2025 International Collaborative Writing Groups | Call for Participants

The International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL)  invites applications for group members for the public SoTL track of its International Collaborative Writing Group (ICWG) initiative. 

The goal for ICWG25 is to make SoTL more public, go beyond traditional forms of sharing SoTL, and extend current SoTL audiences by exploring new and non-traditional outlets and media. Public SoTL is about reaching, engaging, and making SoTL-generated knowledge more accessible to a broader audience beyond the academy. Through ICWGs-Public, we will help ISSOTL exemplify, leverage, and build capacity around sharing SoTL-based knowledge in public conversations. 

ISSOTL has selected Nira Rahman and Tamás Köpeczi-Bócz to lead the 2025 cohort. We have limited capacity this year and are excited to announce that the call for group facilitators resulted in the acceptance of two innovative projects.

ICWG 2025 Group Projects

Project 1. Co-creating International Hope Circuits

Overview

This group will rumble (using Brene Brown’s formulation), illuminate, and build frameworks for how Hope Circuits (Riddell, 2024) can be adopted and adapted as a form of public scholarship. SoTL insights into the artistry of teaching help us create learning-centred spaces where both learners and teachers feel safe enough to be brave, take risks, and co-create imaginatively (Santucci, 2024). While the exact outputs and audiences will be co-determined with group participants, we anticipate that possible public SoTL artifacts generated might include interactive open access podcasts, public scholarship philosophy and commitments on group members’ respective websites, and public art installations and performances – including a participatory theatre intervention at ISSOTL26 aiming to activate conference participants as imaginatively creative, hope-ful public scholars.

Co-Facilitated by Jessica Riddell (Bishop’s University, Quebec, Canada) and Anna Santucci (University College Cork, Ireland).

This group will meet in person at ISSOTL25 in Christchurch, NZ.

Project 2. AI-Enabled SoTL Dissemination: Reflecting on Past Practices and Reimagining Future Pathways

Overview

This ICWG project explores the evolution of SoTL dissemination practices through the lens of emerging AI technologies, addressing a critical aspect of ISSOTL’s 20-year history while charting potential future directions. Our international collaborative group will document how knowledge sharing in SoTL has evolved, critically analyze current dissemination challenges, and investigate how AI tools might transform how we share teaching and learning scholarship. The project aligns directly with ISSOTL’s strategic vision “to diversify our publications and promote alternative ways of thinking about SoTL publication to reach new audiences.” By examining the historical context of SoTL dissemination alongside technological developments, we will produce a forward-looking analysis that considers how AI applications could address longstanding barriers to knowledge mobilization while raising important questions about equity, accessibility, and pedagogical integrity. The resulting work will document both established dissemination practices worth preserving and innovative AI-enhanced approaches that could expand SoTL’s reach and impact, contributing to a meaningful reflection on where we’ve been and where we might go next.

Co-Facilitated by Klaudja Caushi (Northeastern University, US) and Sophie Lefmann (Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy, University of South Australia)

This group will meet in person at ISSOTL25 in Christchurch, NZ.

Applications for ICWG25 Group Participants

We invite applications from all ISSOTL members who are interested in joining one of the two ICWGs (details in the blog post). We encourage a wide variety of applicants, including students who are interested in extending SoTL outside the academy. Applicants will be asked to provide the following information: 

• Select your ranked project choices. Members will be selected based on interest and an effort to create strong, diverse teams.  
• Indicate what you believe you can contribute to the group through your background expertise, experience, other relevant skills and/or personal interests.
• Describe how you hope to benefit from the ISSOTL25 ICGW experience.

Applications are due July 25, 2025. Once we review all applications, we will form two groups of ten members, including the facilitators. The ISSOTL ICWG initiative thrives on the diversity of each group’s membership. We aim to form each group based on applicants’ preferred topic and the following diversity goals:

• International coverage (the more diverse the better!).
• A combination of junior and senior SoTL practitioners who hold a variety of roles (e.g., teaching, staff, students, etc.).
• A variety of disciplines.

Similar to the previous cohorts, these ICWGs will convene for a face-to-face/in-person working session on 3 November, immediately prior to the ISSOTL25 conference in Christchurch, NZ (November 3-6, 2025). Before and after the conference, the groups will work together virtually to ultimately produce a public SoTL artifact no later than October 2026. 

All ICWG leaders, group facilitators, and participants are expected to attend the pre-conference working session in person, to register for and attend the conference, and to be (or become) ISSOTL members. 

To avoid confusion later, we ask that applicants make sure they are aware of the ICWG25’s goals, costs, commitments, and timeline before applying to participate. You may review the full Call for Participant Applications and a link to the application form by visiting the 2025 ICWG blog post on ISSOTL’s website. Please contact Susannah McGowan (Susannah.McGowan@georgetown.edu) and Amy De Jaeger (Amy.Dejaeger@umanitoba.ca) if you have questions before applying.

To apply, click here or the button below. Applications are due July 25, 2025.

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2025 ICWG Aims and Outcomes

The aims of the ISSOTL Public SoTL Scholarship ICWGs are to:

• Build the capacity of participants to innovate and work collegially in international collaborative groups.
• Promote, share and extend SoTL-based practices and findings through alternative media outputs to engage new audiences.
• Develop sustainable examples of SoTL as public scholarship, extending its purpose toward advocacy, its audiences to a broader public, its products to more public forms of communication, and its influence beyond courses and academic programs.

Costs and Commitments

ICWG leaders, group facilitators, and participants are expected to attend the pre-conference working session in person and to register for and attend the ISSTOL25 conference in person (November 3-7, 2025).

ICWG25 participation will include a small fee (approximately NZ$75-125 for room reservations and coffee/tea service. Participants will be responsible for their lunch and dinner during the pre-conference, as well as travel and accommodation fees and arrangements.

All groups will work together online before and after the conference to complete their projects no later than October 2026.

Timeline

Once prior to ISSOTL25	ICWGs at ISSOTL25 in Christchurch, NZ
ICWGs Collaborate at a Distance	November 2025 – October 2026: ICWG cohort and individual groups continue working until completion. October 2026: Final products due.ISSOTL26: Recommend presenting outputs and final products.
Once before ISSOTL25	Date TBD: ICWG groups meet virtually to connect before the in-person working session.

Click here to apply