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Library support for teaching & learning

For Subject Coordinators, Tutors and other teaching academics

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL)

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL) is a method for:
  • analysing your own teaching practice
  • engaging with relevant literature
  • using an intervention or review.
Discover the ideal Library databases for education research and how to find the right journal to publish your research.
Contact a Liaison Librarian to discuss how we can support you.

Finding information

These Library databases focus on education research and are valuable when looking for information including:

  • teaching methods
  • curriculum design
  • pedagogy
  • learning outcomes, and
  • other topics of relevance to teaching academics.

Start with research keywords (e.g. "reflective practice", methodology, or theoretical frameworks).

You can combine these with your own discipline keywords to focus your search on your particular area (e.g. "blended learning" and biology).

Choose the right journal

When it comes to publishing your research, it's important to choose the right journal. Some journals focus entirely on the subject of research in teaching and learning, but you should also consider journals in your discipline with education-related content.

Points to consider around journal quality:

This video demonstrates how to use both Scopus and Web of Science to identify the right journal for you.

This video will demonstrate how to use Scopus and Web of Science to identify journals aligned with your research topic. You can utilise this technique to identify potential journal outlets and their metrics.

To begin, access the library website and select A to Z Databases. Choose S and then select Scopus. Enter your UOW username and password.

For our example topic, we'll focus on "fostering collaboration in online learning at University." At the search screen, input your search strategy. You'll notice that we have used quotation marks for common phrases, asterisks to find variations in word endings, and or to include synonyms. Click Search. Here are our results.

To identify potential journals, narrow your results by document type. Select Article and Review. Then, select Limit to. You can browse source titles to explore the range of journals in your search results.

Click on a journal title to view its metrics. For instance, the journal Computers and Education has a site score of 23.8. It falls into two subject categories and is ranked one out of 1469 in the education field. It's important to note that journal rankings may change annually, so consider checking before submitting a manuscript for publication. Now, repeat your search in Web of Science.

Under document type, select Article and Review Article. Then, choose Refine. Under Publication Titles, select See All to review the range of journals in your results list. Click on a journal title to review its impact factor, rank, and quartile. If you need further assistance, feel free to contact the library.

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