SoTL @ SHU – A Framework for Developing and Supporting Innovation in our Learning, Teaching and Assessment

By Joel Gray, Professor Liz Austen and Dr Alison Purvis, Associate Deans for Learning, Teaching and Student Success, Sheffield Hallam University

This blog series focuses on HE transformation, a polysemous term to the broad range of audiences, activities and expertise in the world-leading UK higher education sector. As the three Associate Deans for Learning, Teaching and Student Success at Sheffield Hallam University we want to explore leadership of LTA and how we are creating an environment for colleagues to innovate their practice and put us at the frontier of learning and teaching through our brand new Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) network and framework; SoTL@SHU.

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and Teaching Excellence

Our approach to SoTL is a key component of preparations for the next Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) assessment. Supporting a scholarly approach to practice is integral to enhancing the quality of the student experience. With our emphasis on taking a stepwise approach to enquiry and supporting colleagues to build confidence through a range of approaches and scales of evaluation, we are encouraging a critical refinement and transformation of teaching methods. This approach addresses TEF by increasing the amount of evidence-based practices and by providing valuable data and evidence that can be used to develop a future TEF submission. Perhaps more importantly, SoTL gives us the opportunity to showcase the effectiveness and impact of teaching and learning strategies and how we make positive impact on student outcomes.

Building “SoTL-Confidence”

Expecting staff to hit the ground running as SoTL experts without a support and development offer is a risky strategy when aiming for transformational change. We devised a plan to help us through the short-, medium- and long-term journey.

Stage 1 – the first six months. We knew from conversations and interactions with staff that the reason for the current low levels of SoTL activity was confidence. To grow activity and encourage innovation we had to nurture our colleagues and support them in building their “SoTL-Confidence” – a positive feeling that staff should have about their skills in enquiry, innovation, evaluation and dissemination of pedagogic practice. This six-month period saw monthly all-university events bringing staff together to explain and demystify SoTL, followed by monthly college events which then provided at-elbow support to help staff apply SoTL concepts and principles to their individual practice. During this stage, staff formed self-sustaining clusters on key topics aligned to institutional strategy (e.g. inclusive practice and digital transformation).

Stage 2 – as we move into this period of our SoTL@SHU journey, we expect that “SoTL-Confidence” will have improved enough that we will start to see some early “SoTL-Activity” in the form of funded projects and practice sharing. Stage 2 will be a full calendar year, still with support and development on offer as per Stage 1, but the organic creation of SoTL outputs will act has natural beacons of encouragement for other colleagues – “if you can see it, you can do it”, so it will continue to grow in volume and quality. We have created new dissemination platforms to scaffold staff’s confidence and activity (see section below for details) and to give them opportunities.

Stage 3 – by the time we are into this point we are expecting SoTL outputs of varying formats and scales of impact, and crucially we want to see interdisciplinary sharing and collaboration. Support and development will continue, focusing on building “SoTL-Confidence” for newer staff, but perhaps encouraging existing active staff to become “SoTL-Superstars” – a term we used for those who are innovating their practice, grounding it in enquiry and ensuring evaluation and dissemination as par for the course in our new culture of transforming LTA practice and being at the vanguard of innovation.

Championing Diverse Dissemination

Sharing insights publicly is a core principle of SoTL work. Sharing insights and evidence can build a case for impact and help influence the practice of others. At Hallam, we have been encouraging a manageable and incremental approach to dissemination, symbolised by a SoTL staircase. Steps are relevant to the stage of development and confidence outlined above. Teaching and learning practitioners can place themselves on a staircase of development whilst also reaching for future aspirations. This includes noticing impact within a classroom and sharing with students, to creating reflective blog posts, case studies and podcasts, to publishing research and evaluation findings in HE journals. This staircase recognises that dissemination in T&L spaces is diverse. The key driver for dissemination is to enhance student experiences and outcomes within the local context and then beyond. This means that dissemination opportunities which are open access, quick to publish, and close to practice are favoured. This does not dilute appraisals of quality, rigour or impact.

Importance of Evaluation

In the last few years, the expectation to evaluate the impact of activities against key sector metrics has intensified and exists as a core component of the Access and Participation Plan and Teaching Excellence Framework. However, the term evaluation and the methodological approaches within its design, can be intimidating. That is why we are framing evaluation as a key SoTL activity at Hallam, supporting staff with accessible tools and building upon well-established evaluative practices – annual quality review is a good example. Exploring the impact of our everyday teaching and learning activities or new innovations can be empowering and helps us celebrate when something works and inspires us to make changes when it doesn't quite go to plan. Fundamental to evaluation is that we learn something and are enabled to make changes as a result. Sharing lessons learnt through our SoTL platforms will be crucial for our regulatory returns and influencing change.

Leading-by-doing

Part of building the “SoTL-Confidence” with staff was leading by example on our own outputs as examples of dissemination from across the “SoTL Staircase” – showcasing to staff what is possible- and how achievable it is to be “SoTL-Active”! Not only were the team of SoTL leaders covering most steps on the staircase, but we decided to establish internal platforms to scaffold staff working up to external platforms. We established a new blog page and are setting up our first internal SoTL conference for summer 2026 and are in early stages of developing a new SoTL journal for 2026. Some examples of our personal outputs are:

·       Liz Austen: blog posts in Wonkhe

·       Alison Purvis: Opinion paper in a journal

·       Joel Gray: Spotlight Podcast

·       Anne Kellock: Book on LTA in HE

·       Sarah Haywood-Small: YouTube videos

·       Sue Beckingham: Book on use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Higher Education Learning, Teaching and Assessment.

We proved it was possible to publish in pedagogy-based journals, but that you can have impact and prove innovation in LTA using other platforms including blogs, podcasts, edited collections and books.

Early Indicators of Success

Early indicators are very positive. We have feedback from a range of staff who value the opportunity to work across boundaries with colleagues who they don’t typically get the chance to work with. We have had several project registrations and dozens of applications for attendance at SoTL-related conferences. We can see that the foundations of the pipeline are in place and colleagues are progressing forwards with their enquiry-led ideas.

Members of the SoTL leadership team are presenting at the forthcoming EuroSoTL conference in the Netherlands where will be sharing our approach to building a new SoTL community where it did not exist before. We are keen to learn from others about their experiences of developing and engaging colleagues in SoTL collaborations.

In summary, SoTL will be a primary vehicle for transformation and innovation within our institution because it is centred on students as partners, enquiry and evaluation, which are key components of our teaching and learning leadership culture.