Scholarship of teaching and learning does not necessarily begin with a question. To record “what worked,” the “wisdom of experience” or to describe observed phenomena without attempting intervention can constitute scholarship. To integrate the work of others, as in constructing a continuum of SOTL experience from Alpha to Omega, or as in editing a collection of papers into a book might also constitute scholarship. Nevertheless, much scholarship is rooted in inquiry because research is rooted in inquiry.

Faculty members do not necessarily receive formal preparation for teaching, much less scholarship of teaching. Therefore, to expect faculty members to know how to transform their issues and goals of teaching and learning into researchable questions without a little tutoring does not seem quite reasonable.

As many dissertation advisors and doctoral students will attest, the most difficult step in the whole research process is often framing the question to be addressed. A well framed question is one for which procedures can be devised that offer the possibility of arriving at an answer.

The next series of frames are rather narrowly focused on this particular challenge.