Telling Our Story – In Writing

Studies on theoretically derived and data driven STEM  interventions are transdisciplinary by design.  Social science methodology is combined with expertise in one or more STEM fields  to promote and demonstrate improvement in student  learning. But when we get results, who do we tell?  In this day and age, we can no longer afford to limit dissemination to social media or conference presentations.  Our goal must be peer-reviewed journals. In order to contribute meaningfully to the work of the Science of Teaching and Learning at an HBCU (SoTL@HBCU) it is necessary to tell our story the formal way, through peer-reviewed studies.  Publication in The Literature is a necessary step in order to influence perceptions about the needs of our students, adopt successful  practices of how we teach and how they learn and impact policies from the faculty handbook to state funding formulas and beyond. 

As part of the writing process for this project, we will be using the Open Science Framework as a collaborative tool. Then in January we will begin working with a professional trainer and writing coach, as a group. The goal is to have a 9-12 chapter volume submitted  by September 2025. However, it is equally important that we write in a way that is not stressful, that we create an encouraging and uplifting space to write and that we leave the project with a continual regular writing practice for our own work.

Not all of the authors needed for our volume have been invited to this convening. Some have not yet been identified. For instance,  we are in need of case studies on successful academic interventions of all types- from those you have utilized in your classes to institutional initiatives. We are also missing authors who are familiar with big data and can discuss ways in which data science can better support retention efforts at an HBCU. 

I’ll be sharing more about this project in the coming months and  will be inviting authors to join us. I hope you are writing…even if only for 15 minutes minimally; 30 minutes optimally Monday-Friday. Your writing is needed.