ReIntroducing the Scholarship of Teaching

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(Re)Introducing the Scholarship of Teaching

• St. Cloud State University
• Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

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Learning Goals

• Scholarship of Teaching definition and
  characteristics
• The value of the Scholarship of Teaching to the
  University
• Models for Practical Application
• Strategies for evaluating the Scholarship of
  Teaching

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Defining the Scholarship of Teaching
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"If teaching is to be seen as a form of
scholarship, then the practice of teaching must
be seen as giving rise to new knowledge."
-- Schön, 31
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Scholarship of Teaching Defined

• Sustained inquiry into the question of when, how,
  and under what conditions students learn.
• -- Huber, 21

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Or
Study, analysis, experimentation, reflection, and
dissemination of research that contributes deeper
understanding of the dynamic relationship between
teacher knowledge, student learning, and course
content. Sources Boyer, 23 - 24 Glassick et
al, 9 - 10
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Or
The scholarship of teaching has at least three
distinct elements first the synoptic capacity,
the ability to draw the strands of a field
together in a way that provides both coherence
and meaning, to place what is known in context
and open the way for connection to be made
between the knower and the known second, what
Lee Shulman calls pedagogical content knowledge,
the capacity to represent a subject in ways that
transcend the split between intellectual
substance and teaching process, usually having to
do with the metaphors, analogies and experiments
used and third, what we know about learning,
scholarly inquiry into how students "make
meaning" out of what the teacher says and
does. -- Rice, 125 as cited in Trigwell et
al, http//www.clt.uts.edu.au/Scholarship/A.M
odel.html
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Defining continued

• Write briefly about how these definitions match,
  challenge, or extend our prior definitions.
• Spend a few minutes writing about what value
  there might be in scholarship described in this
  definition For you as a teacher/scholar For
  your students For your discipline For your
  Department For your College For the University
• Spend a few minutes at your table sharing
  together your collective sense of the value of
  the scholarship of teaching

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The Value of the Scholarship of Teaching
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The Value of the Scholarship of Teaching

• Contributes to the creation and sustainability of
  a learning culture at St. Cloud State University
• Has the potential to improve teaching and
  learning within individual courses
• Has the potential to positively influence
  principles of teaching and learning embedded in
  both the general education curriculum and within
  majors and minors
• Has the potential to positively impact teaching
  practices across departments and colleges

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Critical Characteristics of the Scholarship of
Teaching

• Is designed around clear goals
• Has been preceded by adequate preparation
• Is carried out using appropriate methods
• Produces significant results
• Is presented effectively
• Includes reflective critique
• -- Glassick et al, 25

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Designing Research inTeaching and Learning
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Designing a Research Project continued

• Spend a few minutes jotting ideas for a research
  project or for adding and teaching and learning
  aspect to a research project currently underway.
  Note one or two issues, problems, or questions
  that seem to you to be critical teaching/learning
  matters in your courses, your department, and/or
  the University.
• Spend a few minutes at your table sharing your
  ideas. Decide on one issue or problem for the
  purposes of discussion and talk together about
  how an inquiry might be designed using the model
  on Handout II.

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Project Samples
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Reflecting on Project Design

• Do the kinds of projects you discussed at your
  tables seem worthwhile?
• Does such research have the potential to
  positively impact the teaching and learning
  climate at SCSU? The quality of teaching and
  learning at SCSU?
• If you were serving on a Department EPT committee
  or as a Dean, how would you respond to a PDP that
  included a goal describing such a project?
• As a Dean or member of a Department EPT
  committee, what would stand in the way of you
  recognizing the scholarship of teaching as
  scholarship?

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Evaluating the Scholarship of Teaching for
Promotion and Tenure
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Questions to Consider

• What weight will we give to the scholarship of
  teaching in tenure and promotion decisions?
• Under which Article 22 categories should faculty
  include the scholarship of teaching in PDPs,
  PDRs, and tenure and promotion applications?
• Can the scholarship of teaching be appropriately
  included under more than one Article 22 category?

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More Questions to Consider

• What forums for dissemination will be most highly
  valued in tenure and promotion applications?
• Can faculty choose the scholarship of teaching in
  lieu of the scholarship of discovery, the
  scholarship of application, and/or the
  scholarship of integration and still earn tenure
  and promotion at SCSU?

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A Brief Bibliography

• Boyer, Earnest L. Scholarship Reconsidered
  Priorities of the Professoriate. Carnegie
  Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 1990.
• Glassick et al. Scholarship Assessed Evaluation
  of the Professoriate.Jossey-Bass Publishers,
  1997.
• Rice, R.E. Towards a Broader Conception of
  Scholarship The American Context. In T. Whiston
  and R. Geiger (Eds) Research and Higher
  Education The United Kingdom and the United
  States. Buckingham SRHE and Open University
  Press, 1992.
• Trigwell et al. Scholarship of Teaching A Model.
  http//www.clt.uts.edu.au/Scholarship/A.Model.html
  
• Schön, D.A. The New Scholarship Requires a New
  Epistemology. Change (Nov/Dec), 1995.
• Shulman, L.S. Teaching as Community Property.
  Change (Nov/Dec, 1993.

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Continue the Conversation
Frankie Condon, Director Center for Excellence in
Teaching and Learning Miller Center, Suite
310B Telephone [phone] Email
fvcondon_at_stcloudstate.edu Martin Springborg,
Assistant Director MNSCU Center for Teaching and
Learning 350 Wells Fargo Place 30 East Seventh
Street St. Paul, MN 55101 Telephone
651-649-5740 Email martin.springborg_at_mnscu.edu