The SoTL Guide book cover with white text and compass in background
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doi.org/10.36284/celelon.oa10

ISBN: 978-1-64317-568-3

November 3, 2025

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The final chapter of The SoTL Guide broadens the view from the individual to the communal, situating SoTL within communities of practice, disciplines, and institutions. It emphasizes that SoTL is inherently relational and gains momentum through networks of scholars who collaborate, critique, and celebrate one another’s work. By participating in disciplinary societies, institutional initiatives, or international communities, academics both gain support and contribute to sustaining cultures of teaching and learning. The chapter highlights how collective engagement amplifies the reach and impact of individual projects, while also fostering a sense of belonging that counters the isolation many academics experience. It also underscores the institutional dimension: SoTL can shape policies, curricula, and faculty development structures when pursued collaboratively and publicly. Concluding the book, the chapter affirms SoTL as not only a personal scholarly practice but also a communal one, sustained by connection, reciprocity, and shared purpose across diverse academic contexts. 

Related Book Resources

Video: Reflective module on “your collegial context,” featuring Katarina Mårtensson and Torgny Roxå from Lund University [Video]

Discussion Questions

We invite you to explore these questions in individual reflection or collegial conversation.  

  • What scholarly (or other) communities have you been part of that have contributed meaningfully to your work or life? What are characteristics of those communities that you can seek out and cultivate in SoTL communities? 
  • Who do you—or who do you want to—have “significant conversations” with about teaching, learning, and inquiry?  How can you expand and deepen those conversations? How can you invite others into those communities? 
  • In what ways do you plan and imagine for your career to develop in the future? What role(s) might SoTL play in that process?