ISSOTL Fellows 2020 Spotlight – Michelle J. Eady

What drew you to SoTL? SoTL is at the core of everything I do in my role as a teacher,  mentor and researcher. SoTL involves bringing my practices and skills as a scholar to my work as a teacher and visa versa. I can often be found asking questions, gathering evidence of all different kinds, drawing conclusions and asking new questions, to finally apply what I have learned to enhance my students’ learning. I believe I have been practising the underpinnings of SoTL since early in my career and I was naturally drawn to the society driven by my strong passion about teaching and learning.

What does being an ISSOTL fellow mean to you? Being recognised as an ISSOTL Fellow was a meaningful and significant moment in my career. I have created and delivered SoTL workshops and I am determined to build a best practice SoTL academy at my institution and be engaged as a lifelong learner in the greater SoTL community. The awarded fellowship was incredibly meaningful as I am deeply dedicated to student learning, it is the most important piece of my vocation and to  see SoTL practices passionately embedded in every institution would be a dream come true.

What advice would you give to ISSOTL members looking to better engage others in SoTL? As SoTL advocates, we need to connect with others and try to understand their approaches to teaching and learning. SoTL for me is personal, human and passionate, and therefore important to connect with others professionally on that level.  I facilitated ‘Get SOTLed’ workshops at my institution to both educate, and show the research behind the benefits of SoTL but also to get to know the others I teach with, what they know that works, how they approach their teaching and what I can learn from them. I personally believe showing the evidence of SoTL and allowing colleagues to ask questions, share and relate to one another helps us all to understand SoTL practices more deeply and  helps is to engage in SoTL.