Introduction

This book is designed for lecturers on a wide range of professional courses. It directly addresses questions that come up again and again in seminar discussions; questions that are fundamental to the values and perspectives of academics across the disciplines:

• What is meant by the scholarship of teaching and learning in higher education?
• What is the purpose of higher education?
• Are lecturers really students on these courses?
• How do you do reflective writing?
• What do we do with all this theory and jargon?
• What does CPD in this area involve?
• How do you do research on teaching and learning?

This book does not treat each element of the curriculum separately – course design, assessment, evaluation of teaching etc. – since that approach has been well handled by others. Instead, like other books in the series, it addresses elements of the curriculum in an integrated way, thereby educating the reader in how to approach a range of higher education related issues.

This book provides a scholarly introduction to the literature on these questions. Like other books in the series, it offers a concise treatment of complex questions. It also provides directions for future study.

Contributors: Matthew Alexander, Glynis Cousin, Helen Fallon, Ian Finlay, Diana Kelly, Ruth Lowry, Marion McCarthy, Rowena Murray, Jacqueline Potter, Christine Sinclair, Sarah Skerratt and Barry Stierer.