Publishing scholarship in teaching and learning.doc

publishing scholarship in teaching and learningsharynne mcleod1, marian tulloch2, leonora ritter3, jenny kent 41. school of teacher education, charles sturt university2. centre for enhancing learning and teaching, charles sturt university3. school of social sciences and liberal studies, charles sturt university4. school of commerce, charles sturt universitywe are continually encouraged to engage in scholarship in teaching. however, once we have undertaken research (whether it be theoretical, qualitative, or quantitative), we may be unsure about how and where should it be published. this paper will overview potential sources for publication of scholarship in teaching and learning in higher education and will provide an extensive bibliography containing relevant associations, conferences and journals. furthermore, insights will be given into the process of publication including submission and peer review. finally, suggestions will be made regarding targeting the most appropriate conference and journal, including information about acceptance rates and journal impact factors.teaching and research in the higher education sector is highly interrelated. research complements teaching by developing new theories that can be implemented, by injecting new knowledge about the learning/teaching process, by interrogating old theories and challenging assumptions, and by finding solutions to practical problems.potential sources for publication in higher educationone of the most important steps in publishing scholarship in teaching is to locate the most appropriate journal and/or conference for your material. one of the best ways to understand the culture of a conference or journal is to join the relevant society. appendix a lists a selection of national and international societies that are focussed on higher education. most of these offer a conference and also publish at least one journal. appendix b lists a selection of journals that are potential places for publication of research and scholarship in the area of higher education. the journals within appendix b have been selected due to their broader focus on higher education in general. appendix c lists many journals that are interested in research and scholarship in higher education, but this time they are focussed on specific discipline areas. process of publicationthe preparation of a conference abstract or manuscript for submission to a journal should take a considerable amount of effort, paying particular attention to the guidelines for submission, including the page length and referencing style. hoit (2005, p. 91) provides the following questions for new authors to ask of their research manuscript: “is your topic relevant to the readership of the journal?. does your title reflect your content? is your abstract the best it can be?. is your method clearly described? do your results tell a story? is your discussion rich with ideas? does your manuscript contain too many words? is your manuscript easy to read and understand? is you manuscript error-free?”for most journals it is extremely important that you embed your research and insights in the current literature. this literature should include papers from the journal or conference you are targeting. engaging with relevant literature is joining in the international conversation about the topic. once a paper is submitted, typically the editors review the paper, then, if appropriate, send it to reviewers. typically two reviewers consider the manuscript and then return their reviews to the editor who decides on the outcome of your submission. it is uncommon for papers to be accepted without changes. papers can be accepted with minor changes (typically typographical and minor wording changes), with major changes (sometimes requiring further peer review) or they can be rejected. if a paper is accepted with changes, you are encouraged to respond to the reviewers comments in a line-by-line letter to the editor in addition to re-submitting your manuscript containing the recommended changes. be explicit in explaining changes that have been made and if you disagree with a point made by a referee, be clear and polite in your response. if your paper is rejected, use the feedback to assist you in reconceptualising your work. at times, your paper may have been rejected as you have submitted it to the wrong journal. use appendices b and c to determine an alternative place to submit your work. a paper can always be improved. the revision process can clarify strengths and weaknesses of the paper and improve its focus and motivation. the time between submission of your paper and receipt of a response from the editor can be considerably longer than you anticipate. with the pressures of academic work, turnaround by referees can be slow. creedy (2005) suggests “when referees receive papers, they cannot be expected to take high priority when all academics are under great pressure to produce their own work. almost the only incentive facing referees is a vague feeling that they are part of a community, and cannot expect to have their own work refereed seriously if they are not also prepared to contribute to the system”.targeting the most appropriate conference and journalthere are many reasons for publishing your scholarship in teaching and learning. these may include: to share your ideas with others, to challenge assumptions, to test your ideas by placing them in a public forum. similarly, the focus of conferences and journals are different. some offer a peer review process, others do not. some journals are prestigious, others are not. some target academic researchers in the field, others are filled with good ideas to use in practice. be aware of these distinctions when selecting where to send your work. many journals publish their acceptance rates. it is not uncommon for journals to reject a significant percentage of papers. increasingly journal impact factors are an important consideration when selecting places for publishing your work, particularly under dests research quality framework (rqf), and if you are considering applying for promotion. thomsons isi web of knowledge is widely used to determine impact factors for journals, authors and individual papers. for example, the journal citation reports: “covers more than 7,500 of the worlds most highly cited, peer-reviewed journals in approximately 200 disciplines. and offers access to citation statistics from 1997 onward” the journals in appendix b have been scanned in the isi data base and only a few of these journals have an isi impact factor. summary and conclusionspublishing scholarship in teaching and learning is demanding in terms of time and effort, but it has both extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. extrinsic rewards include peer recognition, institutional recognition and enhanced networks. intrinsic rewards include new and exciting ways to approach your own teaching and the security that comes with knowing that your teaching is underpinned by demonstrable scholarship.referencescreedy, j. (2005). from manuscript to publication: a brief guide for economists. the university of melbourne department of economics research paper number 934. melbourne: the university of melbourne.hoit, j. d. (2005). from the editor. american journal of speech-language pathology, 14 (2), 91.dest (2005). research quality framework (rqf). .au/sectors/research_sector/policies_issues_reviews/key_issues/research_quality_framework/ accessed 12th august, 2005thomson (2005). isi web of knowledge (/)accessed 12th august, 2005appendix a. a sample of societies relating to higher education. many of these societies host conferences and have conference information available on their websites.societywwwcountryconferencebrief description from their websiteaare: australian association for research in e.au/index.htmaustraliaannualaare aims to enhance and promote the quality of educational research in australia and the capacity of australian educational researchers to conduct high quality research. we achieve this by providing forums for collaboration and sharing of educational research outcomes, research training and for policy discussions. aare operates with a vision for quality, well resourced educational research that contributes to the improvement of education for the benefit of all australians and the international community.ace: australian college of e.au/australianothe australian college of educators advances the education profession nationally across all sectors and levels for the individual and collective success of australias educators. in advancing the education profession, ace aims to: provide a strong national voice for the profession, promote professional standards of a high order, recogniseexcellence in professional practice, foster the professionallearning of educators, enhance the status of the professionamerican educational research a/usaannualthe american educational research association (aera), a national research society, strives to advance knowledge about education, to encourage scholarly inquiry related to education, and to promote the use of research to improve education and serve the public good.adult learning australiawww.ala.asn.au/australiayesadult learning australia (ala) is the national peak body representing organisations and individuals in the adult learning field.we are a not-for-profit entity with both organizational and individual members in all states and territories who reflect the extraordinary diversity of adult and community learning. they include adult educators in universities, tafe colleges, community houses and adult community education providers (ace), as well as community workers, librarians, individual tutors and trainers, volunteers and students.ala also has input to the mceetya taskforce and the australian quality framework advisory board (aqfab).the national office is based in canberra.ala is primarily funded (as of 1st july 2005) by a grant from the department of education, employment and workplace relations (deewr), membership dues, subscriptions and project revenues. in 2009, we celebrate our 49th year as a contributor to the adult learning debate in australia.an immediate objective is to extend our reach to workplaces in both the government and the business communities, as well as to advance awareness of the contribution to social, human and identity capital made by lifelong learning and the way these values interact and contribute to community and organisational learning.linked with this, ala also has a strong interest in the contribution learning makes to active ageing in the community, and particularly where focused high quality research can positively support the retention of an ageing workforce as well as contribute to the quality of an ageing lifestyle.carnegie foundation for the advancement of t/usanothe carnegie foundation for the advancement of teaching is an independent policy and research centre whose charge is to do and perform all things necessary to encourage, uphold, and dignify the profession of the teacher.the improvement of teaching and learning is central to all of the foundations work. as we bring together researchers, teachers, policymakers and members of organizations with common interests in education, we work to invent new knowledge and to develop tools and ideas that allow us to foster positive change and enhanced learning in our nations schoolscauce: canadian association for university continuing education http:/cauce-aepuc.ca/canadaannualthe canadian association for university continuing education (cauce)is a professional association of deans, directors, senior administrativepersonnel and practitioners whose professional careers are in universitycontinuing education in canada. membership in cauce is on an institutionalbasis with most benefits of membership also extended to professional and affiliate members. the mission of the association is to enlarge the scope and quality ofeducational opportunities for adults at the university level by enhancingthe stature and expertise of those institutions and individuals devotedto providing those opportunities. although our focus is on university continuing education, our publications, programs and services are of interest to all continuing educators.herdsa: higher education research & development society of a.au/australiaannualthe higher education research and development society of australasia is a scholarly society for people committed to the advancement of higher and tertiary education. it promotes the development of higher education policy, practice and the study of teaching and learning.iced: international consortium for educational d.au/iced/iced_aims.htmlinternational (australia)biennialthe aims of iced are: to help partner organisations develop their capacity for educational development in higher education through the sharing of good practice, problems and solutions. to increase the number of partner organisations of iced. to help educational developers in countries where no national network exists to form such a network. to support educational development in higher education in developing countries. to link with other national and international organisations. inqaahe: international network for quality assurance agencies in higher e/international biennialthe main purpose of the network is to collect and disseminate information on current and developing theory and practice in the assessment, improvement and maintenance of quality in higher education.iau: international association of universities /iau/internationalannualiau, founded in 1950, is the unesco-based worldwide association of higher education institutions. it brings together institutions and organisations from some 150 countries for reflection and action on common concerns and collaborates with various international, regional and national bodies active in higher education. its services are available on the priority basis to members but also to organisations, institutions and authorities concerned with higher education, as well as to individual policy and decision-makers, specialists, administrators, teachers, researchers and students. the association aims at giving expression to the obligation of universities as social institutions to promote, through teaching and research, the principles of freedom and justice, of human dignity and solidarity, and contributes, through international cooperation, to the development of material and moral assistance for the strengthening of higher education generally.ima: international mentoring a/usayesthe i ma promotes individual and organization development through mentoring best practices. we serve persons in mentoring in public and private institutions, business and industry. membership is open to all who support the objectives of the association, which are to: provide professional development activities for members of the association and mentor program leaders identify and maintain effective practice and research information on mentoring strategies and programs facilitate effective mentoring and implementation and maintenance of mentoring programs provide a regular, public forum for learning about effective mentoring international society for the scholarship of teaching & learning /usayesthe international society for the scholarship of teaching & learning (issotl) serves faculty members, staff, and students who care about teaching and learning as serious intellectual work. the goal of the society is to foster inquiry and disseminate findings about what improves and articulates post-secondary learning and teaching. issotl is organized torecognize and encourage scholarly work on teaching and learning in each discipline, within other scholarly societies, and across educational levels promote cross-disciplinary conversation to create synergy and prompt new lines of inquiry facilitate the collaboration of scholars in different countries and the flow of new findings and applications across national boundaries encourage the integration of discovery, learning and public engagement advocate for support, review, recognition, and appropriate uses of the scholarship of teaching and learning.odlaa: the open and distance learning association of australia/australiabiennialthe associations stated aims and objectives are to: advance the practice and study of distance education in australia,foster communication between distance educators,and maintain and extend links with other national and international associations with related aims and objectives. odlaa is a way for professionals to connect with like-minded people to share experiences and disseminate information. our members come from all educational sectors plus commercial training providers and training units in the corporate sector. they are involved in management administration, design, development, research and teaching in multiple modes that may best be described as outside the traditional classroom. srhe: society for research into higher educationhttp:/www.srhe.ac.uk/ukannualan independent society which aims to improve the quality of higher education through the encouragement of debate and publication on issues of policy, on the organisation and management of higher education institutions and on the curriculum, teaching and learning methods.tables updated july 2009 by judy ogdenappen