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Call for Papers: Volume One
Call for Papers
Call for Papers: Volume Two, Issue One
Theme: Innovation and Higher Education
In our spring/summer issue of volume 2 of Patterns of Practice: An International Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, the editors aim to explore the theme of Innovation and Higher Education. Innovation is a prolific, sometimes overused term in higher education, and with the increase in Generative AI uses and debates, it is seemingly more common than ever. But what does innovation actually mean? And what makes teaching and learning innovative beyond, but not necessarily without, the adoption of technological trends? Is the term itself overused? Is anything we do in universities today truly innovative? And aren’t universities supposed to be the sites of innovation? If this is the case, is it as much true for teaching and learning practice as it might be for curricular and research practices?
While innovation can offer flexibility to enable institutions to adapt more readily in a constantly changing environment, does innovation, as we see it presented in our universities today, actually address the kinds of concerns typically associated with mature institutions?
Is innovation in teaching and learning a response to external (or internal) change to the Academy and its place in the wider-world? Or, does innovation in teaching and learning itself impact upon real-world contexts?
Some further questions emerge when contemplating notions of innovation in higher education:
- What value does innovation in teaching and learning (and it’s scholarship) have in higher education?
- What does innovation mean for curriculum, pedagogy and assessment design, development and practice?
- Which models of teaching and learning practice in higher education are innovative? How do we know they are innovative?
- How do we know which models are not innovative?
- Why should it matter whether we become more innovative in our teaching and learning practices? Or in the taught curriculum content?
- Is a practice only innovative if we are unfamiliar with it?
- Which barriers prevent learning and teaching innovation from taking place?
- How useful is the lens of innovative practice for understanding the changing higher education landscape and our response via curricular and teaching practice accordingly?
- How might we teach innovation, or innovative thinking, to university students? Is it relevant to all disciplines?
- How might the adoption of innovative methodologies support the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning?
- How might innovation improve efficiency in higher education through better operations and better matching of resources and requirements?
Innovation implies different approaches and mindsets to different education practitioners, and the editors are keen to encourage a broad interpretation of the term, and are open to contributions that may subvert, reclaim, problematise, advance or re-envision an understanding of innovation in higher education.
The editors welcome submissions that might address one or more of these lines of inquiry, or others not listed, regarding the theme of Innovation and Higher Education.
Dates to Remember and Next Steps
Call for Papers for Volume 2, Issue 1, Spring/Summer 2026 Publication. This Call for Papers includes the intent to submit for both Full Articles and Short Updates:
Intent to Submit: Friday 16th January 2026
- Please submit to the Joint Editors-in-Chief at the Patterns of Practice mailbox (patternsofpractice@uel.ac.uk), following the full guidance in the ‘Instructions for Authors’ section of the Journal's webpages.
- Please make it clear to the Editorial Team if you are seeking to submit either a Full Article or a Short Update. See guidance for authors on what each format of submission requires.
- Following receipt of your intent, you will receive an email letting you know that we have received your intent and will subsequently provide a confirmation for the issue in question.
- We reserve the right to suggest that intentions to submit might be better located in subsequent Issues and would seek to review these choices with the authors involved.
Submission Deadline: Monday 9th March 2026
Following submission, you will receive a confirmation email letting you know that we have received your submission and that the Review Team are working to support you.
Decision Confirmation (with request for revisions if applicable): Friday 17th April 2026
We will reach out to you on the decision date listed above, or soon after, to let you know if your article has been accepted and whether there are revisions or not. (If accepted, you will receive comments from the reviewers on any amendments and other feedback to improve the final submission in time for the launch of the issue).
Final Submission Deadline (after request for revisions if applicable): Friday 15th May 2026
Call for Papers: Volume One, Issue One Spring/Summer 2025
Theme: Authenticity and Higher Education
In our first spring/summer journal issue of Patterns of Practice: An International Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, the editors seek to take a deep dive into perception of authenticity in higher education. Some central questions emerge:
- What does it mean to be authentic?
- Why should it matter whether we become more authentic?
- What value does authentic teaching and learning practice have?
- How might authenticity inform and enhance the social practice of scholarship of teaching in higher education, and consequently, the learning and development of students?
Authenticity means different things to different practitioners and the editors are keen to encourage philosophical interpretations on authenticity that relate to social-living-daily practice and practical manifestations of authenticity in higher education. While authenticity is referred to widely in the current higher education trends and debates in terms of the influence of AI, the design of assessment, and future technological directions in higher education more broadly, the editors are open to all manner of contributions that may even reclaim, subvert or re-envision an understanding of an authenticity in higher education. The editors would welcome submissions that might combine some of these elements or might be fully focused on simply one. This is not an exhaustive list but simply a list of potential suggestions:
- Teaching and/or planning/designing a curriculum that is authentic to the nature of the subject/field and its knowledge(s) and skills,
- Learning from students and their authentic voice,
- Being responsive to and authentic about careers readiness and careers-minded-thinking in our teaching and assessment,
- Being authentic to 'real' SoTL practice in the light of changing and multiple definitions of the field,
- Acknowledging and being authentic to one's own changing sense of teacher identity through our practice,
- Adopting a values-based approach to teaching,
- Being authentic to a research-informed practice in teaching and learning, and
- Being authentic to the interplay of pedagogic, philosophical, values-based approaches in the light of the barriers or opportunities of what this might look in practice.
Call for Papers: Volume One, Issue Two Autumn/Winter 2025
Theme: Creativity and Higher Education
In our second autumn/winter journal issue of Patterns of Practice: An International Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, the editors seek to explore the theme of creativity and higher education.
Some central questions emerge:
- What does it mean to be creative with curriculum, pedagogy and assessment design, development and practice?
- Why should it matter whether we become more creative?
- What value does creative teaching and learning practice have?
- What barriers exist in the adoption of creativity for learning and teaching?
- How useful is the lens of creativity for viewing SoTL practices?
- What might the adoption of creativity in methodological and scholarship practice do to support the wider project of SoTL moving forwards?
- How might creativity inform and enhance the social practice of scholarship of teaching in higher education, and consequently, the learning and development of students?
Creativity means different things to different practitioners and the editors are keen to encourage a broad interpretation of this term in relation to pedagogic practice, curriculum design, SoTL research and philosophical interpretations on creativity that relate to social-living-daily practice and practical manifestations of creativity in higher education. While creativity is referred to widely in the current higher education trends and debates in terms of the influence of AI, the design of assessment, and future technological directions in higher education more broadly, the editors are open to all manner of contributions that may subvert, reclaim, advance or re-envision an understanding of creativity in higher education.
The editors would welcome submissions that might combine some of these elements or might be fully focused on simply one. This is not an exhaustive list but simply a list of potential suggestions:
- Teaching and/or planning/designing a curriculum that is creative to the nature of the subject/field and its knowledge(s) and skills,
- Learning from students and their creative voice,
- Being responsive to and creatively interpreting career-readiness and careers-minded-thinking in our teaching and assessment,
- Exploring the role of and value of creative curriculum through a SoTL lens,
- Creative interpretations of 'real' SoTL practice in the light of changing and multiple definitions of the field,
- Acknowledging and being creative in terms of one's own changing sense of teacher identity through our practice,
- Adopting an creative approach to teaching and learning practice,
- Adopting creative technologies to support teaching, learning, assessment and/or curriculum,
- Being creative in research-informed practice in teaching and learning, and
- Creatively interpreting the interplay of pedagogic, technical and philosophical approaches in the light of the barriers or opportunities of what this might look in practice.
Dates to remember and next steps
Call for Papers for Volume 1, issue 1, Spring/Summer 2025 Publication
This call for papers includes intention for both full articles and short updates:
Intent to submit: 3 September 2024
- Please submit to the Joint Editors-in-Chief at the Patterns of Practice mailbox, following the full guidance in the ‘Instructions for Authors’ section of the Journal's webpages.
- Please make it clear to the editorial team if you are seeking to submit either a full article or a short update. See guidance for authors on what each format of submission requires.
- Following receipt of your intent, you will receive an email letting you know that we have received your intent and will subsequently provide a confirmation for the issue in question.
- We reserve the right to suggest that intentions to submit might be better located in subsequent Issues and would seek to review these choices with authors involved.
Submission deadline: 3 December 2024
- Following submission, you will receive a confirmation email letting you know that we have received your submission and that the Review Team are working to support you.
Decision confirmation (with request for revisions if applicable): 3 February 2025
- We will reach out to you on the decision date listed above, or soon after, to let you know if your article has been accepted and whether there are revisions or not. (If accepted, you will receive comments from the reviewers on any amendments and other feedback to improve the final submission in time for the launch of the issue).
Final submission deadline (after request for revisions if applicable): 3 March 2025
Call for Papers for Volume 1, issue 2, Autumn/Winter 2025 Publication
This call for papers includes intention for both Full Articles and Short Updates:
Intent to Submit: Monday 3rd March 2025
- Please submit to the Joint Editors-in-Chief at the Patterns of Practice mailbox, following the full guidance in the ‘Instructions for Authors’ section of the Journal's webpages.
- Please make it clear to the Editorial Team if you are seeking to submit either a Full Article or a Short Update. See guidance for authors on what each format of submission requires.
- Following receipt of your intent, you will receive an email letting you know that we have received your intent and will subsequently provide a confirmation for the issue in question.
- We reserve the right to suggest that intentions to submit might be better located in subsequent Issues and would seek to review these choices with authors involved.
Submission Deadline: Monday 2nd June 2025
- Following submission, you will receive a confirmation email letting you know that we have received your submission and that the Review Team are working to support you.
Decision Confirmation (with request for revisions if applicable): Tuesday 5th August 2025
- We will reach out to you on the decision date listed above, or soon after, to let you know if your article has been accepted and whether there are revisions or not. (If accepted, you will receive comments from the reviewers on any amendments and other feedback to improve the final submission in time for the launch of the issue).
Final Submission Deadline (after request for revisions if applicable): Monday 6th October 2025