[Many universities, colleges, and departments are revisiting the definition of scholarship.   Fort Hays State University Provost, Dr. Larry Gould, encouraged the University’s academic community to engage in a professional dialogue concerning the evolving definition of scholarship as it applies to Fort Hays State University.   As a result of Dr. Gould’s insight, professional discussions lead to a newly adopted university definition of scholarship and a position statement drafted by the College of Education and Technology.]

            "Scholarly activities at Fort Hays State University are defined as original, innovative intellectual contributions in the form of research, practice, creative activity, or performance. FHSU recognizes and values the diversity of types of scholarship, including discovery, pedagogy, integration, engagement, and application (Boyer, 1997). Scholarly activities must be intended and reasonably expected to lead to the production of scholarly works. Scholarly works must be communicated with and validated by peers beyond the FHSU campus community. The means of communication as well as the comparative value of types of scholarly activity and work are to be determined by each department. These determinations will reflect what is commonly accepted in the discipline.

      (Boyer, E. L., Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 1997, 147 pp.) "

Position Paper: Scholarship Defined

Fort Hays State University
College of Education and Technology

The College of Education and Technology at Fort Hays State University embraces the definition of scholarship as described by Ernest L. Boyer (1990), former President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. This inclusive definition includes four areas: the scholarship of discovery, the scholarship of integration, the scholarship of application, and the scholarship of teaching.

Boyer describes the scholarship of discovery as traditional research where knowledge is sought for its own sake or for practical purposes through systematic modes of inquiry designed to identify problems, state hypotheses, collect data, test hypotheses, and develop conclusions concerning the solution of problems. He further emphasizes the scholarship of integration as any effort designed to bring meaning to isolated facts, especially when new perspectives or connections are made across disciplines. Boyer describes the scholarship of application as the performance of service-related activities requiring specialized knowledge from one's discipline of expertise. Finally, he explains the scholarship of teaching as creative activities which stimulate active, not passive, learning and encourage students to be critical, creative thinkers, with the capacity to go on learning after their college days are over (p. 24). Accordingly, he depicts scholarship in terms of “separate, yet overlapping functions:” discovery, integration, application, and teaching (p. 16).

Scholarship Defined:

Through scholarship, which may entail creation, application, synthesis, or transmission of knowledge, faculty acquire and sustain their expertise, thereby contributing to the validity and vitality of their teaching. Faculty scholarship is necessary to maintain effective instruction in all institutions of higher education. It also provides students the opportunity to observe and develop an understanding of scholarly activity. Scholarship supports one's teaching and contributes to one's special field of knowledge. The advancement of knowledge and education calls for many kinds of scholarship/creative activity/research. Evidence may include, but is not limited to, consideration of the faculty member's publication record, works in progress, unpublished reports, professional assistance to other scholars, papers delivered at meetings of professional societies, computer software and other technologically delivered academic products, invited lectures and participation in panels and symposia, participation in policy analysis, grants received, editorial or advisory roles with professional journals, participation on evaluation panels for research funding, consultantships, research projects, and contribution to the scholarly growth of peers. These activities must result in a peer review and presentation of findings to peers through published works or presentations.

The Scholarship of Discovery

The Scholarship of Discovery encompasses those scholarly activities which extend the stock of human knowledge through the discovery or collection of new information. Such scholarship seeks to confront the unknown and typically exhibits a dedication to free inquiry, disciplined investigation, and the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake. The Scholarship of Discovery includes, but is not limited to, what is sometimes referred to as basic or original research.

The Scholarship of Application
The Scholarship of Application encompasses scholarly activities which seek to relate the knowledge in one's field to the affairs of society. Such scholarship moves toward engagement with the community beyond academia in a variety of ways, such as using social problems as the agenda for scholarly investigation, drawing upon existing knowledge for the purpose of crafting solutions to social problems, or making information or ideas accessible to the public.

The Scholarship of Teaching
The Scholarship of Teaching encompasses scholarly activities which are directly related to pedagogical practices. Such scholarship seeks to improve the teaching and advising of students through discovery, evaluation, and transmission of information about the learning process. The Scholarship of Teaching must be distinguished from teaching itself. It involves the disciplined discovery, evaluation, and transmission of information about the learning process. Evidence of scholarly teaching may be found in peer-reviewed presentations and publications related to teaching methodology or learning outcomes, learning theory development, development and/or testing of educational models; published textbooks; or the design of outcome studies or evaluation programs.

The Scholarship of Integration
The Scholarship of Integration encompasses scholarly activities which are primarily interdisciplinary or interpretive in nature. Such scholarship seeks to better understand existing knowledge by making connections across disciplines, illuminating data in a revealing manner, drawing together isolated factors, or placing known information into broader contexts. It synthesizes, interprets, and connects the findings in a way that brings new meaning to those facts.

Since Boyer's publication, Scholarship Reconsidered (1990), the College has added yet another dimension to scholarship: technology. University faculty are inundated with newer, faster, and more technology than at any other time in history. In order for faculty to meet the current needs of students and prepare them for the future, it is imperative that the definition of scholarship also encompass the knowledge and judicious use of technology. This scholarship of technology is not necessarily a new and separate scholarship, but gives faculty another resource with which to pursue scholarship.

Summary

The four categories detailed above do not embrace the entire range of valuable scholarship. Rather, the categories denote four areas of scholarly activity that the College has chosen to recognize as particularly significant. By defining these categories, the College makes it possible for faculty members and individual academic departments to identify more clearly the role of scholarship in the College of Education and Technology. While there is action research conducted in the College on an ongoing basis, there is still an expectation that findings be shared with peers, through papers published and scholarly presentations with priority at national conferences/workshops.

References

Boyer, E. (1990). Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate. Princeton, NJ: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Glassick, C. Huber, M. & Maeroff, G. (1997). Scholarship assessed: Evaluation on the professoriate. San Francisco, C.A.: Jossey-Bass