An initiative of the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education (OVPUE), Indiana University's SOTL Program draws its day-to-day coordination and research efforts from OVPUE professional staff, who contribute the necessary resources to support instructors of all ranks as they collaborate with like-minded colleagues and engage in various scholarship of teaching and learning projects. A SOTL Steering Committee and an Advisory Council representing faculty, librarians, staff, and administrators from across the campus provide input, address issues, define initiatives and generally shape the campus initiative.
IU's SOTL program is an inclusive, broad-based, cross-disciplinary effort consistent with the research culture of Indiana University Bloomington. The program builds upon the strengths and talents of its world renowned research faculty, encouraging them to view teaching and learning as another opportunity to conduct disciplinary-specific and evidenced-based inquiry. The goal of the program is to improve undergraduate learning. To this end it encourages, supports, and publicizes course-focused research projects that are faculty defined and implemented. The challenge is to move teaching toward an evidence-based and theory-framed endeavor committed to the discovery of new knowledge and to the application of that knowledge into the classroom.
The SOTL program has grown from strong and deep roots. IUB has a long institutional tradition of teaching excellence. The SOTL program began in 1998 when a small committee asked: “Given this strong base, what additional approaches would foster the greatest improvements in undergraduate learning at Indiana University Bloomington?”