Editorial

Copyright 2022 The Author(s). CC-BY-NC-ND License 4.0 This is an open access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits copy and redistribution with appropriate credit. This work cannot be used for commercial purposes and cannot be distributed if the original material is modified.

Welcome to the second issue of Imagining SoTL. This journal was conceptualized to build on presentations given at the annual Banff SoTL Symposium. As the Covid-19 pandemic stretched on, beyond what any of us could have initially imagined, we made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 gathering. As a “pivot” for this second issue, given that we did not have presentations in 2020 to draw from, we invited all presenters from 2010–2019 to contribute to a special issue in celebration of the first nine years of the Symposium, with the theme of Looking Back/Looking Forward.

The issue begins with three invited pieces. The first is a retrospective of SoTL at Mount Royal University, contributed by members of the editorial team and Dr. Jim Zimmer, the former Associate Vice President Teaching and Learning at MRU. The lead author is Dr. Chris Ostrowdun, inaugural postdoctoral fellow in SoTL at the Mokakiiks Centre for SoTL. We interviewed Jim about the beginnings of SoTL at MRU, and this interview offers a fascinating glimpse into the adoption of the movement at one institution.

The next two pieces are invited essays based on the keynote addresses of Dr. Mills Kelly (2018) and Dr. Elizabeth Marquis (2019). Kelly’s article reconsiders the notion of “signature pedagogies” in academic disciplines and outlines the opportunity SoTL presents in challenging our customary ways of teaching. Marquis’s contribution was written in partnership with Alise de Bie, Srikripa Krishna Prasad, and Elaina Nguyen, who lead the written piece. In this deeply reflexive article, De Bie et al. (pp. 19–37) respond to the set of “tentative principles” proposed by Marquis at the Symposium, critiquing and extending the work. These articles consider the present and the future of SoTL, both in terms of the disciplinary approaches we take (Kelly) and the relationships between those who conduct the work. De Bie et al. draw on their “various perspectives together to highlight some significant considerations for those interested in working toward equity through partnership and to demonstrate the potential value and complexities of naming, questioning, and revising such key considerations” (p. 20).

The second section contains three articles based on presentations at the Symposium. The first is an exploration of how concept mapping contributes to student engagement from Onabadejo and Camacho (pp. 38–51). The second is a podcast exploring student partnership through the eyes of undergraduate students, with an accompanying essay by the student partners, led by Michaela Chronik and faculty partner Sally Haney (pp. 52–62). Finally, there is a thought-provoking essay from Kelly Hewson and Lee Easton asking questions about theoretical perspectives present, and notably absent, in the field of SoTL as it stands, challenging our usual metaphor of the “big tent” (pp. 63–77).

In Fall 2021, we met virtually in the first online version of the conference, with a theme of “Catalyzing Conversations: Energizing SoTL.” We were thrilled with the engagement of the community at a distance and look forward to the next issue based on this gathering. We anticipate being able to finally gather together again in Banff, in November, 2022, after what feels like three very long years!

Dr. Michelle Yeo
Editor-in-Chief
Imagining SoTL

How to Cite

Yeo, M. (2022). Editorial. Imagining SoTL, 2(1), 1–2. https://doi.org/10.29173/isotl606