A Pedagogy of Slow: Integrating Experiences of Physical and Virtual Gallery Spaces to Foster Critical Engagement in SoTL

Abstract

This article makes a case for SoTL practitioners to engage in what we term a pedagogy of slow. Here, “slow” connotes with waiting and patience. It takes time to learn and acquire the skills that a SoTL scholar needs. “Doing SoTL” we therefore argue, requires a pedagogy that takes time and sees time as an ally instead of as an opponent. In what the university has become, there seems little room for a pedagogy of slow that both offers and allows for time. In this article we present a case for considering engagement with the visual arts as part of a pedagogy of slow and the development of SoTL. By making the familiar strange, we acknowledge the implications of visual thinking strategies for social engagement by highlighting teaching and learning as relational. Working with colleagues in the context of continuing professional development, we collected data via focus groups and written reflections within physical and virtual gallery spaces to glean insight into participant experiences of slow looking as the antithesis to fast-paced and pressurised environments. We highlight how learning to become a SoTL scholar is an iterative process that requires time and generates what we term “productive friction.” This is the iterative process which creates dislocation and uncertainty within participants, but which also has the capacity to nudge towards a transformation of the professional self.