Auburn University is committed through its Strategic Plan, 2019-2024 to an Elevated Student Experience that will "inspire and prepare students for life and careers through delivery of an excellent and supportive experience characterized by distinctive, innovative curricula and engaging student life programs."
This "elevated experience" includes support on campus for faculty to experiment with more student-centered learning. According to the strategic plan, these efforts will need to be assessed. Research done using SoTL methods offers one approach to tracking the efficacy of these changes.
Examples from the strategic plan of shifts to student-centered learning - and possible areas of SoTL research - include:
| ACTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS |
|---|
| • passive learning to active learning (e.g., debate and discussion) |
| • individual learning to collaborative/team-based learning |
| • traditional classrooms to flipped classrooms |
| • immersive learning: gamification and simulations |
| • increased use of technology in instructional design |
| APPLIED EXPERIENCE |
|---|
| • lecture/classroom learning to hands-on/in-the-field learning |
| • theoretical skills to application-based/practical/job-specific skills (i.e., skills that prepare students for careers). |
| • increased service orientation—i.e., more direct impact on the community |
| • greater global focus, including more study abroad programs |
| STUDENT-DRIVEN LEARNING |
|---|
| • teaching to faculty-facilitation and self-learning |
| • calendar-paced courses to modular and self-paced courses |
| • testing-centric evaluation to project-centric evaluation |
