The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is a form of active, scholarly practice that applies research and reflection to specific teaching and learning contexts.
What is SoTL?
We adopt this definition from our colleagues at the Teaching and Learning Lab (FEIT):
"Scholarship of Teaching & Learning is active scholarly practice applied to specific teaching and learning contexts. Scholarly practice involves drawing on existing knowledge to design and evaluate current and future practice, and contributing back to that knowledge."
Difference between SoTL and Education Research
A key distinction between SoTL and Education Research is that SoTL is inherently specific and contextual, focused on improving teaching in particular disciplines or settings.
According to the University of Melbourne Library Guides, SoTL is reflected through scholarly teaching, which lies at the core of higher education. This involves both:
- Keeping up to date with current developments in a discipline
- Effectively transmitting this knowledge through teaching
At an individual level, demonstrating scholarly teaching includes:
- Staying informed: Being familiar with the latest ideas, debates and issues relating to the subject being taught, as well as being informed by current ideas for teaching the subject/discipline, such as improved pedagogies, learning processes, curricula, academic policies and learning materials
- Reflecting and improving: Evaluating and reflecting on teaching practice and student learning (for example, through peer assessment of teaching; reflecting on student feedback and actively engaging with students about learning outcomes) in order to challenge assumptions and consider alternative and/or different perspectives on teaching practices
- Fostering student engagement: Stimulating learning through active, diverse teaching methods that connect students with contemporary disciplinary knowledge
- Understanding learners: Exploring, testing, practising and communicating understanding of who the learners are, how they learn, and what practices are most effective in the context of the discipline (pedagogical content knowledge)(TEQSA, 2020).
Further information
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The University of Melbourne Library service has developed a library guide with some great resources to help you on your SoTL journey.
The library guide also includes a list of journals who regularly publish SoTL papers. Discipline specific journals also regularly have calls for special issues on pedagogy and T&L themes related to the discipline.
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Day, K. & Martel, A. 2025. Empower By Design: Enabling Innovative Inclusion of Disabled People in Design. https://alastairswaynfoundation.org/research/empower-by-design
Facer, K. (2024). Educating the temporal imagination: Teaching time for justice in a warming world. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 56(13), 1289–1302. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2024.2378086
Rivera, D. Z. (2025). Designing Through Social Critique: A Studio Framework for Undoing Extractivist Engagement Practices. Journal of Architectural Education, 79(1), 248–257. https://doi.org/10.1080/10464883.2025.2463827