Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Program

Faculty and academic fieldwork educator participants will learn how to systematically study the effectiveness of their teaching and learning strategies through SoTL. Participants will design a small study related to a critical area in teaching and learning. Participants will finalize their study design and carry it out over the next year, while being supported by a mentored SoTL inquiry community that meets in a virtual context. A mentored inquiry community is a group of educators who engage in an active, collaborative, intensive, and structured project(s) centered on the scholarship of teaching and learning while guided by an experienced mentor.

1. Participants will understand the scholarship of teaching and learning and its impact on occupational therapy education and faculty performance evaluations. 
2. Participants will identify a topic and a research question for a SoTL study.  
3. Participants will form mentored inquiry communities and develop a plan for sustained commitment to their inquiry community and SoTL study.

The AOTA SoTL Institute is offered every other year at the Education Summit (e.g., 2026, 2028) with yearlong mentorship meetings. Below is a general timeline of what to expect. Please click here to view the exact timelines for each cohort.

• Apply to the SoTL Program in the Fall (odd years) through Spring (even years).
• Attend the SoTL Pre-Conference Institute at the Education Summit (in person, even years).
• Participate in monthly meetings with mentors for one year following the Institute (remote).
• Attend 3 meetings with the SoTL Leadership Team during the year following the Institute (remote).

• Disseminate SoTL work at the Education Summit (in person, non-peer reviewed, odd years).

1. Receive inspiration and support for early, mid-career, and senior faculty
2. Meet faculty expectations for mentorship
3. Establish networks with faculty pursuing pedagogical issues
4. Increase the rewards for and prestige of excellent teaching 
5. Increase financial support for teaching and learning initiatives
6. Document improvements in student learning outcomes
7. Expand best practices for teaching and learning
8. Create an awareness of the complexity of teaching and learning 
9. Improve faculty attitudes related to improving student learning 

In 2007, the American Occupational Therapy Foundation (AOTF) supported the establishment of a SoTL program to equip occupational therapy faculty to contribute to the research agenda in OT education through classroom-based projects. When AOTF discontinued support in 2013, AOTA continued support of the AOTA SoTL Mentoring Institute and Program as a six-hour pre-conference institute led by the AOTA SoTL Program Leadership Team. During the Institute, participants were matched with like-minded peers and a mentor to form mentored inquiry communities. Following the Institute, participants continued work with their mentored inquiry community to implement a SoTL project, either individually or in collaboration with peers within their inquiry community.

The current leadership team of the AOTA SoTL Program wish to thank all of the past participants in the AOTA SoTL Program—leaders, mentors, and mentees. In particular, we have immense gratitude for Andrea Bilics, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA, founder of the AOTA SoTL Program and Emeritus Professor, Occupational Therapy Department, Worcester State University, Worcester, Mass.

Teaching philosophies
Faculty preparation for teaching
Academic admissions
Fieldwork education and educator preparation
Curricular innovations
Flipped classrooms
Hybrid and online learning
Problem-based learning
Service-learning
Interprofessional case-based learning
OT and OTA collaboration
Clinical decision making
Ethical decision making
Development of higher order thinking
Multitasking in an educational environment
Epistemic/ontological cognition of OT students Metacognition 
Comprehension
Student professional behaviors and roles
Student attitudes towards research
Critical reading skills for research
Use of evidence-based practice
Impact of teaching clinicians about EBP
Scaffolded learning
Board game use
Clickers
Use of simulation
Social networking in treatment planning
Neuro lab strategies
Leadership development
Competency in assistive technology
Breast cancer

To learn more, explore these AOTA SoTL mentorship outcomes in the form of peer-reviewed publications, peer-reviewed presentations, and more.