Encouraging both teaching and learning.
Never heard of Boyer or his model of scholarship? Well neither had I until recently. Scholarship is not a new concept, however not many of us have heard about it in our professional lives. The more I read about the model, the more I came to understand that it can be applied to almost any workplace. The academic model that Boyer writes about in Boyer’s model of scholarship advocates the expansion of the traditional definitions and models of scholarship within educational institutions. Boyer (1997, p.16) mentions that, the “work of the scholar also means stepping back from one’s investigation, looking for connections, building bridges between theory and practice, and communicating one’s knowledge effectively to students.” He breaks the scholarship and research model down into four types of scholarship and in doing so explains further how scholarship is not limited to academia; these are the scholarship of teaching, discovery, integration and lastly application.
Let us scratch the surface of these methods a little further. Boyer discusses faculty in an academic sense, but it can a faculty of instructors at different kinds of vocational education establishments or members of staff at a professional institution. Scholarship is a term for research and tailoring that research to your chosen discipline or profession. You could argue that learning and teaching or instructing in the vocational educational context has in the past not focused on scholarship. Like Boyer (1997, p.23) saying that good “teaching means that faculty, as scholars are also learners.” Lifelong learning and commitment to developing one’s profession and submitting finding and conclusions for feedback from peers. These institutions, like the one that I currently work at focus on the application of imparting knowledge and the learning of skills with little consideration towards lifelong learning. I would argue that the institution I am currently employed at would like to think that it follows a model of scholarship, however not the one that Boyer describes.
The purpose of Boyer’s model is to build your knowledge base in your academic field, or you work field by conducting traditional research. From that research lay the foundation stones for future studies and creative work within you field. Through this research we then must figure out and interpret the use of the skill and knowledge gained. Then after interpretation comes integration by distributing the knowledge across different disciplines and collaborating with colleagues to design and deliver new educational material. After the integration of research and the implementation of new learning material through core subject courses we then need to apply the learning to departments and organisations. This can be done through assuming mentoring roles in organisations with the ability to advise up and coming leaders in different departments and fostering professional growth. As Boyer (1997, p.19) states, “the scholarship of integration is, of course, closely related to discovery. It involves, first doing research at the boundaries where fields converge.” The application of the integrated research flows into the next phase of the model, and that is teaching or instructing. This part of the model is not about standing up in front of a class and teaching in the traditional sense. It is about studying different teaching models and different teaching practices to discover what is the best method to achieve optimal learning from you student audience. This is further achieved through developing and then testing instructional materials and methods. Creating a student-centered learning environment with a program level assessment system.
Concluding thoughts on scholarship are that we should be promoting and encouraging all forms of scholarship, most importantly the scholarship of discovery or research. Research leads the way to bring new opportunities to develop and advance as both teachers, students, and establishment. We can discuss service as a form of scholarship within an academic establishment. Within the military dedication to service or placing service above self is encouraged. As Boyer (1997, p.22) states, but “all too frequently, service means not doing scholarship but doing good. To be considered scholarship, service activities must be ties directly to one’s special field of knowledge and relate to, and flow directly out of, this professional activity.” Maybe if in our professional endeavours we could pursue both scholarship and service in applying the scholarship method Boyer talks about. Creating a balanced approach between service, quality of teaching or instructing and creating incentives for research. To apply the method effectively a balanced focus on all aspects of the scholarly models is required to both meet the demands and expectations of instructors and students at vocational education establishments. As Boyer (1997) mentions, Indeed, as Aristotle said, “Teaching is the highest form of understanding.” (p.23)
References
Boyer, E. L. (1997). Scholarship reconsidered: Priorities of the professoriate. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.