Call for Proposals: Navigating the SoTL Sea
Jessie Moore
Dear ISSOTL colleagues,
We invite proposals for brief, reflective contributions to Navigating the SoTL Sea: Stories of Beginnings, Growth, and Change, an edited collection of personal reflections from scholars who have engaged with SoTL at different stages of their journeys.
The full call is available online and attached as a PDF.
Submit your proposal via this online questionnaire by May 18, 2026: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/DiMS353mpK. The submission questions are previewed in the full call for contributions.
An Invitation to Share Your SoTL Story
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) can feel like stepping into a vast and shifting sea. For some, the journey begins quietly on the shore, collecting ideas, questions and possibilities. Others wade into unfamiliar waters, learning the language and practices of SoTL while finding their confidence. Some swim further out, navigating currents of institutional culture and academic identity. Others rise above the waves, offering perspective shaped by experience, mentorship and leadership.
Navigating the SoTL Sea: Stories of Beginnings, Growth and Change is an edited collection that brings together personal reflections from scholars who have engaged with SoTL at different stages of their journeys. Written for academics, educational developers, professional staff and students alike, the book captures the lived, learned and led experiences that shape engagement with SoTL.
The book uses the sea as a shared metaphor for understanding the SoTL landscape. Contributors may reflect on early curiosity, moments of uncertainty, collaboration and mentorship, challenges and resistance, or the joy and generosity that often sustain SoTL work. Some reflections may speak of stormy waters, others of dolphins and lifeguards, and some may reveal the quiet labour of seaweed and hidden creatures beneath the surface.
Together, these stories will show that there is no single path through SoTL. Instead, there are many ways of entering, navigating and making meaning within its currents.
Who We Invite to Contribute
We welcome expressions of interest from contributors from diverse disciplines, institutions, and global contexts, including:
- Early career academics and students
- Mid-career and experienced SoTL scholars
- Educational developers and professional staff
Prior publishing experience is not required. What matters most is authenticity, thoughtful reflection, and a willingness to share insight from your own experience.
Contributions will take the form of short reflective narratives (1,500 words maximum), written in accessible language and designed to support thoughtful, engaging reading.
Final Invitation
Navigating the SoTL Sea: Stories of Beginnings, Growth and Change is an invitation to share the experiences that often remain unspoken in academic life — the moments of curiosity, uncertainty, collaboration, challenge and discovery that shape our engagement with teaching and learning.
Whether your story begins on the shore, unfolds in stormy waters, or reflects on years spent navigating the currents of SoTL, your perspective can help others feel less alone as they enter and explore this sea.
By contributing your reflection, you will be helping to build a collective narrative of SoTL that is more human, inclusive, and honest.
We warmly invite you to share your story.
—Earle and Jessie
Earle Abrahamson (PhD, MA, BA Hons, BPHYSED)
NTF, PFHEA, FISSOTL
Professor of SoTL
Head of Anatomy – Hertfordshire Medical School, UK
Jessie L. Moore, PhD (she/her)
Director, Center for Engaged Learning
Professor, Professional Writing & Rhetoric
Elon University, North Carolina, USA