SoTL Leadership in Asia
Infusing a SoTL Culture in Institutions of Higher Learning
Teikyo University Conference 2021
Associate Professor Chng Huang Hoon
Director, Chua Thian Poh Community Leadership Centre
National University of Singapore
16 October 2021
Email: clcchh@nus.edu.sg

Myself, my roles, my location/context
National University of Singapore• 2008 – 2012: Director of Centre forDevelopment of Teaching and Learning(CDTL)• 2012 – 2020: Associate Provost(Undergraduate Education)
International Society for the Scholarshipof Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL)• 2012: TLI Advisory Board• 2015: Keynote at ISSOTL-Melbourne• 2018 – 2020: Vice President (Asia Pacific)• 2020 - 2022: Presidential Team, ISSOTL• “On the Margins of SoTL
Discourse: An Asian Perspective”(with Peter Looker, Teaching and Learning
Inquiry, 2013, TLI 1:1)

• “Leading change from different
shores: The challenges ofcontextualizing the scholarship ofteaching and learning”(with Katarina Mårtensson and Brenda
Leibowitz, TLI, 2020, TLI 8:1)

Aims of this talk• Sharing experiences of SoTL champions from three locations in Asia –Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore• Strategies deployed• Challenges confronted• Sharing 2 key perspectives:(1) Opportunities available for changing mindset about teaching and learning(championing SoTL amidst challenges)(2) Context matters(access to global SoTL networks - our own Asian location must be kept in view)

The Teikyo experience with teaching, student learning andSoTL?
• My first question to Teikyo colleagues is –(1) how much time do you spend on teaching each week? More than 50% of
your time, less?
For my next few questions, you need to just answer yes or no –(2) You pay attention to HOW you TEACH?
(3) You pay attention to WHETHER your students are LEARNING?
(4) You adjust your teaching to improve your students’ learning?
(5) Have you heard about SoTL?

Randy Bass (1998-1999): teaching as a problem“In scholarship and research, having a “problem” is at the heart of the investigative
process …
• But in one’s teaching, a “problem” is something you don’t want to have, and if you haveone, you probably want to fix it.
• Asking a colleague about a problem in his or her research is an invitation;• asking about a problem is one’s teaching would probably seem like an accusation.
Changing the status of the problem in teaching from terminal remediation to ongoinginvestigation is precisely what the movement for a scholarship of teaching is allabout” (p.1).

Hutchings, Huber & Ciccone (2011)“The scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) encompasses a broad setof practices that engage teachers in looking closely and critically at student
learning for the purpose of improving their own courses and programs.
It is perhaps best understood as an approach that marries scholarly inquiry
to any of the intellectual tasks that comprise the work of teaching.”(Hutchings, Huber, and Ciccone, 2011, p.6?, The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Reconsidered)Nancy Chick
SoTL Primer
SoTL is….
• [investigating to] improve student learning and the teaching approaches &practices that affect student learning in higher education• informed by relevant research on teaching and learning• [draws] from [our] disciplinary expertise• [gathers & analyze] relevant evidence from the learners in theirown specific contexts• shared broadly to contribute to knowledge & practices inteaching and learning

Peter Felten (2013)“Principles of Good Practice in SoTL”“honoring the diversity of SoTL in its many forms across the globe”
5 principles for assessing SoTL work:(1) inquiry into student learning(2) grounded in context(3) methodologically sound(4) conducted in partnership with students(5) appropriately public.
“these principles articulate a vision of a scholarship that enhances, perhaps eventransforms, teaching and learning in higher education.” (Felten, 2013, TLI, 1:1)

Erik Blair (2014)“the localization of ideas”• “instead of looking for grand ideas that can be applied without scrutiny
there is a need for the localization of ideas” (Blair, 2014, p.335).

• “academic development through SoTL is grounded in the consideration of
the geographic context and the particular needs, desires, andambitions of those who live within such a context”. (pp.337-338)

“On the Margins of SoTL Discourse: An Asian Perspective”(with Peter Looker, Teaching and Learning Inquiry, 2013, TLI 1:1)
“Our Asian context means that we deal with a student and teacher context
that is complex in many ways, in the assumptions they hold about studentteacher dynamics, the purpose of education, the preferred style ofclassroom practice, the challenges they face, the larger economy (social,cultural, and political) in which they are located, and so forth. All of thesedifferences in details of everyday living in our world and the disjuncts
experienced on the teaching/learning front are the consequence ofgeography (our embeddedness in a particular kind of economy, our distancefrom the established or dominant centres of discourse), which influences ourmethods and the questions we need to ask. These in turn shape ourideology and define the gaps between dominant SoTL ideology and ours.”

“Leading Change from Different Shores: The Challenges ofContextualizing the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning”
Chng Huang Hoon, Brenda Leibowitz and Katarina Martensson (2020, TLI, 8.1.3)
3 individual journeys through the scholarship of leading in three different contexts, Asia,Europe, and Africa.
We argue: the need to make explicit the diversity of practices of thescholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), with each practice inextricably tied tospecific geographical, sociocultural, and political contexts.

Chng, Leibowitz & Mårtensson (2020)• The different voices within our institutions and regions … are all key
drivers in defining our SoTL work.
• SoTL networks created a fair distance removed from established SoTL
networks in the Anglo-speaking world … and in defining such
relationships, we strive to [understand] … what it means to “do SoTL” fromour own shores.
• Our hope is that [our] narratives can inform and influence other shores
where SoTL may be in similar need of being contextually framed andtranslated”. (p.37)

So, what teaching and learning issues do we investigate?
Sampling recent TLI works
Perennial issues• Student perception about online
ungraded course• Game-based learning• Integrating learning among
introductory Computing students• Students’ emotional response toassessment feedback• Mentoring approaches

Current issues• Doing SoTL under pandemic
stress• Asynchronous online discussion
forum• It’s ok to fall/fail• Strategies for student success• Teaching race/racial justiceSampling recent SoTL in the South works• Re-examining curriculum, materials, assessment• Social media influence on teaching and learning• E-learning challenges for nurses in Afghanistan• Students’ experiences and perception of online collaboration in Kenya• Valuing agency in South Africa film school• Work/study programme in Uganda• Rurality influences in Zambia• Blended mental health curriculum in Pakistan• Flipped classroom teaching in Singapore

Sampling recent AJSoTL works• Motivating student learning using group games in Pharmacy• Context-based teaching of Stats literacy• Authentic learning in Applied Physics• Instructor shortcomings in PBL• Going beyond powerpoint• Online course design• Communities of practice• Redesigning a PhD course viz interdisciplinarity

Champions in Asia: Hong Kong
HKU and CUHK Perspectives• HKU Teaching awards (includes reflective teaching criteria)• HKU University teaching events (e.g. Teaching Festival, Teaching and Learning
conferences, technology and assessment conference foci)• Teaching Development Grant, 3x a year, with SoTL specified as an output• CUHK annual teaching and learning expo for faculty members to share theirteaching innovations and enhancements• CUHK Teaching Development Grant (TDG) once every three years (expectedproject outcomes dissemination but no mention of SoTL)• CUHK University Education Award and Vice-Chancellor’s Exemplary Teaching
Award; and Faculty teaching excellence award.

Champions in Asia: Malaysia
UNIMAS Perspective• Strategies: grants provision (e.g. UNIMAS SoTL grants)• Engagement platforms (e.g. SoTL Bulletin)• More public, university level events: UNIMAS SoTL Symposium“SoTL enculturation guided by Kotter’s model of change” by Chen
Chwen Jen, 2021, IJAD (see next two slides for details)

Chen on 8 steps to enculturation of SoTL in UNIMAS(1) obtaining buy-in for SoTL from all relevant stakeholders(2) The university’s top management empowered the Centre- university-level and faculty-level committees to strategize academics’ SoTL involvement- a SoTL expert panel to review and assist in producing quality SoTL projects(3) University’s vision included the advancement and innovation in teaching andlearning to nurture ‘future-ready’ graduates(4) The Vice Chancellor official announcement of the vision during his annualaddress- Centre further employed various other means to broadcast this visionChen (2021), continued(5) The university provided funding for academics, to support SoTL work as a direct
way to encourage involvement(6) SoTL work and results made visible as a means to sustain collaboration throughsharing sessions for SoTL pioneers to share the outcomes of their work
(7) A mass involvement strategy implemented through the university centralizedgrants(Unlike Step 5, this funding is for groups of academics who serve as coordinators of identified
undergraduate academic programs)(8) The university recognized academics’ SoTL involvement in their yearly
performance appraisals as well as in academic promotions

Champions in Asia: Singapore
NUS Perspective• Strategies: grants provision (e.g. Teaching Enhancement Grants, Educator Development
Funds, Learning Communities Fund from CDTL/PVO).
• Engagement platforms (e.g. e-resource site - Teaching Connections to highlight and sharecolleagues’ work)• Our own journal platform to allow colleagues to share at a slightly higher level (AJSoTL)• More public, university level events: NUS’s Teaching Day and Annual CDTL Conference;
SoTL-Asia Symposia (2017, 2019)• Other effort: Conversations and reports on experiences of engaging students as partners(SoTL-Asia, SoTL-NUS distribution list)• Educator Track Policy that enshrines SoTL criteria for promotion

Common Challenges• research intensive culture – education as a second cousin• impact defined/rewarded through disciplinary publications• Culture/mindset: ‘opinions’ about teaching; resistance to change• Student feedback as indicators of good teaching;• Misconceptions(1) SoTL is viewed as only meant for some people in the social sciences andand is educational research(2) Lack of confidence on how to do SoTL among faculties(Doing SoTL is difficult because it is different from disciplinary researchOpportunities for SoTL work
• institutional champions/leadership• funding availability• Career advancement as incentives – rewriting criteria (e.g. Educator Track.
Grants/funding)• pandemic situation that boosted visibility and need for T&L Centres – more
paying explicit attention to learning outcomes and teaching interventions• Pressure of external stakeholders on student engagement and quality
education

Two key perspectives:

First, amidst the difficulties encountered in culture building and change
management, there ARE nevertheless many opportunities that presented
themselves along this path of shifting institutional and colleagues’ mindsets;
andSecond, even while we access the rich resources and global network
conversations about SoTL, the consideration of positionality from our own
Asian location is importantReferences• Bass, R. (1999), “The scholarship of teaching: What’s the problem?”, Inventio, February 1999, Vol. 1,No.1.
• Blair, E. (2014), “Academic development through the contextualization of the scholarship of teaching
and learning: Reflections drawn from the recent history of Trinidad and Tobago”, International
Journal for Academic Development, 19:4, pp.330-340.
• Chen, C.J. (2021), “SoTL enculturation guided by Kotter’s model of change”, International Journal forAcademic Development.
• Chng, H.H., Leibowitz, B. and Mårtensson, K. (2020), “Leading change from different shores: The
challenges of contextualizing the scholarship of teaching and learning”, Teaching & Learning Inquiry,
8(1), pp.24-41.
• Chng, H.H. & Looker, P. (2013), “On the margins of SoTL discourse: An Asian perspective”, Teaching& Learning Inquiry, 1(1), pp.131-145.
• Felten, P. (2013), “Principles of good practice in SoTL”, Teaching & Learning Inquiry, 1(1), pp.121125.
• Hutchings, P., Huber, M. and Ciccone, A. (2011), The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Reconsidered, Jossey-Bass.

Thank You for your kind invitation and attention!