Where is Equity in the Grand Challenges for SoTL?

By Nancy L. Chick, Texas Woman’s University, Jennifer Friberg, Illinois State University, Diana Gregory, Kennesaw State University, Jennie Mills, University of Warwick, Lauren Scharff, U.S. Air Force Academy.

Three times since late 2023 when the Grand Challenges for SoTL (GCs) went public, SoTL practitioners have publicly asked the same pointed question, “Where is equity in the Grand Challenges?” These moments have shown us that we need to be clearer: equity was a core consideration in the development of the GCs and runs through every single Challenge.

The process that shaped the GCs involved systematic consultation with international experts through multiple rounds of feedback and ranking (see “History”). One of many terminology considerations that surfaced speaks to that question of “where’s equity?”: while the US experts mentioned diversity, equity, and/or inclusion, some experts from other countries pushed back, noting that these terms are US-centric and don’t translate well to the broader global higher education community. The panel of 12 experts from 8 countries and 6 continents emphasized different dimensions of these concepts that reflected their contexts. Some focused on humanistic approaches, others on systemic barriers, and even others on cultural responsiveness or academic preparation.     

Equity Across the Grand Challenges

Beneath the experts’ contextual and language differences, the GCs for SoTL project team still saw that one principle was foundational to everyone: good education helps every student thrive. This commitment is visible throughout the Grand Challenges themselves.  All five are framed by the preamble’s call for “excellent and equitable educational experiences around the world,” and each embeds more specific ways to address this call:

• GC 1 (how to develop critical and creative thinkers) is ultimately about helping students learn to solve messy problems through different ways of thinking, a challenge that will lead to both instruction and research about challenging the complexities of systemic barriers.
• GC 2 (how to encourage students to be engaged in their learning) advocates for learning experiences that support a range of learners’ backgrounds and motivations, and invites an examination of whose interests are centered in our classrooms.
• GC 3 (the complex processes of learning) highlights differences and systemic disparities in access to and the experience of learning, encouraging consideration of  how unequal resources, prior experiences, and institutional supports affect the learning process itself.
• GC 4 (how identities affect both teaching and learning) explicitly focuses on the role of identities in teaching and learning, so it calls for investigations of learning environments that foster equity and address biases. 
• GC 5 (the practice, use, and growth of SoTL) critiques the dominance of Western perspectives in SoTL, prompting us to draw on more diverse voices and approaches in the field itself.

If Equity is Everywhere, Is It Nowhere?

This is the legitimate concern behind calls for a separate GC devoted solely to equity (or diversity, or inclusion): if it isn’t explicitly named and bounded, won’t this core commitment get lost? Won’t practitioners skip over it, assuming someone else will handle the “equity stuff”?

The opposite is true. When equity is everyone’s responsibility, it can’t be ignored as “not my focus.” A researcher studying student engagement can’t sidestep questions about whose voices are centered. Someone examining learning processes can’t avoid considering how systemic barriers shape access. When working in an international field, scholars and practitioners can’t ignore concerns about whose voices and experiences might be dominating or silencing others.  Whatever your primary interest among the Grand Challenges, attention to the effects of power and access is integral to doing that work well.

But we also take the point behind this concern: embedding this commitment doesn’t make it automatic. We must hold ourselves accountable, be intentional about centering these questions, diligent about not letting them slide out of focus, and honest when we fall short. The embedded approach requires active commitment, not passive assumption that it will take care of itself.

From Where to How

The next time someone asks, “Where is equity (or diversity or inclusion or decolonization or any other associated terms) in the Grand Challenges for SoTL?” we’ll try again to answer: it’s everywhere, because that’s where it belongs. The real question isn’t where to find it. It’s how to engage with it specifically in each GC and in your particular context.

SoTL’s goals of transformative practices in both teaching and scholarship are impossible if we don’t place fairness and justice at the heart of the work. So, we invite you to see how these intentions run throughout each GC, to engage with the foundations that make meaningful educational change possible in your own context and more broadly, and to take SoTL into the more just future our students deserve.