{"id":27,"date":"2025-12-10T12:43:02","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T17:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/routestochange\/?post_type=part&p=27"},"modified":"2026-05-26T13:28:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T17:28:55","slug":"section-2","status":"publish","type":"part","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/routestochange\/part\/section-2\/","title":{"raw":"Networks and Communities in SoTL","rendered":"Networks and Communities in SoTL"},"content":{"raw":"In the previous section, we explored how engagement in SoTL becomes part of an evolving academic and leadership identity. A key insight that emerged is that this development does not occur in isolation. Rather, identity is shaped through relationships\u2014through conversations, collaborations, and shared inquiry with others.\r\n\r\nThis section builds on that insight by focusing on the networks and communities that sustain and extend SoTL leadership. If the previous section addressed the question \u201cWho am I becoming in this work?\u201d<\/em>, this section asks: \u201cWith whom, and through what relationships, does this work take shape?\u201d<\/em> It highlights that SoTL leadership is fundamentally relational and collective, emerging through connections that enable collaboration, trust, and shared purpose.\r\n\r\nAcross the chapters in this section, networks are presented not simply as supportive environments, but as active sites of learning, identity formation, and change. Professional networks, communities of practice, and collaborative initiatives create the conditions in which SoTL can grow, enabling individuals to expand their understanding of teaching and learning while also contributing to broader institutional and disciplinary developments.\r\n\r\nWhile the chapters all focus on communities and networks, they do so from distinct but complementary angles. Lord offers a research-informed analysis of different types of networks\u2014formal, informal, and communities of practice\u2014clarifying how these structures operate and what conditions support their effectiveness. In contrast, McSweeney positions SoTL leadership explicitly as community work, focusing on the intentional development of Communities of Scholars and outlining how such communities can be established, grown, and sustained. Together, these perspectives move from understanding what SoTL networks are and how they function, to exploring how they can be purposefully cultivated as sites of leadership and change.\r\n\r\nTaken together, the contributions in this section show that SoTL leadership is not enacted alone. It develops through relationships that enable individuals to learn with and from others, to build shared practices, and to coordinate efforts across disciplines and institutions. In this way, the identity development explored in the previous section is shown to be inherently relational, grounded in the networks and communities that support and extend individual practice.\r\n\r\nThis section invites you to reflect on your own connections: the networks you are part of, the communities you contribute to, and the relationships that shape your work in SoTL. It also encourages you to consider how you might intentionally create or strengthen such connections as part of your own leadership practice.","rendered":"

In the previous section, we explored how engagement in SoTL becomes part of an evolving academic and leadership identity. A key insight that emerged is that this development does not occur in isolation. Rather, identity is shaped through relationships\u2014through conversations, collaborations, and shared inquiry with others.<\/p>\n

This section builds on that insight by focusing on the networks and communities that sustain and extend SoTL leadership. If the previous section addressed the question \u201cWho am I becoming in this work?\u201d<\/em>, this section asks: \u201cWith whom, and through what relationships, does this work take shape?\u201d<\/em> It highlights that SoTL leadership is fundamentally relational and collective, emerging through connections that enable collaboration, trust, and shared purpose.<\/p>\n

Across the chapters in this section, networks are presented not simply as supportive environments, but as active sites of learning, identity formation, and change. Professional networks, communities of practice, and collaborative initiatives create the conditions in which SoTL can grow, enabling individuals to expand their understanding of teaching and learning while also contributing to broader institutional and disciplinary developments.<\/p>\n

While the chapters all focus on communities and networks, they do so from distinct but complementary angles. Lord offers a research-informed analysis of different types of networks\u2014formal, informal, and communities of practice\u2014clarifying how these structures operate and what conditions support their effectiveness. In contrast, McSweeney positions SoTL leadership explicitly as community work, focusing on the intentional development of Communities of Scholars and outlining how such communities can be established, grown, and sustained. Together, these perspectives move from understanding what SoTL networks are and how they function, to exploring how they can be purposefully cultivated as sites of leadership and change.<\/p>\n

Taken together, the contributions in this section show that SoTL leadership is not enacted alone. It develops through relationships that enable individuals to learn with and from others, to build shared practices, and to coordinate efforts across disciplines and institutions. In this way, the identity development explored in the previous section is shown to be inherently relational, grounded in the networks and communities that support and extend individual practice.<\/p>\n

This section invites you to reflect on your own connections: the networks you are part of, the communities you contribute to, and the relationships that shape your work in SoTL. It also encourages you to consider how you might intentionally create or strengthen such connections as part of your own leadership practice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"parent":0,"menu_order":2,"template":"","meta":{"pb_part_invisible":false,"pb_part_invisible_string":""},"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-27","part","type-part","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/routestochange\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/27","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/routestochange\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/routestochange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/part"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/routestochange\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/27\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":295,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/routestochange\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/27\/revisions\/295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/routestochange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/routestochange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=27"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/routestochange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=27"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}