Universities as centres of non-learning

TLDR

The scholarship of teaching movement aims to make visible what teachers do to facilitate learning. The authors critique the literature for lacking progress and propose augmenting the model with a tool that makes pedagogic resonance explicit. They analyze recent literature, consult academics across disciplines, and use concept mapping to visualize the pedagogic resonance bridge. Concept mapping uncovers a strategic learning cycle where teachers and students avoid disciplinary discourse, potentially undermining scholarship and producing non‑learning outcomes.

Abstract

It has been claimed that one of the overriding purposes of the scholarship of teaching movement is to make more visible what teachers do to make learning happen. The authors of this article are critical of the literature on the scholarship of teaching for not having made more progress towards this aim. They support these assertions through analysis of recent literature and consultation with academics teaching in a variety of disciplines. The weakness in the prior literature is addressed by a proposal to augment a model of scholarship of teaching by providing a tool that can be used by teachers to make explicit the central concept of pedagogic resonance – the bridge between teacher knowledge and student learning. This bridge, spanning the divide between teacher and student, can be made visible through the application of mapping techniques. However, the application of the concept mapping methodology reveals a strategic learning cycle in which teachers and students appear to be complicit in the avoidance of engagement with the discourse of the discipline. The perceived utility of this strategic cycle may subvert any attempt to develop scholarship in university teaching, and may lead consistently to a non-learning outcome for students and teachers – a phenomenon that has previously been largely ignored.