{"id":39,"date":"2026-01-19T11:27:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T16:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/routestochange\/?post_type=chapter&p=39"},"modified":"2026-06-02T00:32:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T04:32:29","slug":"tierney","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/routestochange\/chapter\/tierney\/","title":{"raw":"Case Study: Building a Community","rendered":"Case Study: Building a Community"},"content":{"raw":"What impact does a network or being part of a community have on one\u2019s understanding of SoTL? It\u2019s one of those questions that is both simple and complex. For me, having a network - or rather several networks - is absolutely central to my enjoyment of, and participation in SoTL. I illustrate this with some examples from my past that were pivotal experiences for me.\r\n\r\nWhen I started teaching at university, we were not even considered to be academics. This changed when my institution subsumed a teacher training college to become its School of Education in 2003. To accommodate teachers, it created a new academic role, the description of which fitted the role that my colleagues and I were doing. Several years later we were recognised as academic members of staff on a teaching and scholarship track. Around that time, a few things happened concurrently \u2013 I was asked to be an institutional rep for the Higher Education Academy (HEA) Centre for Bioscience, I was invited to take part in a Faculty Learning Community (FLC) (Cox, 2004), and I started an MEd.\r\n\r\nSuddenly I had three networks whose purpose was SoTL, or educational research, or scholarship. I wanted very much to be a part of those communities. I liked the people, I liked learning about education and I wanted to know more. I also wanted to understand why the conversations taking place in these three networks didn\u2019t happen in my workplace \u2013 we were teachers, right? But we never talked about teaching in the way I did within those three networks. The HEA Centre for Bioscience supported teachers in Life Science departments in UK universities develop their scholarship, through events, conferences and funding. The small team, based at the University of Leeds, serviced the whole of the UK, and relied on its institutional reps to spread its activities within departments and schools. We shared practice with one another, we supported one another, we learned from each other. The Faculty Learning Community\u2019s remit was to look at the definition of SoTL. Following Milton Cox\u2019s (2004) Miami Model, we spent a year having conversations about what SoTL meant. The FLC was life-changing for me. Suddenly I could see how I could be an academic. I loved teaching, and SoTL was what I had been looking for (Bell et al., 2006; MacKenzie et al., 2010). Through the contact with the university\u2019s Learning and Teaching Centre, I made the decision to complete an MEd, looking at how including students in curriculum design and academic development transforms the landscape (Pritchard et al., 2008). Interestingly, this took place prior to the emergence of \u201cStudents as Partners\u201d (Cook-Sather et al., 2014), which has gained traction in higher education, and I always view it with a sense of irony. The group that was in my cohort were generous, welcoming and we supported one another through the two years of the programme. We all laughed when we forgot to register to graduate, so we organised lunch on graduation day instead.\r\n\r\nWhy are networks important? Looking at Wenger\u2019s (1998) definition of a community of practice, the domain, the community and the practice are all vital components. This is what was on offer in those three examples \u2013 a chance to spend time with other people who cared about teaching, who were knowledgeable about it and who wanted to share that knowledge and an opportunity to give back to the community that was supporting me. Those networks formed a community which still exists today \u2013 I am still friends with these people, we still have those conversations, we still present workshops and write papers together. And I still wonder why I\u2019m not having those conversations when I am at work. That, I believe, is because we are all too \u201cbusy\u201d doing other things. We spend an inordinate amount of time on operational things, when we should be spending time on creative things. I now turn to the present and retell a lovely story about SoTL which is happening in my institution right now. I sit on the advisory board of Improving University Teaching, an annual international conference. In 2020 we had to make a decision about whether to go ahead or not. In the end we held the conference online. To encourage people to attend we introduced an institutional rate for 5, 10 or 20 delegates. My institution and another in Scotland took up those places and we sent 20 people to the conference. Fast forward four years, and we are still sending 20 delegates online to the hybrid conference. My colleagues are now also attending in-person, my institution has hosted the conference, and my colleagues want to get more involved in supporting the conference. This year the conference was in Milwaukee. We had a record number of delegates, and it was clear from the outset that this opportunity was one that didn\u2019t come around too often for these people, and many of them want to come back to the conference next year. So, communities and networks still matter - and we need to remember that.\r\n

References<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n

Bell, S., Bohan, J., Brown, A., Burke, J., Cogdell, B., Jamieson, S., MacKenzie, J., McAdam, J., McKerlie, R., Morrow, L., Paschke, B., Rea, P., & Tierney, A. (2006). University of Glasgow University Teachers\u2019 Learning Community. Practice and Evidence of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education<\/em>, 1<\/em>(1), 3\u201312.<\/p>\r\n

Cook-Sather, A., Bovill, C., & Felten, P. (2014). Engaging Students as Partners in Learning and Teaching: A Guide for Faculty<\/em>. Jossey-Bass.<\/p>\r\n

Cox, M. D. (2004). Introduction to Faculty Learning Communities. New Directions for Teaching & Learning<\/em>, 97<\/em>(Spring), 5\u201323. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/tl.129<\/a><\/p>\r\n

MacKenzie, J., Bell, S., Bohan, J., Brown, A., Burke, J., Cogdell, B., Jamieson, S., McAdam, J., McKerlie, R., Morrow, L., Paschke, B., Rea, P., & Tierney, A. (2010). From anxiety to empowerment: A Learning Community of University Teachers. Teaching in Higher Education<\/em>, 15<\/em>(3), 273\u2013284. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/13562511003740825<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Pritchard, J., Matthew, B., Tierney, A., MacKenzie, J., Storck, L., Thomson, K., Hood, A., Carroll, J., Crothers, A., Wisbey, J., Fletcher, M., Hope, D., Morrow, L., Bridges, M., & Blanton, W. (2008). Developing the Enquiring Student and Enhancing the Research-Teaching Interface: Student-led Pedagogical Research and Educational Initiatives in Enquiry Based Learning. Practice and Evidence of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education<\/em>, 3<\/em>(1), 6\u201319.<\/p>\r\n

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity<\/em>. Cambridge University Press.<\/p>","rendered":"

What impact does a network or being part of a community have on one\u2019s understanding of SoTL? It\u2019s one of those questions that is both simple and complex. For me, having a network – or rather several networks – is absolutely central to my enjoyment of, and participation in SoTL. I illustrate this with some examples from my past that were pivotal experiences for me.<\/p>\n

When I started teaching at university, we were not even considered to be academics. This changed when my institution subsumed a teacher training college to become its School of Education in 2003. To accommodate teachers, it created a new academic role, the description of which fitted the role that my colleagues and I were doing. Several years later we were recognised as academic members of staff on a teaching and scholarship track. Around that time, a few things happened concurrently \u2013 I was asked to be an institutional rep for the Higher Education Academy (HEA) Centre for Bioscience, I was invited to take part in a Faculty Learning Community (FLC) (Cox, 2004), and I started an MEd.<\/p>\n

Suddenly I had three networks whose purpose was SoTL, or educational research, or scholarship. I wanted very much to be a part of those communities. I liked the people, I liked learning about education and I wanted to know more. I also wanted to understand why the conversations taking place in these three networks didn\u2019t happen in my workplace \u2013 we were teachers, right? But we never talked about teaching in the way I did within those three networks. The HEA Centre for Bioscience supported teachers in Life Science departments in UK universities develop their scholarship, through events, conferences and funding. The small team, based at the University of Leeds, serviced the whole of the UK, and relied on its institutional reps to spread its activities within departments and schools. We shared practice with one another, we supported one another, we learned from each other. The Faculty Learning Community\u2019s remit was to look at the definition of SoTL. Following Milton Cox\u2019s (2004) Miami Model, we spent a year having conversations about what SoTL meant. The FLC was life-changing for me. Suddenly I could see how I could be an academic. I loved teaching, and SoTL was what I had been looking for (Bell et al., 2006; MacKenzie et al., 2010). Through the contact with the university\u2019s Learning and Teaching Centre, I made the decision to complete an MEd, looking at how including students in curriculum design and academic development transforms the landscape (Pritchard et al., 2008). Interestingly, this took place prior to the emergence of \u201cStudents as Partners\u201d (Cook-Sather et al., 2014), which has gained traction in higher education, and I always view it with a sense of irony. The group that was in my cohort were generous, welcoming and we supported one another through the two years of the programme. We all laughed when we forgot to register to graduate, so we organised lunch on graduation day instead.<\/p>\n

Why are networks important? Looking at Wenger\u2019s (1998) definition of a community of practice, the domain, the community and the practice are all vital components. This is what was on offer in those three examples \u2013 a chance to spend time with other people who cared about teaching, who were knowledgeable about it and who wanted to share that knowledge and an opportunity to give back to the community that was supporting me. Those networks formed a community which still exists today \u2013 I am still friends with these people, we still have those conversations, we still present workshops and write papers together. And I still wonder why I\u2019m not having those conversations when I am at work. That, I believe, is because we are all too \u201cbusy\u201d doing other things. We spend an inordinate amount of time on operational things, when we should be spending time on creative things. I now turn to the present and retell a lovely story about SoTL which is happening in my institution right now. I sit on the advisory board of Improving University Teaching, an annual international conference. In 2020 we had to make a decision about whether to go ahead or not. In the end we held the conference online. To encourage people to attend we introduced an institutional rate for 5, 10 or 20 delegates. My institution and another in Scotland took up those places and we sent 20 people to the conference. Fast forward four years, and we are still sending 20 delegates online to the hybrid conference. My colleagues are now also attending in-person, my institution has hosted the conference, and my colleagues want to get more involved in supporting the conference. This year the conference was in Milwaukee. We had a record number of delegates, and it was clear from the outset that this opportunity was one that didn\u2019t come around too often for these people, and many of them want to come back to the conference next year. So, communities and networks still matter – and we need to remember that.<\/p>\n

References<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Bell, S., Bohan, J., Brown, A., Burke, J., Cogdell, B., Jamieson, S., MacKenzie, J., McAdam, J., McKerlie, R., Morrow, L., Paschke, B., Rea, P., & Tierney, A. (2006). University of Glasgow University Teachers\u2019 Learning Community. Practice and Evidence of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education<\/em>, 1<\/em>(1), 3\u201312.<\/p>\n

Cook-Sather, A., Bovill, C., & Felten, P. (2014). Engaging Students as Partners in Learning and Teaching: A Guide for Faculty<\/em>. Jossey-Bass.<\/p>\n

Cox, M. D. (2004). Introduction to Faculty Learning Communities. New Directions for Teaching & Learning<\/em>, 97<\/em>(Spring), 5\u201323. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/tl.129<\/a><\/p>\n

MacKenzie, J., Bell, S., Bohan, J., Brown, A., Burke, J., Cogdell, B., Jamieson, S., McAdam, J., McKerlie, R., Morrow, L., Paschke, B., Rea, P., & Tierney, A. (2010). From anxiety to empowerment: A Learning Community of University Teachers. Teaching in Higher Education<\/em>, 15<\/em>(3), 273\u2013284. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/13562511003740825<\/a><\/p>\n

Pritchard, J., Matthew, B., Tierney, A., MacKenzie, J., Storck, L., Thomson, K., Hood, A., Carroll, J., Crothers, A., Wisbey, J., Fletcher, M., Hope, D., Morrow, L., Bridges, M., & Blanton, W. (2008). Developing the Enquiring Student and Enhancing the Research-Teaching Interface: Student-led Pedagogical Research and Educational Initiatives in Enquiry Based Learning. Practice and Evidence of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education<\/em>, 3<\/em>(1), 6\u201319.<\/p>\n

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity<\/em>. Cambridge University Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1929,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"Case Study: Building a Community","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":["atierney"],"pb_section_license":"cc-by-nc"},"chapter-type":[49],"contributor":[62],"license":[56],"class_list":["post-39","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless","contributor-atierney","license-cc-by-nc"],"part":27,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/routestochange\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/39","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/routestochange\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/routestochange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/routestochange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1929"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/routestochange\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/39\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":331,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/routestochange\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/39\/revisions\/331"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/routestochange\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/27"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/routestochange\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/39\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/routestochange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/routestochange\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=39"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/routestochange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=39"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/routestochange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=39"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}