New Perspectives in Science Education

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is a well-known concept in higher education. The basic idea of SoTL is that professors analyse their ways of teaching by means of scientific inquiry. Hence, their teaching experiences are the subject of their own research. By scientifically addressing specific teaching challenges, professors develop and critically discuss research-led solutions to educational problems from their own disciplinary perspectives. SoTL therefore combines teaching and research. Its overall goal is to improve the quality and evidence base in Higher Education [1]. A central aspect of SoTL is the diversity of the different projects, which results from the fact that there are diverse disciplines with various approaches and research methods. This diversity poses problems for some SoTL actors in terms of being able to understand and accept other SoTL projects.[2]

Our research takes a different perspective on the diversity debate of SoTL projects and examines the SoTL concept in terms of theoretical considerations on plurality. The essay will focus on the question how Hannah Arendt's thoughts on plurality [3] can provide a theoretical foundation for the diversity of SoTL projects. The main focus is to reconstruct Arendt's considerations on plurality and to place them in a context of SoTL.

Keywords: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), Hannah Arendt, plurality, diversity.

References

1. T. Schmohl (2018). Inquiry-Based Self-Reflection: Towards a new way of looking at the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning within German Higher Education. In B. Jansen-Schulz & T. Tantau (Eds.), Principals, Structures and Requirements of Excellent Teaching, S. 75–90. Bielefeld.
2. N. L. Chick (Ed.). (2018). SoTL in action. Illuminating critical moments of practice. Sterling, VA: Stylus.
3. H. Arendt (1998). The human condition (2. ed.). Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press.