In doing the scholarship of teaching and learning, faculty researchers often have too many questions about what they want to know about teaching and learning: effectiveness of activities, impact of course environment, changes in students, etc. Sometimes the questions are few, but the few may be too broad. These initial questions often lead to more questions:

• How do I know which ones to pursue?
• Which questions really speak to what I want to know about student learning?
• How do I focus on one question when they are all important?
• What more do I need to know before I can answer one question?

This module contains a case study that demonstrate the process undertaken by one professor, Curtis Bennett. He began by asking fairly broad questions about student learning and then narrowed those questions to the point where they could be answered.

This example demonstrate the possible paths the faculty researcher may take. The representation looks something like an upside down branching tree. The researcher's primary question rests at the top of the tree. This question leads to possible narrower questions representing a particular path. These narrower questions would then be followed by data that could be collected as evidence to respond to the narrower questions.

There are a series of reflective questions asked in each case study to guide you in understanding each SoTL Process.