INSPIRE (Initiative for Students as Partners in Research & Education)
The Initiative for Students as Partners in Research and Education (INSPIRE) builds on the CTL’s involvement in creating and supporting opportunities for Students as Partners projects within and outside of UT. INSPIRE’s work is informed by UT’s 10-year Strategic Plan and Hallmarks of Experiential Learning, and by pedagogical leaders and organizations focused on the “practices, processes and conditions that foster student agency, work toward equity, and support deeper learning” (Assessment for Learning Project).
"As an education researcher, building coalitions with students is at the heart my work. It is with great solidarity that I commit myself to embracing community and partnerships with students. I understand the power and value in cultivating scholarly experiences where all team members feel valued and seen. Plus, partnering with students through research collaborations elevates the meaning and joy of being a faculty member. I am thrilled for the Initiative for Students as Partners in Research and Education (InSPIRE) at the University of Texas at Austin because it serves similar purposes of building coalitions and strengthening research partnerships with students.
What makes InSPIRE even more meaningful is the leadership and vision from Dr. Heather Wright. She was the first educator that I ever encountered who empowered me to pursue education research. I credit her for opening so many gifts through education research and am grateful for her continued impact in education for me personally and broadly in the field."
- Dr. Jay Garvey (Executive Director, Office of Institutional Research and Assessment, University of Vermont; Friedman-Hipps Green and Gold Associate Professor of Education)
"Engaging in students-as-partners research ... has taught me how important it is to design and think about curriculum in community. I have learned how different my perceptions of teaching are to students, in ways that I wouldn’t have known without being in conversation with students. I have been reminded about the importance of transparency with students and how learning is reciprocal even though it is often seen as one-directional."
- Dr. Tonia Guida (Assistant Professor in the Division of Pharmacy Practice)
Teaching and Learning Research in the CTL
What We Do
What we do / partner with us (blurb)
- Connect students, staff, and instructors interested or engaged in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)
- Explore and offer CTL funding opportunities for pedagogical innovation and research
- Equip students, staff, and instructors with skills and knowledge to support SoTL at UT
- Empower students, staff, and instructors by sharing SoTL resources within and outside of UT
- Spotlight SoTL work and model approaches to SoTL reflecting the institution’s strategic goal of being the highest-impact public research university in the world
Meet Our Partners
Featured Partners TBD
T&LR Resources
Upcoming Conferences and Professional Development Opportunities
- TBD
Multidisciplinary outlets for publications
Arts and Humanities in Higher Education
Arts and Humanities in Higher Education seeks to serve the community of arts and humanities educators internationally, by publishing significant opinion and research into contemporary issues of teaching and learning.
College Teaching, a unique, cross-disciplinary journal, focuses on how teachers can improve student learning.
International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (IJ-SoTL)
A peer-reviewed, international electronic journal published twice a year by the Center for Excellence in Teaching at Georgia Southern University to be an international vehicle for articles, essays, and discussions about the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) and its applications in higher/tertiary education today.
Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (JoSoTL)
Founded in 2001, the Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (JoSoTL) is a forum for the dissemination of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in higher education for the community of teacher-scholars.
Journal on Excellence in College Teaching (JECT)
The Journal on Excellence in College Teaching is a peer-reviewed journal published at Miami University by and for faculty at universities and two- and four-year colleges to increase student learning through effective teaching, interest in and enthusiasm for the profession of teaching, and communication among faculty about their classroom experiences
Published by the Coulter Faculty Commons for Excellence in Teaching & Learning at Western Carolina University. An international vehicle for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (SoTL). The aim of the journal is to foster a higher education culture that embraces innovation in teaching and learning.
National Teaching and Learning Forum
Each issue is part of an ongoing discourse in the academic field and provides faculty with a place to learn and discuss relevant topics and the latest developments in teaching and learning with their peers.
Articles in the Forum embrace a wide diversity of cross-disciplinary concerns in faculty development, classroom management, lesson planning, scholarly publishing, team teaching, online learning and teaching and more. The Forum encourages international contributions and regularly introduces American readers to significant research findings in teaching and learning outside the United States.Journal from ISSOTL that publishes insightful research, theory, commentary, and other scholarly works that document or facilitate investigations of teaching and learning in higher education.
Higher Education newsletter that focuses on specific aspects of teaching or administration
Transformative Dialogues: Teaching and Learning Journal
TD facilitates the multi-disciplinary intellectual debate and inquiry, exchange of ideas, actions, and results of innovative and professional practice in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.
Featured Projects
Terracotta (Experimental Research in Canvas): Terracotta makes it easy to achieve the standards of responsible, ethical experimentation. The following considerations should born in mind: Students should be assigned to experimental variants of assignments (giving them access to innovative learning opportunities). Whenever possible, research should favor within-subject crossover designs where all students receive all treatments (eliminating any bias due to condition assignment). Students should be empowered to provide informed consent. Student data should be deidentified prior to export and analysis. Terracotta functions within Canvas. Contact Matthew Russell in the CTL for more information.
Recent T&LR News
Recent Conference Presentations: Chad Fulton, Molly Hatcher, and Heather Wright facilitated “Re:imagining how we report CTL impact: beyond a single story,” a roundtable for educational developers and others at the 47th Annual Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Conference to discuss the challenging work of creating annual reports that describe the positive impacts on teaching and learning that CTLs make on our campuses. Participants in the roundtable explored and collectively discussed barriers impeding the process of creating reporting documents that authentically capture their work, such as the trickiness of making impact visible in ways that resonate with the CTL values and institutional leadership. Facilitators and participants left roundtable equipped with strategies and frameworks to confidently tell the stories of our centers’ teaching and learning advancements, with several participants asking for a follow-up roundtable at next year’s Annual Conference.
Kaitlyn Farrell Rodriguez and Michelle Gaston facilitated the session “Reengaging and Reconnecting: Strategies for Mitigating Student Disengagement in Classroom:” Participants shared unique instructional methods, activities, and assessments they designed, recommended, or implemented to foster student engagement to varying degrees of success. Participants then collaborated to brainstorm next steps with students and their learning, self-care, and growth in mind.
Association of American Colleges & Universities Institute Update: Organized by the CTL, the successful AAC&U IEIL application provided a valuable opportunity for a team of staff and faculty (including Associate Vice Provost Linda N. Dickens and Assistant Director Heather M. Wright) to direct a week toward developing plans to further support Experiential Learning at UT and establish a connected experiential learning community of faculty, staff and students. Work of the team connects directly to UT’s Strategic Plan, and inspired the continued work of the group beyond the institute itself.
T&LR Events
"Going Public: How to Find the Right Audience for Your Teaching & Learning Scholarship" (January 23, 2025): Dr. Laura Cruz, Research Professor with the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence at Penn State University, offered a workshop that encouraged participants to create a dissemination plan for a (current or future) project that fits with their long-term career plans.