Inquire: From Ideas to Impact in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
The Inquire program is designed for University of Guelph, Guelph-Humber, and Ridgetown faculty, instructors and staff who are interested in investigating teaching and learning in higher education.
Grounded in Ernest Boyer’s vision of the “teacher-scholar” (Boyer, 1990) provides a structured framework for applying rigorous educational inquiry to your specific teaching context.". Now delivered as a fully online, self-paced program, Inquire provides a flexible, structured pathway to guide you from initial pedagogical curiosity to a complete, ethically sound SoTL research proposal and strategic dissemination plan
Program Format & Flexibility
The redesigned Inquire program allows you to engage with core concepts, practical frameworks, and project-building milestones on your own schedule through CourseLink.
- Asynchronous Learning Modules: Work independently through 7 structured units covering foundational SoTL theories, research ethics, methodological alignment, and dissemination strategies.
- Optional Monthly Live Drop-In Sessions: Connect with an OTL facilitator and colleagues during optional, 1-hour monthly online sessions to ask questions, workshop project ideas, and receive feedback.
- Scaffolding to Completion: Complete practical, stage-by-stage deliverables—such as a research-methods alignment matrix and an ethics action plan—that assemble directly into your final SoTL proposal.
Program Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the Inquire program, participants will be able to:
- Contextualize SoTL within Higher Education: Critically evaluate SoTL as a distinct field of inquiry that bridges disciplinary expertise with educational research, distinguishing it from traditional research paradigms.
- Adopt a Scholarly Approach to Teaching: Integrate the core principles of inquiry, evidence, reflection, and collaboration into their professional practice to transform teaching from a private activity into a public, scholarly endeavor.
- Design a Rigorous Inquiry Project: Construct a comprehensive, ethically sound SoTL research proposal that aligns a meaningful research question with appropriate methodologies and analysis plans.
- Navigate the SoTL Community: Identify and utilize institutional, national, and disciplinary networks to support, fund, and disseminate scholarship on teaching and learning.
Curriculum Overview (7 Units)
| Unit | Focus & Activities |
|---|---|
| Unit 01: Introduction – What is SoTL? | SoTL history, paradigms, and the Annotated Timeline Reflection. |
| Unit 02: Planning a Research Project | Project scoping, pedagogical context, and operationalizing classroom inquiry. |
| Unit 03: How to Develop a SoTL Research Question | Formulating, refining, and evaluating actionable, literature-grounded research questions. |
| Unit 04: Ethics in SoTL Research: Principles, Challenges, and Practices | Power dynamics, student consent, risk mitigation, and REB protocol preparation.; |
| Unit 05: SoTL Methods | Selecting qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods frameworks for classroom research. |
| Unit 06: Analyzing Your Data | Qualitative coding, quantitative frameworks, data hygiene, and interpreting evidence. |
| Unit 07: Proposal Synthesis, Dissemination Planning, and Reflective Practice | Assembling project milestones, strategic venue mapping, and reflecting on teaching philosophy. |
Get Started
The Inquire program is open to all U of G, Guelph-Humber, and Ridgetown instructors, faculty, and staff. Because the program is hosted asynchronously on CourseLink, you can register and begin at any point during the academic year. Register for the Inquire Online Program