Hype or Hope: Can the Scholarship of SOTL Fulfill Its Promise?

Woodhouse, Rosamund. "Hype or Hope: Can the Scholarship of SOTL Fulfill Its Promise?" 
           Georgia Southern,  Jan. 2010. Web. 8 Sept. 2011. 
           <http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/ijsotl>.

Proponents of SOTL (Scholarship of teaching and learning), feel that this program has a lot of potential to improve teaching in schools. Unfortunately, much more has been published about theories on SOTL than about what has actually been achieved. There has to be a way to move forward, and this article investigates that. 


What I like most about this article is the fact that it promotes learning-centered teaching. Page 6 states, 
"It becomes more straightforward to argue that learning-centered teaching is a legitimate and important academic activity which merits the accolade of scholarship in its own right." The article goes on to say that we must accept learning-centered, and want to focus on deep and transformative learning. I really like this approach, as it refocuses teaching approaches onto what is actually important. Politics and debate surround the learning process at every turn, but what is really important is that students actually learn from their classes. Consistent learning needs to happen at all times, and if teachers identify this as their main goal, students will be much more successful. 


Something that confused me when reading this article is the idea of the bridge between teaching knowledge and student-centered knowledge. "... the bridge between teaching knowledge and the student learning that results form that knowledge... It is pedagogic resonance that is constituted in the individual acts of teaching, and it is the effect of pedagogic resonance that is experienced by students." This concept makes sense, but I do not understand how this is quantifiable in terms of research. How do you measure student learning? I don't think standardized tests are the best way, and I think most teachers would agree. 


I would like to learn more about measuring student learning, and more about knowing if SOTL is actually successful.