2026 International Collaborative Writing Groups (ICWGs) Academic Track – Call for Group Facilitators

We invite applications for Group Facilitators for the 2026 International Collaborative Writing Groups (ICWGs), scheduled to take place in Saskatoon, Canada, as part of ISSOTL26. ICWGs bring together faculty, staff, and students to co-author articles for submission to Teaching & Learning Inquiry on topics of shared interest from an international perspective.

Applications are due by February 23, 2026

APPLICATION DETAILS

The ICWG Academic Track is designed to support collaborative, international scholarship. Group Facilitators play a central role in shaping inclusive, reflective, and generative writing communities that bring together faculty, staff, and students from diverse contexts. Facilitators are invited to propose broad, conceptually rich topics aligned with the ISSOTL26 conference theme and subthemes, while remaining open to co-development and refinement once groups are formed. Topics should be suitable for international collaboration, attentive to relational and ethical dimensions of SoTL work, and oriented toward the development of a publishable manuscript for submission to Teaching & Learning Inquiry (TLI).

Theme and Process

The ISSOTL 2026 Conference theme is Building Bridges: Strengthening Relationships and Networks in SoTL. The six areas below are flexible entry points rather than discrete categories, and proposals may span multiple themes.

1. Student Learning and Educational Practice: Focuses on improving student learning via teaching practice. Projects may explore classroom innovations, curricular approaches, or learning experiences, considering their translation into SoTL inquiry. Attention may be given to reflective learning, teacher identity, and conditions supporting engagement and growth.
2. Relationships, Partnerships, and Collaboration in Teaching and Learning: Centers on the relational and collaborative aspects of teaching and learning, such as student–faculty partnerships, interdisciplinary collaboration, and shared responsibility for learning. Projects can explore trust, psychological safety, power, and care for effective collaboration and partnership.
3. Teaching and Learning Support Ecosystems: Explores how partnerships with academic support services—advising, libraries, learning centers, instructional design, technology, and wellness—shape teaching, student learning, and SoTL. Projects can focus on support networks, relations and coordination across roles, and ethical approaches to student and faculty development.
4. From Practice to Scholarship: Invites work explicitly examining the process of moving from teaching practice to SoTL scholarship. This could cover topics like research design, methodological innovation, ethics, positionality, and writing for SoTL audiences. Projects may also explore the role of self-awareness and reflexivity in SoTL inquiry.
5. Improvement, Innovation, and Change through SoTL: Focuses on SoTL’s role in improvement and innovation in teaching, curriculum, policy, or institutional practice. Emphasis is placed on evidence-informed, ethical responsibility, applying SoTL findings to real-world contexts, including attention to culture, well-being, and sustainability.
6. Leadership and Community in SoTL: Examines leadership in SoTL at individual, programmatic, and institutional levels. Projects may address mentoring, faculty development, leadership learning, social networks, community-building, and sustaining SoTL initiatives. Leadership is viewed as relational, reflective, and distributed, grounded in shared purpose and responsibility for learning.

Applicants should propose a topic aligned with the themes above and ensure it is inclusive of a globally diverse group. Use your expertise and creativity to shape the topic.

ICWGs culminate in a manuscript submitted to Teaching & Learning Inquiry. Each group brings together faculty, staff, and students to co-create articles on teaching and learning from an international perspective.

The 2026 ICWG includes an in-person workshop (October 25–27) in Saskatoon, Canada, immediately before the ISSOTL26 conference (October 28–31). Groups collaborate online before and after the conference. All Group Facilitators and Participants are expected to attend the pre-conference workshop and register for the conference.

Aims and Outcomes

The aims of the ISSOTL ICWGs are to:

• Build participants’ capacity to innovate and work collegially in international collaborative groups.
• Promote, share, and extend SoTL-based practices and findings through traditional peer-reviewed publications.
• Develop an original contribution to SoTL.

Expectations

As a Group Facilitator, you will lead your group and engage with the wider ICWG cohort. Co-Leaders, in coordination with ISSOTL, identify and select Group Facilitators who can manage a group’s writing project. Group Facilitators have experience in SoTL and in guiding and supporting teams.

Group Participants are selected and assigned to groups by the Co-Leaders, balancing experience, diversity, expertise, and topic interest.

ICWG Group Facilitator responsibilities include:

• Facilitating an international group of 6–7 members from early 2026 through submission to TLI by mid 2027.
• Leading remote collaboration and participating in the in-person ICWG workshop (October 25–27, 2026) before ISSOTL26.
• Ensuring your group meets all deadlines.
• Collaborating with ICWG Co-Leaders, the Publications Committee, the TLI editorial team, and other facilitators.

Benefits

ICWGs are an invaluable opportunity to develop skills, generate academic outputs, and engage deeply with the ISSOTL and SoTL community. There are many benefits for Group Facilitators, such as:

• Capacity-building in mentorship, leadership, and communities of practice.
• Communication and dissemination skills development.
• Deepening knowledge of SoTL literature and avenues for its dissemination.
• Expanded networks of international colleagues.
• Evidence for academic portfolios (e.g., to support promotion and tenure).

Costs

All ICWG Group Facilitators and Participants are responsible for their own expenses and are expected to register for and attend the pre-conference writing workshop in person and to register for and attend the ISSOTL26 conference. Registration fees and costs for the ICWG pre-conference writing workshop are in addition to the fees and costs for the ISSOTL26 conference.

Timeline

Timeframe	Key Stages
Jan 2026	Call for Group Facilitators is issued
Feb 2026	Feb 23: Facilitator applications due Facilitator Selection & Participant Recruitment
Mar-Apr 2026	Group Formation & Work Begins
Aug 2026	Pre-Workshop Deliverable
Oct 25-27, 2026	ICWG In-person Workshop
Oct 28-31, 2026	ISSOTL26 Conference
Nov 2026 – Oct 2027	Remote Collaboration & Writing for Submission to TLI for Peer Review
~ 2028	TLI Peer Review   Publication of Accepted Submissions

Applying

To apply, please prepare the following:

• 300 words outlining your proposed topic and explaining how it aligns with the ICWG themes and brief above
• 200 words describing your experience in SoTL and in guiding and supporting teams, particularly in collaborative writing contexts
• 100 words explaining why you would be an effective facilitator for this specific topic or project

Note: The scope and focus of the writing within a topic are negotiated by each group once formed. Submissions based on highly specific/prescriptive writing projects (e.g., your own research) are unlikely to be selected.

To apply for this exciting new initiative, please submit an application here by February 23, 2026.

ICWG Co-Leaders,

Karen Lander, PhD, University of Manchester | Leda Stawnychko, PhD, Mount Royal University | Leslie Woltenberg, PhD, University of Kentucky