Make time to think about the scholarship of teaching and learning

We spend much of our academic lives trying to do more faster – responding quickly, completing tasks and moving on – but scholarship needs something different: time to slow down, think deeply and make better sense of what we do. Sometimes, slowing down helps us move forward. Creating the space and time to think seriously about the scholarship of teaching is increasingly difficult and – more important than ever – necessary as workloads and student numbers increase and faculty face pressure to pursue ever higher levels of student satisfaction. 

The scholarship of teaching helps us understand and improve what happens in our classrooms, how our practice travels beyond our students and how to make pedagogically sound decisions. By investing unhurried time in it, we can consider how we can maximise reach, value and impact. We also get the deep satisfaction of knowing we are doing our best to improve our students’ experiences. 

This is why, in June, our institution’s Teaching and Scholarship Network held a “slow scholarship day”. The idea draws on Maggie Berg and Barbara k. Seeber’s book The Slow Professor and on “For slow scholarship: a feminist politics of resistance through collective action in the neoliberal university” by Alison Mountz et al., which reminds us that good scholarship needs time for thinking, reading and writing. We view slowing down as a way of paying attention to ours and our colleagues’ needs and our students’ experiences. The “Slow SoTL: a kind of manifesto” acts as a similar reminder that the quality of our thought matters more than the speed of output.

The day itself was deliberately simple. We began gently by setting one small, specific intention each before moving into the first of two protected blocks of quiet reading and writing. People used the time in different ways: to think through how a teaching idea might develop into a research project, to make sense of student feedback or data or simply to read around a question yet to take shape. In between, optional conversations with “critical friends” offered a low-stakes chance to test emerging ideas, clarify a research question or talk through a sticking point with a colleague. A mindful lunch let conversations wander wherever they wished. 

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Although some participants had to dip in and out, most were able to spend the whole day together and found it productive. The day also reminded us of what we love doing. The pleasure of following an idea for its own sake can easily fall by the wayside in the rush of academic life. Instead of moving quickly from one task to the next, participants had time to notice details, reflect more deeply and to feel guided by curiosity, rather than driven by urgency. Others enjoyed the fact that the only distractions were conversations with colleagues about teaching and learning, which helped ideas keep flowing.

Slowing down did more than help us complete tasks. It changed the quality of our attention. We began connecting fragmented ideas, exploring questions and using dialogue with colleagues as part of the scholarly process. 

And then there was the gift of simply being in each other’s presence, each absorbed in their own project, free to run an idea past a neighbour or simply to sit in companionable quiet. Slowness, joy and productivity felt abundant.

If you’re thinking of holding a slow scholarship day, consider the following:

• Encourage everyone to switch off email notifications and devices to help them step away from external distractions, but be careful not to enforce this so that all feel included
• Have a plan, with time set aside to talk, but be flexible and alert to participants’ needs
• Encourage everyone to set an intention at the beginning and remind them to check back in on it during the day so that they can review their progress
• Allow social breaks for discussion of non-work-related topics
• At the end of the day, encourage reflection by asking everyone to share what they found useful and how the day made a difference to their work.

Slow scholarship is not without its criticisms, and it is true that one day cannot mend a structural workload problem. Nor should slow scholarship become another strategy for coping with conditions that need addressing. Nevertheless, such a day can offer a glimpse of a different way of working.  

So, our invitation to fellow education-focused academics is to protect time for slow scholarship by bringing your colleagues together – and get in touch with us to share what happens when you give yourselves time to let ideas marinate.

One day will not transform the university but it can help us recognise – and begin to defend – the conditions under which thoughtful, connected and meaningful scholarship can flourish.

Jennifer Rose is professor of accounting education and professional development and is associate dean for teaching excellence in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Manchester. She was formerly the University of Manchester co-lead of the Teaching and Scholarship Network.

Karen Lander is senior lecturer in the Division of Psychology, Communication and Human Neuroscience at the University of Manchester.

Grazyna Lipowska-Bhalla is senior lecturer in cancer biology and programme director for the MSc Molecular Pathology of Cancer at the University of Manchester.

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