Scholarship of Teaching Office (SoTO)
The Scholarship of Teaching Office (SoTO) is a unit within Florida Atlantic University’s Center for Teaching and Learning that exists to facilitate faculty development in the areas of teaching and learning and to sustain a culture of “best practices” in effective pedagogy. SoTO produces programming alone as well as in collaboration with other units within the university. Partnerships have been developed among the “sister” centers within the Center for Teaching and Learning [
Center for Learning and Student Success (CLASS), University Center for Excellence in Writing (UCEW), and the Math Learning Center] as well with all of FAU’s constituent colleges and the university’s Center for eLearning.
The primary functions of the Director for the Scholarship of Teaching Office are outlined below. Where appropriate, the URLs for web sites are provided. Surveys and survey results are included in appendices as indicated.
Ongoing Workshops, Events, and Presentations for the University
The breadth and scope of the events sponsored or co-sponsored by Scholarship of Teaching have expanded greatly in recent years. A list of most of these events can be found on the CTL web site under the heading of Faculty Resources/Events at http://www.fau.edu/ctl/CTLWorkshopsAndPresentations.php . This page lists a variety of events including our annual Teaching with Technology Showcase (presented in collaboration with the Office for Information Technology and the Center for eLearning), lunch-and-learn workshops and presentation series, symposia, and workshops. Many of the items on the events page have a clickable link to enable the viewer to obtain more information and/or handouts from each event. These events continue presently and into the future.
Faculty Learning Communities
A faculty learning community (FLC) is a relatively small interdisciplinary group of faculty and staff from across the university whogather regularly throughout the year to engage in an active, collaborative environment to enhance their teaching and learning. FLCs focus on a specific topic and work toward the achievement of common outcomes for participants’ own professional development and for the betterment of teaching and learning within the university. Twenty-six FLCs have been sponsored by the CTL since the Fall of 2008 with a total of 28 leaders and 170 different faculty and staff members participating (8 adjuncts, 49 Assistant Professors, 44 Associate Professors, 27 Professors, 28 Instructors, 10 other ranks). The web page for the Faculty Learning Community program, which includes a listing of the titles for all former and current FLCs, can be found at: http://www.fau.edu/ctl/Faculty_Learning_Communities.php. Clicking on the name of an FLC will download an informational handout about the objectives of that FLC. We anticipate expanding the Faculty Learning Community program in the future.
Master Teacher Program
A Master Teacher is a tenured teaching faculty member who demonstrates excellence inside andoutside of the classroom through consistent leadership and focused collaboration to maximize student learning. Through the Scholarship of Teaching, FAU’s CTL provides financial support to each of FAU’s colleges to designate one or more faculty members to serve as a Master Teacher. Within their respective colleges, Master Teachers are expected to promote the scholarship of teaching, facilitate professional development of faculty colleagues in teaching and learning, nurture a culture where best practices in teaching and learning are promulgated, and provide leadership in university and college dialogue about these issues. There are currently six Master Teachers participating in the CTL’s program (from the Colleges of Business, Arts & Letters, and Nursing). The College of Science has its own set of five Master Teachers who are not part of the CTL’s program, per se, but who collaborate with the CTL in programming.
Other Partnerships/Programs
The Director for the Scholarship of Teaching coordinates the development and assessment of faculty development opportunities across the university and consults with other FAU units in doing the same. Currently, most of this work is with the Center for eLearning ( http://www.fau.edu/cel/ ) and the Quality Enhancement Program ( http://www.fau.edu/qep/Selection%20of%20QEP%20proposal.pdf ).
