Exploring the Foundations for Student Success: A SoTL Journey - Exploring and presenting a multi-stage SoTL research journey

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by jay

Exploring the Foundations for Student Success presents perspectives and outcomes from a multi-stage research project aimed at improving understandings of the foundations of student success. The work progresses from examining the phenomenon of student diversity and its impact, to experimental study of the effects of introducing high-impact practices, and toward a more complex account of those foundations. The narrative integrates instructors-turned-SoTL researchers with established SoTL scholars and highlights a long-term teaching and learning inquiry.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Exploring the Foundations for Student Success: A SoTL Journey

Introductory framing of the SoTL journey and research stages

University context and student retention/graduation rates

An introductory narrative: frustration as a catalyst for SoTL research

Exploring the Foundations for Student Success: A SoTL Journey Wallace Lockhart, Brad Wuetherick, and Nola Joorisity This paper presents perspectives and outcomes from a multi-stage research project focused on improving understandings of foundations for student success. The research has shifted from a focus on the phenomenon (developing an understanding of student diversity and its impactson student success), to experimental research (studying the impact or benefits derived from the introduction of high-impact practices), to a more complex understanding of the foundations for student success. In reporting on each stage, we combine two distinct perspectives: instructors-turned-SoTL researchers and established SoTL researchers. Our hope is that the reader finds this integration both informative and valuable in providing insights to how a long-term research project might unfold. Cet article présente les idées et les résultats issus d'un projet de recherche à étapes multiples visant à mieux comprendre les fondements de la réussite étudiante. D'abord centrée sur le phénomène (la compréhension de la diversité étudiante et son incidence sur la réussite étudiante), la recherche a transité vers une approche expérimentale (l'étude des effets ou desavantages découlant de la mise en place de pratiques à incidence élevée), puis vers une compréhension complexifiée des fondements de la réussite étudiante. Notre présentation des différentes étapes conjugue deux points de vue distincts : d'une part, celui des enseignants devenus chercheurs en science de l'enseignement et de l'apprentissage (SEA) et, d'autre part, celui des chercheurs en SEA établis. Nous espéronsque le lecteur trouvera ce type d'approche utile et instructif, en ce qu'il permet de mieux comprendre le déploiement d'un projet de recherche de longue haleine. consensus has formed within growing Aciscrchloelsarliyn reacademsearchio thabet tdhoernee oisn teaching and learning, that the systematic creation of rigorous knowledge about teaching and learning is a crucial prerequisite to responding to major challenges facing academia, that this knowledge must be shared publicly and should build cumulatively overtime, and that the explorations of this area should be conducted by academics from all disciplines, not just those with appointmentsin schools of education. (Pace, 2004, p. 1174) While written over a decade ago, Pace's vision that disciplinary academics engage in scholarly research on teaching and learning in their discipline remains anew and unexplored possibility for many people in higher education-for some it opens a gateway leading to exciting opportunities to explore questions about their teaching practices or their students' learning journeys, and for others it is a gateway leading to a strange and unfamiliar scholarly landscape that they struggle to understand or value. Over the past decade, and longer, there have been several explorations of what motivates scholars of teaching and learning to enter the field of SoTL, or what has been called the teaching commons (Pace, 2004; Ashwin & Trigwell, 2004; Huber & Hutchings, 2005; Wuetherick & Yu, 2016) . This paper tells the story of our journey-of both our research project and our teaching team's pedagogical strategies over the past eight years. We presented this information in a SoTL workshop at STLHE 2017, but we thought it would be best presented here as a story of our collective journey. The paper presents brief sections representing the stages of the project: a narrative of what we were experiencing and trying to do, and our collective insights into SoTL research and how lessons learned might enhance or streamline our continuing SoTL journey. Through each phase of the research the paper integrates two perspectives: First is the perspective of instructors-turned-SoTL-researchers as we muddle our way through understanding our challenges and learning how to use SoTL research methods to help guide the way. The

FAQs

What is the main focus of the SoTL journey described in the paper?

The paper focuses on improving understandings of the foundations for student success through a multi-stage research project.

How does the research approach evolve across stages?

It shifts from understanding the phenomenon of student diversity and its impact, to experimental research on high-impact practices, and then to a more complex understanding of the foundations for student success.

How are perspectives integrated in reporting the research stages?

Each stage combines two viewpoints: instructors-turned-SoTL researchers and established SoTL researchers who provide commentary and guidance.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by jay