NLU Fellowship for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
NLU is deeply committed to learning from its own practice to strengthen every aspect of the student and faculty experience. Through purposeful inquiry in our classrooms and programs, we build shared understanding about what supports student learning, fosters engagement and enjoyment, advances equity in student success, and sustains faculty efficacy and joy in teaching.
Over the past five years, the Provost’s Office has supported this work through internal Fellowships grounded in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). These fellowships have brought together collaborative teams of faculty to explore questions that matter to our community—expanding our collective knowledge and professional learning around topics such as the thoughtful use of artificial intelligence in teaching and learning, and strategies for amplifying student voice and engagement in the classroom.
To recognize and build on our SoTL success, the Provost’s Office is expanding opportunities for collaborative inquiry through a new fellowship structure being added to existing SoTL opportunities. This new structure provides increased mentorship and a lessened time commitment to support faculty in gaining research experience and contributing to NLU’s evolving culture of evidence-informed practice.
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Information (SoTL)
There are three SoTL options. Each is detailed below. Information about the Fellowship can be found in the FAQs, which are organized below. We highly recommend reading the FAQs before applying.
SoTL for All Fellowships
This new fellowship pathway is designed to broaden participation in SoTL by inviting faculty to join an established study focused on increasing student engagement. Each SoTL for All project will be led by 1-2 former SoTL Fellows with deep experience in SoTL research and the Director of Engaged Research. These faculty leaders will develop research questions focused on increasing engagement, design data-collection tools (e.g., surveys), and complete the IRB process.
SoTL for All Fellows will then join the established project and implement the shared inquiry in their own classrooms, experimenting with practices that are aligned to the research question and that fit the context of their subject and students, and then supporting analysis of data and preparation of presentations on the findings.
As with the current SoTL opportunities, SoTL for All Fellowships will be for a full academic year, with the expectation that fellows will continue to take part in presentation and potential publication opportunities after the research concludes. Three SoTL for All Fellows will be selected each year and will receive a fellowship stipend.
Please see the FAQs on funding, time, and activities for full information on the resources SoTL for All Fellows will receive and the expectations during the fellowship.
To apply for the SoTL for All Fellowship, please use the application form linked below.
SoTL for All Fellowship Application
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Scholars Team Proposals
There are two potential topics for this team:
Experimenting with teaching strategies that incorporate cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT, Bard, and/or Bing. The intent is to gather data on the feasibility and impact of the innovative use of such tools in NLU classrooms. Proposals should clearly indicate the AI tools that will be used; the NLU context that will be studied (courses, tutoring, etc.); the student outcomes that are expected to be studied; the methods that are expected to be used to experiment and gather data; and quarterly milestones.
Team-determined topic. This team examines research questions of their choosing that address educational inequity through high-impact teaching practices.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
A faculty task force convened by the Provost Office in 2021 wrote the following statement to articulate the definition of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning for NLU.
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at NLU advances positive and equitable outcomes for students by inviting and supporting faculty and students to participate in the systematic inquiry of our teaching and learning practices. This collaborative process includes intentional design, diverse methodologies, and public dissemination of the findings to contribute to the higher education community’s understanding of pedagogical practices.
Overall, the University is interested in teaching and learning practices that advance equity in higher education. More specifically, during the Fall of 2020, the task force surveyed faculty to determine topic areas of interest. There are numerous topic areas currently being investigated. A theme analysis induced the following areas: engaging students in online learning environments; using digital tools to engage students; supporting BIPOC students, deepening student agency, thinking, and ownership; addressing the needs of multilingual learners; assessing students; and using data to inform instructional practice.
Additionally, the University is interested in the examination of teaching and learning practices that improve the following outcomes for historically marginalized students: course completion, term-to-term retention, GPA, degree attainment, and career readiness.
Annually, the University identifies 1-2 specific topics for investigation by SoTL teams.
The Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence (CTLE) houses the Fellows for the academic year. There are two SoTL application tracks: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Scholars team OR SoTL for All. You may be on only one SoTL application per year. The structure for each track is:
SoTL Scholars team. This team examines either a research question of their choosing that addresses educational inequity through high-impact teaching practices or the annual university-selected SoTL focal topic. The team will be self-led but will meet quarterly with members of the Faculty Support Group. The team applies through a group proposal.
SoTL for All. This new fellowship pathway is designed to broaden participation in SoTL by inviting faculty to join an established inquiry focused on increasing student engagement. Each SoTL for All project will be led by 1-2 former SoTL Fellows with deep experience in SoTL research. These faculty leaders will develop the research questions, design data-collection tools (e.g., surveys), and complete the IRB process. SoTL for All Fellows implement the shared inquiry in their own classrooms, experimenting with practices that fit the context of their subject and students, and gathering data on impacts. This structure provides fellows with expert mentoring in classroom-based inquiry and opportunities to co-author and present on the findings.
Funding and time differ for the Scholars teams and the SoTL for All Fellows, as described below.
SoTL Scholars teams
Time: Participation on a Fellowship team is equated as up to 3 SH, the equivalent of one course.
Faculty who are allocated research hours through their workload have the choice of 1) engaging in this research to satisfy their allocated research load or 2) if they already have 150 hours of documented research activity in their load, can receive a stipend or course release for this research.
Faculty who do not have research hours in their load can choose to receive a course buy-out to engage in the Fellowship or can choose to teach their full load and receive a stipend.
Faculty members who receive course release should determine the timing of the course release with their program head.
Funding: Each research team will be allocated up to $9,000 to be distributed as either a stipend to the faculty members or to provide the college with partial reimbursement of the cost of a course release. It is expected that stipends and course buyout reimbursements will be equated as $1,000 per SH. An individual stipend or course release cannot exceed $3000 or one course. Please note that faculty members with research load cannot receive a stipend or course buyout for Fellowship participation unless they already have 150 hours of documented research activity in their load. Payment of stipends will be during the summer term of the Fellowship Year.
SoTL for All
Time: Participation as an SoTL for All Fellow is equated as 1 SH/1.5 QH.
Faculty who are allocated thought leadership hours through their workload have the choice of 1) engaging in this research to satisfy a portion of their allocated research load or 2) if they already have 150 hours of documented research activity in their load, can receive a stipend for this research. Faculty who are not allocated thought leadership hours can receive a stipend for this research.
Funding: Each fellow will be allotted $1,000 to be received as a stipend, under the load stipulations described above. Payment of stipends will be during the summer term of the Fellowship Year.
The fellowship year is from September 1 of the award year through August 30th of the following year.
Each team will carry out a SoTL research study featuring the following elements: study design, sample selection and data collection, initial data analysis, and internal and external dissemination (further details under deliverables). Upon completion of the study, teams will articulate recommendations and next steps for further investigations, which will activate additional SoTL studies by NLU researchers.
Internal Dissemination: Teams will post findings to the NLU SoTL webpage. Teams may also be asked to take part in presenting their findings during Connection or a CTLE professional development workshop.
External Dissemination: By the close of the fellowship year (August 30th), each team is required to submit at least one conference proposal or one journal submission. To disseminate your work, we recommend that you present at The SoTL Commons Conference, hosted annually in February by Georgia Southern University in Savannah, GA. You can present in-progress work in February 2027 or your completed work in February 2028. Please let us know if you will expect to present at this conference or another.
- All full-time faculty, regardless of track, are eligible to apply for the Fellowship.
- Staff are eligible to apply but will not be eligible for a stipend.
- Adjunct faculty are eligible, provided they meet the criteria of ‘active status’, as described in the adjunct council charter: [Adjuncts] who have received an academic contract within the previous 24 months and have maintained a positive, consistent teaching track record, including course evaluation scores, course engagement, and observations.
Note: Faculty who have an active seed grant or a NCE Faculty Research Residency are not eligible to apply.
Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, May 2, 2025.
Fellows will be notified by June 6, 2025.
Each application must include the content of an approval email from the college dean, associate dean or program chair. The approval email must indicate understanding and approval that the faculty member(s) are applying for an SoTL fellowship and if awarded, the fellowship will account for 3SH of faculty time through either research hours, course buyout or an overload contract. For applications from adjunct faculty member, the approval email must also state that the adjunct member meets the criteria of active status, as described in the Adjunct Council Charter.
Recommended text for the email is: I support (team members' names) in applying for an SoTL fellowship to be completed in the 2023-24 academic year. I understand that if awarded, the fellowship participation will be equal to 3SH per team member fellowship, and that the fellows will be allowing for the time through Research Load OR a Course Release OR an overload stipend, as appropriate to the team member and to be finalized upon award. (Additional language for adjunct faculty, if needed, as described above)
(Dean/associate dean/program chair) email signature.
Members of the Faculty Development Committee will review proposals. Following an initial screening for eligibility, each proposal will be evaluated by committee members based on the sections listed in the proposal. The FDC will make recommendations to the Provost’s Office, which will make the final determination of awards.
