Getting started with teaching and learning research
There’s a lot of potential in viewing your classes as a learning laboratory – for both instructors and students.
April 4, 2025
"Asking a colleague about a problem in his or her research is an invitation; asking about a problem in one's teaching would probably seem like an accusation," writes scholarship of teaching and learning researcher Randy Bass. This Teaching Tip explores the history of this troublesome dynamic, arguing that engaging in teaching and learning research can help you learn to love your teaching problems.
What if I told you that you are probably thinking about your teaching problems all wrong?
You’ll know I’m right if you think there is something wrong with having teaching problems. In a bedrock article, Randy Bass (1999) highlights this differing perception of problems:
In scholarship and research, having a ‘problem’ is at the heart of the investigative process; it is the compound of the generative questions around which all creative and productive activity revolves. But in one’s teaching, a ‘problem’ is something you don’t want to have, and if you have one, you probably want to fix it. (p.1)
In other words, teaching problems indicate a space for learning the same way that a research problem does–and we can view that as exciting! And while human mistakes happen in any context–broadly speaking–problems in a teaching practice are no more a personal failing than a problem in a research practice.
in the teaching tip from UAF's Center for Teaching and Learning.