ABOUT

MSOTL Background

In their seminal publication, “From Teaching to Learning: A New Paradigm for Undergraduate Education" Robert Barr and John Tagg identified a shift in higher education moving toward the facilitation of learning in which teaching practice is focused, enhanced, and assessed. It is in this spirit that the Military Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (MSOTL) Forum was originally convened and continues to grow. That is, regardless of an educator’s academic background or the learning level at which they teach, the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL) field offers meaningful methods for educators to put into practice and valid measures for researchers to integrate into their classroom assessments.

Ongoing MSOTL initiatives seek to highlight such practices and measures and, in doing so, create the kind of educational synergy that has been the hallmark of the MSOTL community since its first informal gathering in 2019. By way of background, the Marine Corps University Strategic Plan (Goal 5.4.4) tasks its Faculty Council to: “Engage other PME institutions in discussion for development of a society/ association of Professional Military Educators as an opportunity to increase service school collaboration.” In response to this call, a small group of military educators from across the United States and Canada came together in 2019 at the Inter University Seminar on Armed Forces & Society conference to collaborate and promote decision-making in military education through the lens of SOTL. Several months later in 2020, the first Joint Scholarship of Teaching & Learning Forum came to life, hosted by Dr. Megan Hennessey and her colleagues at the U.S. Army War College. This initiative expanded the traditional SOTL emphasis on/by civilian universities to create space for a military perspective in this growing field.

The MSOTL community that has formed during the past five years has served an important role in advancing research at various stages of development, and at the fourth annual (but first hybrid) MSOTL Forum in December 2023, scholars from around the world presented the outcomes of their classroom inquiries at various stages, ranging from initial stages to completed research projects. The research findings from 13 of these presentations were compiled in a 2025 edited volume: Military Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (usmcu.edu). Additionally, MSOTL collaboration has led to the publication of the International Journal of Professional Military Education by Marine Corps University Press IPME (usmcu.edu) which provides a centralized home for scholarship and reflections on military education in its many forms.

MSOTL Leaders at MCU

Since joining MCU initially as the Director of Academic Services, and currently as its Provost (Megan J. Hennessey, Ph.D. > Marine Corps University > Biography (usmcu.edu)), Dr. Megan Hennessey has elevated MCU as the home of the MSOTL Forum. She is joined by Dr. Lauren Mackenzie (MCU Faculty Development and Outreach Coordinator: Lauren B. Mackenzie, Ph.D. > Marine Corps University > Biography (usmcu.edu)) and LtCol Tim Sparks, EdD. (Director, Command & Staff College Blended Seminar Program: Lieutenant Colonel Timothy A. Sparks, USMC > Marine Corps University > Biography (usmcu.edu)) as MSOTL co-leaders of MSOTL events since 2023.

2025 MSOTL Forum

Join us for the hybrid 6th Annual MSOTL Forum (#MSOTL)! Registration is free. This year's conference is co-hosted by Marine Corps University and the Inter-American Defense College.

Registration: https://register.oxfordabstracts.com/event/75685?preview=false

Call for Submissions: https://app.oxfordabstracts.com/stages/79133/submitter

2025 MSOTL Forum Program <- link

Contacts

Lauren Mackenzie, Ph.D.

Faculty Development and Outreach Coordinator

Marine Corps University

140 Gray Research Center

Quantico, VA 22134

Lauren.mackenzie@usmcu.edu

Video by Michael Tate

Player Embed Code:

Creating Teaching and Learning Communities in the USAF's Leadership and Innovation Institute

Air University Public Affairs
Dec. 7, 2023 | 54:00

In 2017, Air University (AU) developed a conceptual Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) to demonstrate “ongoing improvement of its programs/services and….how well it fulfills its stated mission”. The Leadership and Innovation Institute (LII) oversees the QEP and created a framework of strategic ethical leadership to enhance and reinvigorate the development of leaders. This QEP framework created deliberate and comprehensive leader development and innovation programs based on the substantive collection of assessment data from 13 targeted courses across 5 AU programs, including over 1,800 indirect assessments of student learning and over 2318 direct assessments of student work. The LII team is also responsible to “develop and deliver a continuum of leadership education, research and outreach for the Air Force” (LII website) as “the premier source for exemplary leadership development” that includes strengthening the three competencies that define an Ethical-Strategic Air Force Leader: Ethical Decision-Making, Empathy, and Fostering Innovation. While the QEP assessment strategy has collected valuable data related to student outcomes, faculty development, and improving ethical leadership, the more interesting discovery has been how LII has gone about their efforts that manifested in their programs being called “the best course in my military career” and “AU’s flagship course” along with other accolades of LII’s efforts relating to ethics, empathy, mental health, innovation, and leadership. The LII team sought to answer the research question “How did LII create a teaching/learning community?” Using document analysis and interviews, the cumulative coding process revealed that the LII teaching/learning community was created using four constructs: mindset, collaboration, connections, and experience, which adds a new framework to the literature. The six-person panel will share insights in three ways: their teaching/learning community, the four constructs, and highlight the cumulative outcomes relating to innovation, faculty development, empathy, ethics, mixed reality, and mental health.

Video by Michael Tate

Player Embed Code:

Creating Teaching and Learning Communities in the USAF's Leadership and Innovation Institute

Air University Public Affairs
Dec. 7, 2023 | 54:00

In 2017, Air University (AU) developed a conceptual Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) to demonstrate “ongoing improvement of its programs/services and….how well it fulfills its stated mission”. The Leadership and Innovation Institute (LII) oversees the QEP and created a framework of strategic ethical leadership to enhance and reinvigorate the development of leaders. This QEP framework created deliberate and comprehensive leader development and innovation programs based on the substantive collection of assessment data from 13 targeted courses across 5 AU programs, including over 1,800 indirect assessments of student learning and over 2318 direct assessments of student work. The LII team is also responsible to “develop and deliver a continuum of leadership education, research and outreach for the Air Force” (LII website) as “the premier source for exemplary leadership development” that includes strengthening the three competencies that define an Ethical-Strategic Air Force Leader: Ethical Decision-Making, Empathy, and Fostering Innovation. While the QEP assessment strategy has collected valuable data related to student outcomes, faculty development, and improving ethical leadership, the more interesting discovery has been how LII has gone about their efforts that manifested in their programs being called “the best course in my military career” and “AU’s flagship course” along with other accolades of LII’s efforts relating to ethics, empathy, mental health, innovation, and leadership. The LII team sought to answer the research question “How did LII create a teaching/learning community?” Using document analysis and interviews, the cumulative coding process revealed that the LII teaching/learning community was created using four constructs: mindset, collaboration, connections, and experience, which adds a new framework to the literature. The six-person panel will share insights in three ways: their teaching/learning community, the four constructs, and highlight the cumulative outcomes relating to innovation, faculty development, empathy, ethics, mixed reality, and mental health.

Video by Michael Tate

Player Embed Code:

Creating Teaching and Learning Communities in the USAF's Leadership and Innovation Institute

Air University Public Affairs
Dec. 7, 2023 | 54:00

In 2017, Air University (AU) developed a conceptual Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) to demonstrate “ongoing improvement of its programs/services and….how well it fulfills its stated mission”. The Leadership and Innovation Institute (LII) oversees the QEP and created a framework of strategic ethical leadership to enhance and reinvigorate the development of leaders. This QEP framework created deliberate and comprehensive leader development and innovation programs based on the substantive collection of assessment data from 13 targeted courses across 5 AU programs, including over 1,800 indirect assessments of student learning and over 2318 direct assessments of student work. The LII team is also responsible to “develop and deliver a continuum of leadership education, research and outreach for the Air Force” (LII website) as “the premier source for exemplary leadership development” that includes strengthening the three competencies that define an Ethical-Strategic Air Force Leader: Ethical Decision-Making, Empathy, and Fostering Innovation. While the QEP assessment strategy has collected valuable data related to student outcomes, faculty development, and improving ethical leadership, the more interesting discovery has been how LII has gone about their efforts that manifested in their programs being called “the best course in my military career” and “AU’s flagship course” along with other accolades of LII’s efforts relating to ethics, empathy, mental health, innovation, and leadership. The LII team sought to answer the research question “How did LII create a teaching/learning community?” Using document analysis and interviews, the cumulative coding process revealed that the LII teaching/learning community was created using four constructs: mindset, collaboration, connections, and experience, which adds a new framework to the literature. The six-person panel will share insights in three ways: their teaching/learning community, the four constructs, and highlight the cumulative outcomes relating to innovation, faculty development, empathy, ethics, mixed reality, and mental health.