SOTL Africa

SoTL Africa Journal Introduction - Volume 1, Issue 1

2026-03-09T09:44:54+00:00

SoTL Africa Journal Introduction - Volume 1, Issue 1

Addressing the Grand Challenges: Pathways to Sustainable Educational Development in Africa through Culture, Community, and Co-Creation

2026-03-09T09:44:54+00:00

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) has emerged as a critical framework for enhancing pedagogical practices and advancing higher education globally. In Africa, where educational systems grapple with socio-economic and infrastructural challenges, embedding SoTL within sustainable development objectives is imperative. This essay explores strategies for fostering and institutionalizing SoTL in African higher education, employing Hutchings’ (2000) framework to interrogate key questions: “What is SoTL in Africa?”, “What works in promoting SoTL?”, “What could be done to enhance SoTL?”, and “What new theories can support the development of SoTL?” By aligning these questions with the five Grand Challenges for SoTL identified by Scharff et al. (2023), this essay examines pathways for institutional support, faculty development, and policy advocacy. Through the interconnected lenses of culture, community, and co-creation, it argues for a contextually relevant and globally informed SoTL ecosystem that fosters sustainable educational reform across the continent.

Revitalizing Institutional Identity Post-COVID: A Pan-African SoTL Study Grounded in Kotter’s Change Model and African Ontologies

2026-03-11T09:44:59+00:00

This study examines how the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) can address complex institutional challenges beyond classroom practice by revitalizing a disrupted university culture in a Pan-African context. Guided by Hutchings’ (2000) future-oriented question of “What could be?”, we applied Kotter’s eight-step change model within a narrative participatory inquiry design that positioned students as partners in co-creating knowledge. The intervention integrated African philosophies of Sankofa (reflection for action) and Sunsum (interconnectedness), alongside storytelling as a traditional pedagogical tool, to foster cultural renewal. Felten’s (2013) pillars of good SoTL and Hamilton and McCollum’s (2024) emphasis on epistemological and ontological depth informed the approach, ensuring cultural responsiveness and collaborative engagement. A five-week catalytic intervention provided students with a lived experience of the original institutional culture, resulting in increased academic motivation, enhanced campus engagement, and a strengthened sense of identity. The process achieved short-term wins and accelerated change compared to the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM), reaching integration a year earlier than expected. Findings underscore the importance of care-driven practices, student partnerships, and indigenous knowledge systems in sustaining transformation. The study offers a model for addressing grand challenges in higher education and calls for future research on culturally grounded change frameworks, longitudinal sustainability, and the role of storytelling in SoTL.

“A SoTL Mindset: Paying Attention to What We Don’t (Yet) Know”

2026-03-09T09:44:56+00:00

A SoTL Mindset: Paying Attention to What We Don’t (Yet) Know

Cultivating Curiosity and Community: Teaching and Learning SoTL

2026-03-17T05:34:10+00:00

Cultivating Curiosity and Community: Teaching and Learning SoTL