Building Scholarly Communities: Lessons Learned

This is a synthesis article of the experience of six post-secondary institutions, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Queen’s University, Ryerson University, Southeast Missouri State University, University of Glasgow, and The Ohio State University (the coordinating institution) that were brought together by the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL ) under the Institutional Leadership initiative entitled Building Scholarly Communities. Over a four year period, these institutions, through the leadership of key individuals and with the support of teaching and learning centres at their institutions, worked to create a culture where the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) would be seen to be as important as the scholarship of discovery (research). In this synthesis article, common themes and unique experiences are identified based on the stories of the individual institutions. As well, challenges and lessons learned are described.