Sharing what has been learned through the Decoding process is the last step within the seven steps of Decoding the Disciplines.
In earlier stages of the development of Decoding sharing was seen as the culmination of the process. After one had completed a cycle from identifying a bottleneck to assessing the extent to which the modeling and practice had been effective, it was time to make available what had been learned and to receive feedback from other scholars of teaching and learning. This could take the form of simple conversations with colleagues. But the systematic nature of the exploration of a learning issue and the assessment of the results also provided the basis for formal conference presentations or publications.[1]
Ways of sharing
One might immediately think of publishing in SoTL when it comes to sharing Decoding results. Sharing, however, is not restricted to that. Furtherer possible outlets are:
- posters
- videos
- this wiki
- conversation with colleagues
- talk at meeting
- faculty learning communities
Decoding and SoTL
Decoding the Disciplines is one of the core theories in SoTL and can serve as a bridge between theory and practice for SoTL practitioners (Cruz & Middendorf, 2025). Decoding help instructors/researchers avoid inappropriate research methodologies through focused assessments based on specific student learning bottlenecks. Early on in the development of Decoding, Middendorf and Pace noticed that if instructors wrote up their completed bottleneck lessons, they were doing SoTL, and (to our surprise!) could present and publish with ease (Middendorf & Pace, 2008). Decoding can act as a form of inquiry with the Decoding Steps used as a series of questions and answers that guide a SoTL study.
Elliott & Middendorf (2025) provide examples; they describe a SoTL study in psychological statistics that used every step of the Decoding methodology and contrast that to Decoding studies that focus on only one step of Decoding (a bottleneck, practice, motivation, etc). They also give examples of SoTL studies where Decoding was used as explanatory analyses of complementary theories.
While there are many differences between Decoding and SoTL, one is that Decoding tends to be more inductive, while SoTL tends to be more deductive (depending on the study).
Ethical considerations
Ethical approvement might be needed to do an publish research on Decoding the Disciplines.
References
Cruz, L. & Middendorf, J., (2025). Embedding Decoding theory in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL): A translational theory to practice, practice to theory bridge. Transformative Dialogues: Teaching and Learning Journal, 18:.
Elliott, L., & Middendorf, J. (2025). Applying Decoding Methodology to Psychological Statistics and Other Applications. Die-hochschullehre.de. https://www.wbv.de/shop/Applying-Decoding-Methodology-to-Psychological-Statistics-and-Other-Applications-HSL2540W
Middendorf, J., & Pace, D. (2008). Easing Entry into the scholarship of teaching and learning through focused assessments: The “Decoding the Disciplines” Approach. To Improve the Academy, 26(1), 53-67.
