Level 4: Scholarship of Teaching + Learning

Engage with teaching research and course development

Level 4: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) builds on your engagement with teaching scholarship in previous levels together with the practical skills you developed. It also offers you the opportunity to undertake advanced SoTL research or course development projects under the guidance of a faculty member or senior educator in post-secondary. Level 4 has a partnership with the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL), which facilitates 1-2 projects each year.

Examples of projects might include publishing outcomes from a series of TA assignments, developing a new learning module/activity/lab in coordination with an instructor or carrying out a small teaching-related research project.

Prerequisites: Level 3: Pedagogy and Course Design

  • Students who are selected for a research assistantship with CTL will be assigned a project supervisor.
  • Candidates completing a project outside of a CTL research assistantship must secure their own project supervisor. 
    • Students can find supervisors by approaching a previous TA supervisor or holder of funded teaching projects such as Vargo and Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund (TLEF), or by contacting the Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies (GPS). Funding is expected to align with the usual employment practices of the host department and funded projects are also open for discussion.

Time Commitment

Level 4: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning requires a minimum of 60 hours of scholarly work. The maximum number of hours is dependent on other appointments, such as research or teaching assistantships.

Registration + Enrolment

Level 4: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning is open to current graduate students and postdoctoral fellows (PDF). Level 4 does not have a regular intake of applicants. Those interested in pursuing a Level 4 project, or supervisors looking for students with this kind of expertise, should contact Rob Desjardins, Educational Curriculum Developer ( grad.pd@ualberta.ca) with a brief description of the project and the name of your supervisor or proposed student.

Register for Level 4

Learning Objectives

  • Expand knowledge of SoTL research and practices in higher education
  • Gain experience in collaborative research
  • Develop skills in the design, execution and evaluation of a SoTL research and/or development project
  • Disseminate research via public presentation and/or publication
  • Increase capacity to set and evaluate personal teaching and learning goals
  • Build skills in being a critical colleague and providing feedback on scholarly research

Learning Outcomes

  • Design a project that contributes back to SoTL
  • Refine project to meet principal investigator's goals, personal goals and project timelines
  • Identify trends, debates and gaps in the research related to the project through a literature review
  • Identify and analyze relevant evidence
  • Identify and apply relevant principles of teaching and learning to develop and conduct project
  • Set and monitor personal progress in achieving project-specific learning outcomes
  • Select and execute appropriate assessment methods to evaluate project efficacy or success
  • Demonstrate effective interpersonal and communication strategies to offer and receive effective peer feedback
  • Demonstrate ethical principles in teaching, research methods and professional conduct
  • Express knowledge acquisition and integration via public presentation and/or publication

Completion Requirements + Transcript Notation

Successful completion includes the development of a research portfolio that includes:

  1. An SoTL Development Plan
  2. Literature review
  3. Project dissemination through public presentation or publication
  4. Exit survey/critical reflection 

Participation in regular cohort mentoring sessions is mandatory and a factor in level completion.

Graduate students who complete Level 4 will receive the following notation on their transcripts: Graduate Teaching and Learning Program: Research. All participants will receive completion letters for their teaching dossiers.

GTL 4 Scholars

  • Eileen Santos Hernandez, 2024 - Supervisor: John Nychka, Project: Positive Relational Vulnerability in Graduate Students and Post-Doctoral Professional Mentorship Relationships 
  • Hande Gür, 2024 - Supervisors: Gul Caliskan (St. Thomas University, NB) and Jay Friesen, Project: Integrating Research-Based Learning with Community-Based Research in Universities
  • Qian Ye, 2024 - Supervisors: Renee Polziehn and Jay Friesen, Project: Exploring Nature in Daoist Texts and Shakespeare’s Plays: Implications of Intercultural Dialogue for Aesthetic Curriculum
  • Laura Woodman, 2024 - Supervisors: Rhonda Breitkreuz and Adam Galovan, Project: Analyzing the Impact Of The Community Of Practice On Early Learning And Childcare Practices Of Alberta Family Childcare Educators.
  • Sophie Shi, 2024 - Supervisors: Renee Polziehn and Jay Friesen, Project: Asynchronous Course Design
  • Brittany Gerris, 2023 - Supervisor: Rob McMahon, Project: Using Digital Storytelling Assignments in College Marketing Classes
  • Danielle Nagy, 2023 - Supervisors: Dr. Theresa Charrois and Dr. Jill Hall, Project: Using Pharm 546 To Explore Professional Fulfilment, Burnout And Professional Identity Formation
  • Erin Ratelle, 2023 - Supervisors: Renee Polziehn and Jay Friesen Project: Working (and Reworking) Through The Course Design Process
  • Danielle Morris-O'Connor, 2022 - Supervisor: Bradley Ambury,
    Project: Exploring Scholarly Personal Narrative: Developing a Focus on Student Wellbeing through Teaching Experience, Confidence and Vulnerability
  • Andrews Tawiah, 2022 - Supervisor: Bernadette Martin,
    Project: Evaluation of Clinical Reasoning within a Clinical Encounter Simulation Practical Exam Station
  • Heidi Cossey, 2021- Supervisor: Ellen Watson, Project: Teaching Culture at the University of Alberta through CTL
  • Rayna Sharma, 2021 - Supervisor: Neil Haave, Project: Active Learning Project through CTL
  • Cole Gross, 2019 - Supervisor: Neil Haave, Project: Active Learning Project through CTL
  • Mostafa Tawfeek, 2019 - Supervisor: John Nychka, Project: IDP/PD Survey
  • Dr. Hossein Daneshvar, 2019 - Supervisor: Y.H. Chui, Project: Structural Timber Design in Curricula of Canadian Universities: Current Status and Future Needs (funded by the Canadian Wood Council - CWC)
  • Ahlam Abdulnabi, 2017 - Supervisor: Suzanne Kresta, Project: Integration of Language Learning into Engineering Programs: A Survey of program designs and constraints across Canada
  • Kathleen Danser, 2017 - Supervisor: Janice Miller-Young, Project: CTL project and/or Throwing the Technology out with the bathwater - technology in the classroom and student performance (CTL Summer Fellowship)
  • Heather Gautreau, 2017 - Supervisor: John Nychka, Project: Transitioning into and out of Graduate School - outcomes and core technical and soft skills development (Vargo Chair)
  • Stephen Lane, 2017 - Supervisor: Mark Freeman, Project: TA Training modules for 1st-year Physics Labs - effective questioning (funded by the Chair of the Physics Dept. as a TA)

Contact Us

Questions regarding the Graduate Teaching and Learning Program (GTLP) can be directed to: gradpd@ualberta.ca