Bottleneck-Based Data from SoTL Projects

Have you ever experienced a point in your course where students repeatedly get stuck? Where no matter what you’ve tried, learning doesn’t progress? This is a bottleneck, and it can inspire your next SoTL project. Beyond the concept and course-level, macro level bottlenecks can point to project-defining curricular and organizational level questions.

Besides helping determine a compelling question or problem for your SoTL project, the bottleneck focus provides a clear direction for data collection. In this session we will view examples of bottleneck-based SoTL projects along with their data/results from several disciplines. Then we will explore bottlenecks and assessments for our own SoTL projects. The session will end with a discussion of possible collaborators from the wider SoTL community or on our own campuses.

Joan Middendorf, Ph.D.

Joan Middendorf headshot

Adjunct Professor in Educational Leadership
Indiana University Bloomington


Joan Middendorf is Adjunct Professor in Educational Leadership at Indiana University and consultant on Decoding the Disciplines, which she developed with David Pace to address real difficulties students face not knowing how to deal with unfamiliar ideas and mental models. Joan and Leah Shopkow published a practical guide to Decoding: Overcoming Student Learning Bottlenecks. In the History Learning Project (Diaz, Middendorf, Pace, and Shopkow) Joan specialized in addressing emotional bottlenecks, receiving top research prizes in SOTL and educational development. She leads faculty communities on inclusive teaching, whiteness, and identity and making disciplinary thinking more available. Joan is a member of the Monroe County NAACP.