perspectives as teachers, learners and researchers. Two articles focus on peer support to enhance teaching and learning: one with a focus on a teacher-to-teacher support program for innovative teaching, and one with a focus on student-to-student support utilizing various Apps to enhance writing development. Five articles call our attention to the activities and strategies taking place in classrooms. One of these articles is a replication study of student perceptions of the first day of class. A second article in this set presents a study of the effectiveness of Team Based Learning (TBL) in teacher education classrooms. Third, is an exploration of both digital and analog teaching tools in the teaching of history. A fourth article in this set utilizes SoTL as an assessment tool for contemplative pedagogies. And, the fifth article provides an exploration of the concept of inspirational teaching. Two articles in this volume provide research on Play Therapy in the field of counselor education. One study reports on self-perceived competence of students in using Play Therapy following intensive coursework; and the other study uses a constructivist-developmental framework to evaluate the teaching of Play Therapy in counseling courses. The final article in this issue explores the impact of “taking Fordism into the university sector.” This essay worries about the homogenizing of the ideal of the university. Marketing to reach larger and larger audiences with larger and larger class sizes results in the university becoming “a distilled version of its former self.

Serious or Not? Male Perspectives of Sexual Harrassment in Schools

This presentation was given during the Georgia Educational Research Association Annual Conference

The New Hello and Other Forms of Harassment in Schools

This presentation was given during the Georgia Educational Research Association Annual Conference

Transformative Education in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: An Analysis of SoTL Literature

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) though in its youth, is perceived by many as transforming the academy. Will the transformation of the academy promised by SoTL be a mere shifting of priorities from research in the disciplines to research in pedagogy? Or will SoTL pursue transformation of the conception of teaching and learning whereby the commons influence our identities as knowers and actors engaged in scholarship for the purposes of transformation and growth on local and global scales? Our purpose is to explore whether the scholarship of teaching and learning, as represented in literature associated with SoTL, is being utilized for transformative or transgressive (hooks, 1994) educational practices. What does a review of literature identified as SoTL reveal about the utilization of the commons and the transformative practice of SoTL? Is SoTL playing its role in promoting education that is responsive to the sociopolitical climates in which teaching and learning occur

Exploring the Experiences of Female High School Dropouts in Georgia

This presentation was given during the Georgia Educational Research Association Annual Conference

Letter from the Editors

Welcome to vol.14, no. 1 of the International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Beyond the usual introduction to the issue, we\u27d like to address the extraordinary circumstances under which we all find ourselves working. After a year where the Journal shifted publication schedules, and thus included three issues in vol. 13, this issue is the first of a volume that drops back to our usual biannual publication. It is also the first issue since over six million of us have been infected by the Coronavirus. We thought seriously about delaying this issue, but ultimately decided against that. We recognized that our authors, readers, and reviewers expected us to meet our commitments, but all would certainly understand a more accommodating pace. However, we\u27re not quite so easy on ourselves, and felt that honoring our scheduling commitments was a chance to create something firm and reliable in an increasingly uncertain world. We have found that this work was not only intellectually fulfilling and stimulating, but it has somehow made us feel more connected to one another. While we are all experiencing various levels of social distancing and isolation, work like this — and that includes reading this issue — reminds us that we are still a part of a community of scholars and educators, all sharing the common goal of increasing the chances of our students\u27 success. As the spring 2020 semester limped to an end and the repetitious days ran into one another in seemingly endless monotony, it was sometimes diffcult to remember the misty past of just three months ago. So we hope that this issue helps you to maintain some vestige of normality, whatever that means to you. Creating and keeping a timeline are two very separate things, especially when the normal order of our lives is so disrupted. The former requires imagination, while the second requires that plus discipline. This issue would not have been possible without the outstanding efforts of our reviewers, who added this work to their myriad additional responsibilities of porting courses and teaching online, maintaining their own scholarly and pedagogical activities, and adjusting to the new-found silence of the campus-at-home. We salute their willingness to work with us to create an issue we can be proud of. And we can\u27t leave the matter of our reviewers without offering readers an opportunity to apply to become a member of our Editorial Board. The secure form for any nomination is at this URL: https://forms.gle/u6eAWFG8ajN62mJL6 In recognition of the new normal our reviewers now face, we must begin to extend our timelines for notifications to authors concerning their manuscripts. Historically, we have tried to let authors know the decicions of our reviewers within six weeks. But this past semester has shown us that such a short turnaround time is too much to ask of our reviewers. Many potential mansucripts for this issue were sent to four or five different reviewers before one of them would agree to review it. Each back-and-forth between the editors and the reviewers eats into our promised response time. A quick review of the editorial response times for a number of biannual academic journals across multiple disciplines reveals that their response times vary from seven weeks to five months. We believe that extending our timeline will help our reviewers feel less time-pressed, and therefore be more willing to accept review assignments. This will also cut down on the frustration of authors who understandably would like to know the status of their submitted manuscripts. Moving our response time to a more flexible and less specific period will, we hope, help us to cover many of the contingencies we may need to address, while still allowing us to accommodate the majority of those who submit work to the Journal. The fall 2020 semester does not appear like it will offer a return to the groundedness most of us knew previously. Given this uncertainty, the articles in this issue, then, look very timely. Considering primarily faculty, authors here address collaboration and mentoring. Other authors focus on students, looking at their sense of self, their ability to reflect on their work, their critical thinking skills, and their perceptions of both faculty feedback and grading systems. Two articles consider technology from both student and faculty perspectives. And at the societal level, three authors address such varied issues as diversity training, incorporating global perspectives, and teaching social justice. As we all redefine ourselves and our roles for the foreseeable future, we know that the Journal will continue to provide you with the research, arguments, and motivation that inform and inspire your teaching. But we hope that we may also continue to remind you that you are not alone in your uncertainty, your consideration, or your commitment

Letter from the Editor

Vol. 12, no. 2 of The International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning presents 15 research articles and one essay on SoTL. Ranging in discipline from Biology and Healthcare to Education, as well as more generalized undergraduate teaching and research interests; this collection of research articles provides insight into peer feedback, students as partners and collaborators in research and teaching, flipped classrooms, community engagement, and much more. The essay explores the controversial topic of the relationship between research and teaching, asking if the tenure and promotion process fuels negative attitudes toward teaching in faculty at the university level. Additionally, IJSoTL is now catalogued by the Directory of Open Access Journals, thereby increasing awareness and readership of the journal and enhancing our digital footprint. The DOAJ has links to our Editorial Board, submission guidelines for authors, and web page detailing the journal’s aims and scope. Further, the DOAJ acknowledges IJSoTL as a “double blind peer review” journal. Our expansion into multiple indexing services (along with DOAJ, the Journal is now indexed in ERIC, EBSCOhost, Taylor & Francis, and De Gruyter Saur) has increased our readership and the number of citations for our authors. The Editors-in-Chief have also been revising submission guidelines to facilitate both the submission and review processes. Of particular note, we ask that manuscripts be submitted in one file only, with supporting tables and charts at the end of the file. Here is a link to our policies page for further reference: digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/ij-sotl/policies.html#GSR Please ensure that submissions are properly copy edited and follow these guidelines, in order to avoid having them returned for revisions before the review process can begin. Finally, we would be remiss if we didn’t again thank the members of our Editorial Board. Their work in the blind review process for submitted manuscripts allows us to publish the Journal on time. We continue to seek nominations (including self-nominations) for the Editorial Board. These can be sent to [email protected]

Letter from the Editors

This issue of the International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 13(1) presents 12 research articles, their studies focusing on post-secondary education at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. The breadth of subject disciplines addressed and the startling geographical reach of these articles reflects both the maturity and ubiquity of SoTL. The quality of these studies demonstrates that the analysis of the processes involved in teaching and learning is a vibrant field, one that is still carving out its place within the academy. The practitioners included here continue to demonstrate that SoTL is a lynchpin for connecting our scholarship with our teaching. As one of the primary organs for the publication of work in our field, the Journal is committed to reflecting the current realities of that field, and toward that end we’re making two changes. The first is purely a matter of timing. Our previous publication schedule (the one for this issue) had us publishing in July and January. Our new schedule, to be implemented with the remainder of volume 13, is to publish in May and November. To keep our volumes limited to a single calendar year, this volume (13) will contain three issues: #1, which you have before you; #2, to be published in May 2019; and #3, to be published in November 2019. Volume 14 will contain our usual two issues, to be published in May and November of 2020. The second change is more significant, and reflects the maturity of both our field and the Journal. We’d like to formalize a practice that both the editors and the editorial board have been following for some time. One of the fundamental characteristics of SoTL is that it is a meta-discipline. Unlike most academic fields, SoTL cannot exist within its own silo. Teaching and learning occur within other, more specific, subject areas, and we bring SoTL strategies to bear on that process in situ. But the outcomes of these practices cannot be limited to a particular discipline. SoTL acknowledges that the results of an analysis of the practices used in, say, a physics course, should, in some manner, offer guidance for the practices used in a literature course as well. The Journal, then, prefers work that looks beyond a single subject field and addresses the meta-disciplinary nature of SoTL. In general, submissions should be specifically situated under the SoTL umbrella, and include a thorough literature review that directly addresses the relevant SoTL literature. For many authors who would like to publish with us, this change may mean nothing more than expanding the focus of their analyses and discussions in order to move beyond a single disciplinary silo. For others, it may mean a reconsideration of the primary audience for their work. Finally, we would like to again thank the members of our Editorial Board. Their work in the review process allows us not only to publish the Journal on time, but also to maintain the high standards for academic rigor and writing we espouse. We continue to seek nominations (including self-nominations) for the Editorial Board. These can be sent to [email protected]

Letter from the Editor

The International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning is pleased to announce the addition of a third Editor-in-Chief to assist with managing the increasing submission rates. Dr. Joe Pellegrino joined the team just this month, January 2018. He is an Associate Professor of Literature on the Statesboro Campus of Georgia Southern University. Over the last several years, the Journal has undergone some major changes. In 2016, Digital Object Identifier (DOI) numbers were acquired and applied to both past and future issues. In recent months, the Journal has updated its copyright and licensing terms. All articles published are now distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). (See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ for a copy of the complete licensing agreement.) These changes have allowed the Journal to expand its visibility. The Journal is now indexed in ERIC, EBSCOhost, Taylor & Francis, and De Gruyter Saur. This continues to be an exciting time for us, and we continue to welcome any feedback or suggestions that you may have concerning the Journal. The Editors wish to acknowledge the contributions of our Editorial Board; without their timely completion of blind reviews for the submitted manuscripts, publication of the Journal would not be possible. We continue to seek nominations or self-nominators for the Editorial Board. These can be sent to [email protected]. We also encourage potential authors to submit manuscripts for review. The Journal now has three categories of manuscripts: Essays about SoTL, Research Articles, and Literature Reviews. The Journal continues to be indebted to its Editorial Review Board, authors, and readership for their dedication and support. This issue contains ten articles: one essay and nine research articles. The essay urges SoTL scholars to resist the commoditization of higher education through the provision and evaluation of high-impact experiences. The research articles address audiences as disparate as pre-service teachers, peer leaders, and faculty members new to SoTL, while evaluating instructional techniques such as contextualized writing, role-playing, deterring cheating, blended and flipped classrooms, teaching about prejudice, and cell phone use policies. In short, this issue covers quite a bit of ground, illustrating the depth and diversity of SoTL as a field of study

Letter from the Editors

This issue of The International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 13(2) presents fourteen research articles, on topics ranging from faculty onboarding to factors affecting students’ completion of extra-credit assignments, and one reflective essay on faculty resistance to treating students as partners in the learning process. As with our previous issue in this volume, both the breadth of the subject disciplines addressed and the quality of our international contributors reflects the ever-increasing acceptance of the efficacy of SoTL. Countless practitioners continue to demonstrate both the productive nature of reflecting on our practice and the necessity of linking our scholarship with our teaching. With this issue, IJSoTL is midway through this transitional volume, number 13. We’re moving from publishing issues in July and January to publishing issues in May and November. Rather than produce a volume with only one issue, we’ve opted to create a volume with three issues. Issue #1 was published in January of 2019. Issue #2, published in May 2019, is before you. Issue #3 will be published in November of 2019. After this volume we’ll be more accurately aligned with a traditional academic schedule, and so the two issues of volume 14 will be published in May and November of 2020. We regularly review our readership data, and when we looked over our statistics from the past year (May 2018 to May 2019), we noticed several interesting trends. During this time, the 533 articles published in IJSoTL were downloaded over 117,000 times. More than 50,000 of those downloads came from just two countries, the United States and the Philippines. Another 30,000 came from the remainder of the ten countries where we have the greatest readership: the United Kingdom, Canada, Indonesia, Australia, India, Malaysia, South Africa, and Pakistan. Of those ten countries, at least half of them—depending on who’s doing the categorizing—could be considered part of the Global South, economically disadvantaged nation-states. We’re proud of this readership distribution. It demonstrates to us, among other things, that concern about the effectiveness of education is not reserved solely for developed societies. Indeed, we could argue that such concern is necessary in order for a political entity or culture to develop in the first place. Rather than resort to trial-and-error or rely on anecdotes, tradition, or acquiescence to the status quo, educators and policy makers in the developing world are looking for evidence-based methods and solutions for their post-secondary institutions. We are pleased to play some small part in that process. Producing IJSoTL, and maintaining our high standards for academic rigor and writing, would not be possible without the hard work of the members of our Editorial Board. Their work in the review process is crucial; we rely on their acumen hundreds of times for each issue. We continue to seek nominations (including self-nominations) for these positions. If you’re interested, please post to us at [email protected]