Valuing Educational Scholarship: Getting it Wright

Boyd F. Richards

Columbia University

Optimizing Your Educational Activities through Educational Scholarship

September 18, 2008

Carnegie Foundation/Boyer 1990

“We believe that it is time to move beyond the tired old ‘teaching versus research’ debate and give the familiar and honorable term ‘scholarship,’ a broader, more capacious meaning, one that brings legitimacy to the full scope of academic work.”

Carnegie Foundation/Boyer 1990

“Surely Scholarship means engaging in original research [Discovery].

But the work of the scholar also means – stepping back from one’s investigation, looking

for connections [Integration], – building bridges between theory and practice,

[Application]– and communicating one’s knowledge effectively

to students [Teaching/Education]

Hegemony in Action

“Hegemonic assumptions are assumptions that we think are in our own best interests but that actually work against us in the long term.”

“Hegemony describes the process whereby ideas, structures and actions come to be seen by the majority as wholly natural, pre-ordained and working for their own good, when in fact they are constructed and transmitted by a powerful minority to protect the status quo…” - Steven Brookfield

Hegemony: Research > Teaching

Tipping Point "the levels at which the momentum for change

becomes unstoppable” "the moment of critical mass, the threshold,

the boiling point”- Malcom Galdwell

AAMC/GEA Scholarship Project

Academies Movement

GEA Scholarship Project Phases

Phase 11996-2000

Phase 22001-2004 P

hase

320

05-2

006

Defined educational scholarship

Provided examples of activities and evidence

Outlined infrastructure needed to support educational scholarship

– Fincher et al (2000)

Pha

se 4

2007

- ?

GEA Scholarship Project PhasesP

hase

119

96-2

000

Pha

se 2

2001

-200

4 Phase 32005-2006

2006 Consensus Conference How to evaluate educational

accomplishments for purposes of P & T?

Disseminate consensus via publicationP

hase

420

07- ?

Medical Education 2007:41(10): 1002–1009

A. Scholarship of EducationCurriculum development

Teaching

Assessment of Learner Performance

Advising/mentoring

Ed. leadership/administration

B. Scholarship of Discovery (Ed Research)

Outcome 1: Categories Confirmed

Scholarship of Activity

Scholarly Approach to Activity

Quantity of Education Activity

Quality

Engagement in “Community”

Outcome 2: Q2 + E

Clear goals

Adequate Preparation

Appropriate methods

Significant results

Effective presentation

Reflective critique

– Glassick (1996)

– Public

– Peer reviewed

– Platform that others can build upon

– Shulman & Hutchings (1999)

Outcome 3: Criteria of Scholarship Endorsed

Should enable/enhance peer review– vary by category– differentiate between Q2+E– be concise and clear– be consistently organized

Should conform to format established by institution

Outcome 4: Selection and Presentation of Evidence

Outcome 4: Selection and Presentation of Evidence

Implementation of these standards should parallel the development of an infrastructure to support educators.

Infrastructure elements include – sustained faculty development programs

[e.g., Academies]– access to resources and journals in the field– peer review mechanisms, – consultation and support for curriculum development,

evaluation and educational measurement.

Outcome 5: Need for Infrastructure

Q2 + EQuantity/Quality + Engagement

Five Categories of Ed Contributions1

2

Glassick’s Criteria & 3Ps3

Structured Presentation of Evidence4 Infrastructure

Needed5

Outcomes Applied to Teaching…

1. direct teaching and

2. the development and use of supportive instructional materials.

Teaching is the design and implementation of activities that foster learning and includes

Outcomes Applied to Teaching…

There are important distinctions between teaching, scholarly teaching, and the scholarship of teaching.

We can conceptualize these three activities along a continuum.

This means that the act of teaching itself is not scholarship.

Teaching > Scholarly Teaching > Scholarship of Teaching

Outcomes Applied to Teaching…

Teaching and Scholarly Teaching directly affects student learning.

In contrast, the Scholarship of Teaching goes beyond impacting the learner and has the potential to impact the field.

Outcomes Applied to Teaching…

Quantity of teaching should be documented in terms of contact hours, number of learners, number of venues, etc.

Quality of teaching should be documented with learner evaluations, peer review, outcomes data, subsequent performance of learners, etc.

Outcomes Applied to Teaching…

Scholarly teaching involves an understanding of current principles of teaching and learning and the application of these principles to one’s practice

i.e., Goal of “Engagement” = to understand ‘best practices’

Outcomes Applied to Teaching… Scholarship of teaching requires a “product”

that is presented on a platform that can be peer reviewed for quality and publicly disseminated for others to learn from or build upon, i.e., move the field of education forward.

The “products” of the scholarship of teaching may be different from the “products” of the scholarship of research. However, the processes for peer review and dissemination are parallel.

i.e., Goal of “Engagement” = to build shared platform

Outcomes Applied to Teaching…

Institutions need infrastructures to help faculty achieve and be recognized for quantity, quality and engagement of teaching.

(e.g., educator development programs, systems of learner and peer assessment of teaching; “a teaching commons”/Academy, etc.)

Outcomes Applied to Teaching…

PersonalInstitutional

Professional

Making it Happen

Making it Happen: Personal

Consider two hypothetical members Decide which one is best example of Q2+E

Adam BobWhy: reduce clinical load; personal enjoyment

Why: train next generation more efficiently

Prep: 20+ years as student; active participant in professional society

Prep: educational fellowship offered at institution

Methods: tried and true (e.g., PPT lectures, Socratic bedside)

Methods: incremental innovation (e.g. TBL, “scripts”)

Quantity: ~25% FTE GME Quantity: ~25% FTE UME+GME

Quality: well-above average learner evals; sought after med student advisor about career

Quality: mixed learner evals with upward trend; peer review documenting improvements over time

E-Scholarly: periodically attends education sessions at professional meetings

E-Scholarly: learned about TBL & scripts from fellowship, literature, discussions with colleagues

E-Scholarship: participated in published inter-institutional study about residency selection

E-Scholarship: published TBL cases in MedEdPORTAL; presented scripts workshop at local seminar

The Academy Movement

UCSF Academy “Recognition of the importance of teaching and the

educational mission and existence of truly outstanding teachers is largely symbolic but the symbolism is powerful.

The department chairs all know who their Academy members are and are very proud of them.    

Having a rigorous selection process that people have confidence in is an important element.   

We have developed an elaborate process for dealing with the people we turn down so now, by and large, even the disappointed applicants feel okay about it (most people reapply in one to three years – reapplications are largely successful).  

Department chairs used to harangue me about why we hadn’t taken their favorite sons; now they ask me how they can help a reapplication be more successful.”

UTMB Academy “I believe that in the long run, the development of our

education portfolio is probably the most important thing that we have done.

Currently it is being adopted for use by ALL faculty who want to document their educational accomplishment for the purpose of promotion and tenure, not just for those faculty who are interested in applying for the Academy.

The Academy members have volunteered to take charge of orienting new faculty and teaching them how to use the portfolio template--and our portfolio workshops are being offered to faculty across campus.”

2007 BCM Promotions Guidelines

“Contributions to education, of whatever type, are extremely important at BCM. They will be given due consideration in promotions decisions, based on the nature of the contribution itself and the degree of quantity, quality, and scholarship [Q2+E] manifest through evidence presented.”

2007 BCM Promotions Guidelines

Recommendations for promotion based on educational excellence should be based on criteria similar to those used by the Educator Recognition Awards.

Nominators of candidates without one of these awards must provide to the FAP Committee similar types of multiple, corroborating sources of documentation as would have been included in a Fulbright & Jaworski mini-portfolio…”

Questions?