ABSTRACT
This chapter provides those new to the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) an overview of what this method of research entails, and also to provide some resources to help remove any obstacles that might discourage folks from embarking on SoTL research. The SoTL is not a new concept, having been defined by Ernest Boyer in 1990 in Scholarship Reconsidered. Most social science researchers and any who have sought grant funding are aware of the concept of human subject review and the effort involved with getting Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval prior to beginning any research that involves people. Online discussions are a popular tool in higher education, web-enhanced courses; however, there are mixed findings about their effectiveness in supporting critical thinking and engagement. Dimensional analysis is one of the early topics covered in general chemistry. But it is a topic that students have great difficulty mastering.
