New APA Journal Integrates Research, Theory, and Practice to Inform Teaching and Learning in Psychology

PRESS RELEASE

Published by the American Psychological Association (APA), the new journal Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology(STLP) will feature evidence-based teaching tips and reviews of contemporary teaching theories in psychology. It plans to emphasize articles that integrate research, theory and practice to benefit high school, community college, college and university educators—and their students. The inaugural issue will become available this spring.

To be published quarterly, the journal will include teacher-ready reviews of current research and contemporary theories as well as empirical research designed to foster changes that improve teaching and learning outcomes. It will focus on the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), including theoretical underpinnings of how students learn; intentional, systematic modifications of pedagogy; and assessments of the resulting changes in learning. STLP will offer a venue for articles that highlight SoTL research across a wide educational spectrum.

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology will publish four types of articles:

• Research Articles: original, empirical contributions that help educators understand and enhance teaching and learning through evidence-based conclusions;
• Teacher-Ready Research Reviews: brief reviews of classic or contemporary research findings which have direct implications for teacher pedagogy and student learning, providing a translational platform from laboratory to classroom;
• Teacher-Ready Theory Reviews: brief reviews of relevant classic or contemporary theories that have direct applications for the improvement of teaching and learning.
• Cross-Fertilization Updates: articles which foster connections across subdisciplines within psychology (intradisciplinary) as well as outside of psychology (interdisciplinary) concerning the scholarship of teaching and learning.

The new journal is edited by Regan A. R. Gurung, PhD, professor of human development and psychology and chair of human development at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, and R. Eric Landrum, PhD, professor of psychology at Boise State University.

Gurung is past president of the Society for the Teaching of Human Development and chair of the Education and Training Council (APA’s Health and Human Development Division). He is also a past president of APA Division 2, Society for the Teaching of Psychology (STP), is an STP master teacher, and is co-editor of the APA books "Evidence-Based Teaching in Higher Education and Controversy in the Psychology Classroom: Using Hot Topics to Foster Critical Thinking."

Landrum is a fellow in the Society for the Teaching of Psychology. He served as STP secretary from 2009-2011 and served as STP president in 2014. Also in 2014, Landrum was awarded an APA Presidential Citation for “remarkable contributions to undergraduate education in psychology.” He is the lead author of “The Psychology Major: Career Options and Strategies for Success” (now in its fourth edition), and has authored the APA books “Undergraduate Writing in Psychology: Learning to Tell the Scientific Story” (now in a revised edition) and “Finding Jobs with a Psychology Bachelor’s Degree: Expert Advice for Launching Your Career." In addition, he has co-authored “You’ve Earned Your Doctorate in Psychology…Now What? Securing a Job as an Academic or Professional Psychologist” and has co-edited “Teaching Ethically: Challenges and Opportunities” (both titles also published by APA).

Articles currently available online from Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology include:

• Theories as Maps: Teaching Psychology Beyond Mind and Behavior.
• Remote and Resident Students’ Final Grades and Ratings of Teaching Effectiveness in an Undergraduate Psychology Course.
• Student Perceptions of the Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Desired by Potential Employers of Psychology Majors.
• Online Open-Book Testing in Face-to-Face Classes.
• Significant Interpretation of Small Mean Differences in Student Evaluations of Teaching Despite Explicit Warning to Avoid Overinterpretation.
• Enhancing Attention and Memory During Video-Recorded Lectures.

The journal is now accepting submissions. Prospective contributors and subscribers are encouraged to visit the journal’s APA homepage.

Articles published in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology will also be available through PsycARTICLES

®

, the most used full-text database in psychology and one of the most popular databases in all scholarly disciplines and fields. PsycARTICLES is available to a global audience of nearly 3,400 institutions and 60 million potential users.

About the American Psychological Association and the APA Journals Program

The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the largest association of psychologists in the world. For more than 75 years, the APA Journals Program has been dedicated to advancing psychology as a science and as a means of promoting health, education, and human welfare by disseminating knowledge through an extensive publishing program.