Social Justice Through SoTL: Establishing Authentic Communities of Learning

This panel session examines collaborative experiences drawing together SoTL with concepts of social justice to develop authentic communities of learning. Each author in this panel explores how engaging in the scholarship of teaching and learning leads us closer to transformational teaching and learning.

This opportunity to explore our personal interactions with students, the sociology behind teaching, and the diverse perspectives explored through teaching and learning relationships is perhaps the most powerful promise of SoTL. The authors in this panel session examine social justice and opportunity for equity in the work of SoTL.

The guiding question for this panel session is “how can SoTL be used to make education transformative for all learners and teachers?” This presentation will focus on work from five authors who have sought to engage their students through “authentic relationships.” The first presenters will clarify connections between transformation and SoTL. The other presenters’ works feature collaboration and “science mindedness”, social justice, collaboration and study abroad, and critical service to promote social justice. These examinations of SoTL practice provide space for us to examine the transformative potential of SoTL.