Making sense of student learning — through SoTL
Many educators recognise this situation.
A question about student learning keeps returning.
You try adjustments. You discuss it with colleagues.
Yet the issue never fully becomes clear.
You care deeply about quality.
You want learning to improve.
But you do not want another “nice idea”, quick fix or generic training.
An evidence-informed approach to improving student learning
This is where the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) offers a different way of working.
SoTL starts from your own teaching and learning context.
From questions that matter to you and your students.
SoTL is used by educators, teams and institutions to better understand and improve student learning in a systematic, evidence-informed way.
SoTL creates space to look more carefully, before deciding what to change.
It helps you understand what is happening, before acting on it.
For many educators and teams I work with, SoTL brings relief.
It creates focus, structure and confidence in situations that previously felt complex or overwhelming.
I often see that once the question becomes clearer, discussions about teaching also become easier.
SoTL: evidence-informed teaching in practice
SoTL is not a large research project.
And it is not extra work on top of teaching.
It is a structured way of looking more carefully at what is already happening in your teaching.
In practice, it often means:
- starting with a concrete question from your own teaching
- trying a small, informed change
- observing what students actually do and learn
- gathering simple but meaningful evidence of what changes
- discussing and building on what you discover with colleagues
SoTL sits between everyday teaching and formal research:
systematic enough to learn from, close enough to practice to stay useful.
Not sure where to begin with SoTL?
The SoTL Quick Guide offers a short introduction.
Before you start with SoTL helps you clarify expectations and avoid common pitfalls.
You can access both via the resources form above.
How you can get started with SoTL
If you already have a question in mind and want to work it out more concretely, the SoTL Support page explains how we can do that together.
Depending on your context, there are different ways to engage with SoTL:
Individually — through resources and guided reflection
With support — through individual sparring or small-scale guidance
As a team or institution — through structured SoTL trajectories
Explore:
👉 Get started with SoTL
👉 SoTL Trajectory
The impact of evidence-informed teaching on student learning
SoTL does not solve everything immediately.
But it prevents starting over each year.
Instead of guessing what might help students, you begin to see what actually makes a difference — and build on that step by step.
For students
– expectations become clearer earlier in the course
– misconceptions become visible sooner
– students connect ideas instead of memorising separate topics
For educators
– teaching questions become shared rather than carried alone
– conversations about learning become more concrete
– decisions are based on theory, not only intuition
For teams and organisations
– insights from teaching practice become visible and reusable
– collaboration around teaching becomes easier
– improvement is grounded in evidence from student learning, not only requirements
SoTL helps connect everyday teaching to meaningful improvement — in ways that can be explained, discussed and sustained over time.
These effects can be seen at different levels — from individual courses to programmes and institutions.
How I work with SoTL
In my work I rarely start with methods — I start with the question educators are trying to understand, as a sparring partner and guide in the process.
Often the challenge is not lack of motivation, but that the question remains too broad, or difficult to connect to everyday teaching decisions. Together we make that question workable.
I work with educators, teams and institutions in their own context.
Not by adding a separate research layer, but by carefully structuring inquiry around what already happens in teaching.
In practice this means we:
- clarify what you want to understand or improve in student learning
- shape this into a focused, researchable question
- explore relevant knowledge without getting lost in literature
- design a feasible approach within existing constraints
- translate what you learn into concrete improvements
Over time, this often shifts conversations about teaching.
Questions become shared, and insights travel beyond the individual course.
My background in disciplinary research and educational development helps me work across different disciplines — where ways of asking questions and recognising evidence can differ considerably.
The aim is not to turn educators into educational researchers, but to support careful, informed improvement from within their own practice.
Getting in touch
If you are unsure where to start, feel free to get in touch — we can explore together what would fit your context best.
A short conversation often helps clarify what would be most helpful in your context.
You can message me here or email me at info@irmact.com.
We can start by exploring what SoTL might look like in your setting.
“With her contagious enthusiasm and engaging personality, Irma creates a safe and inspiring space for reflection and dialogue during workshops. As a pioneer in the field of SoTL, she motivates others to explore and strengthen their own teaching practice.”
(Translated from Dutch)
Svenne Groeneweg
Policy researcher on teacher professionalization
University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands