School of Health and Human Services
Simply put, according to Boyer (1990), academic research is "acquiring, creating, and applying knowledge." This includes Scholarship of Discovery, Scholarship of Engagement or Application, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and the Scholarship of Synthesis and Integration, all of which leads to the creation of an artifact that is disseminated whether “communicated to, displayed for, or presented to the ‘community’ at large.”
Scholarship is broadly considered to be “original work” that is somehow eventually communicated to, displayed for, or presented to the “community” at large. This “communication” can be in the form of publications, books or chapters of books, presentations at conferences, presenting in workshops, performance, recitals, displays, etc. In the “professions,” scholarship can also derive from the commonly required or expected clinical experience that practitioners must maintain and enhance on a regular basis [Italics Added].
Many ways of acquiring and using knowledge exist in the real life of the faculty member, and all of these are valid to a professor's role and work. Boyer calls for a more "dynamic understanding" of the topic, one in which "rigid categories" are broadened. He defines "four separate, but overlapping, functions" of faculty scholarship (16):
In the School of Health and Human Services, this would include:
"Scholarship of discovery" refers to traditional scholarship, or the research into one's discipline and discovery of original ideas and presentation of papers on these ideas at conferences or publication in journals. This scholarship usually advances knowledge in one's discipline, and Boyer asserts that his study broadening scholarship does not mean to diminish traditional kinds of research, but rather to strengthen its importance”(17).
- Publish or present research in public and/or peer reviewed forums
- Guide and participate in presentation of student-initiated research
- Pursuit of a terminal degree with submission and/or presentation of scholarly work
- Community-based participatory research
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"Scholarship of synthesis or integration" is a scholarship that synthesizes and interprets the original ideas of the scholarship of discovery, and adds new insights, often making scholarship more public and useful as a result. Boyer states that it is "making connections across disciplines, placing specialties in larger context, illuminating data in a revealing way, often educating non-specialists, too… through connectedness research is ultimately made authentic" (18-19).
- Develop, assess, and present learning from interdisciplinary activities
- Prepare a lit review and submit critically appraised topic for publication
- Publish an article or text on integration of learning for students
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"Scholarship of engagement or application" is service to the outside world -- applying the knowledge of the disciplines to the real world, as well as allowing the world of social needs to define areas of investigation … "particularly needed in a world in which huge, almost intractable problems call for the skills and insights only the academy can provide" (23).
- Act as a reviewer for a peer-reviewed journal
- Manage or author a professional blog or website, or other forms of gray literature
- Present information based on clinical evidence
- Community partnerships involving needs assessment, data analysis, program development, and/or program evaluation
- Evidence-based projects to address community needs
- Present information related to the discipline to the community that necessitates integration of evidence and development of materials using faculty member’s expertise
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The term"scholarship of teaching and learning" is defined originally by Boyer as a careful planning and continuous examination of pedagogical procedures. He cautions however, that "teaching begins with what the teacher knows" (23). In other words, for Boyer, most important is content knowledge, since good pedagogy, with nothing to present, is not good for much.
- Work that will advance learning theory through classroom research
- Submit test questions or develop products or educational materials to be used by professional organizations
- Design a teaching tool and assess it, presenting or publishing findings to advance the field of teaching and learning.
- Present or publish findings to advance the discipline of teaching and learning.
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Work Cited
Boyer, Ernest L. Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1990. [Also: Revised Edition, 1997]