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M.T. Halbouty Building,
Room 309 herbert@geo.tamu.edu Defining Departmental Core Values I suggest that the core values of Geology & Geophysics be focused on scholarship, where our definition encompasses and encourages the full range of diverse, creative talents of the faculty to promote the development, representation and utilization of geoscience knowledge.
Adapted from Pasteur’s Quadrant: Basic Science and Technological Innovation, Stokes 1997 Core Value One: the creation of new knowledge through research and publication Core Value Two: design and implementation of effective education programs that support student development of critical thinking, including problem-solving, knowledge transfer, and decision making, a set of skills and competencies often described as a scientific ‘habit of mind”. Education and Learning to Think (1987) National Academy Press Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint for America’s Research Universities (1998) The Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research University How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition (2000) National Academy Press Enhancing Undergraduate Learning with Information Technology: A Workshop Summary (2002) National Academy Press Improving Undergraduate Instruction in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics: Report of a Workshop (2002) National Academy Press Core Value Three: apply state-of-the-art knowledge to address society's most pressing issues such as energy or water resources, environment quality and sustainability, and natural hazards. NSF Geosciences
Beyond 2000. Understanding and Predicting Earth's These values directly support improving departmental reputation and support Texas A&M's mission statement. Ranking Texas A&M. J. Newton, Dean COS. Essays on the Doctorate. Carnegie Foundation. Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate (CID). Carnegie Foundation. Reinvisioning the Ph.D. Washington Univ. Pew Project. Reinventing
Undergraduate Education. The Boyer Commission
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Strategic planning is described as a disciplined effort to produce fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, what it does, and why it does it, with a focus on the future. Effective strategic plans are a type of voluntary means of influencing human behavior based on a concept of exchange and a shared sense of common goals and objectives. To be successful, we need to anticipate both barriers and rewards that shape faculty participation. (An interesting analogy with the information technology industry). My reading of the literature suggests that significant strategic plans should (1) choose a theme and set achievable objectives that can be assessed using quantifiable criteria, (2) reflect the core values of the department, (3) achieve faculty buy-in through the articulation of win-win strategies, (4) align assessment criteria of the strategic plan, annual review, and T&P, and (5) include appropriate formative and summative evaluations to assess progress towards goals and objectives. The work of Ernest Boyer and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching stimulated debate about definitions of scholarship at research universities. Finding that very narrow definitions of scholarship were dominant on most college campuses, Boyer stressed the need to expand the definition of scholarship to include four components: discovery of knowledge, integration of knowledge, application of knowledge, and teaching.
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Scholarship Reconsidered Ernest Boyer, in his 1990 Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate, suggested that we should think of scholarship in four ways: What we usually mean by research. The Scholarship of Integration Mark Van Doren: "The connectedness of things is what the educator contemplates to the limits of his capacity. No human capacity is great enough to permit a vision of the world as simple, but if the educator does not aim at the vision no one else will, and the consequences are dire when no one does." The Scholarship of Application Ernest Boyer: "the application of knowledge, moves toward engagement as the scholar asks, 'How can knowledge be responsibly applied to consequential problems? How can it be helpful to individuals as well as institutions?' And further, 'Can social problems themselves define an agenda for scholarly investigation?'" Ernest Boyer: "The work of the professor becomes consequential only as it is understood by others. . . .When defined as scholarship. . .teaching both educates and entices future scholars. Indeed, as Aristotle said, 'Teaching is the highest form of understanding.'"Professor Lee Shulman of Stanford has argued that the scholarship of teaching is the highest form of scholarship because, unlike any of the other forms, it necessarily includes all of the others". Leadership for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning. Carnegie Foundation. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching recognized that inadequate models of faculty assessment addressing the scholarship of teaching & learning may impede adoption of this value at most research programs. The foundation published a guideline that takes the academy through a process for setting standards of scholarly work, documenting scholarship, developing trust in the process and suggesting the qualities of a scholar. Scholarship Assessed: Evaluation of the Professoriate: A Special Report, by Charles Glassick, Mary Taylor Huber and Gene I. Maeroff. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997. Read a review. A similar guideline has been published on the assessment of outreach. |
Scholarship of Teaching & Learning Below are links to important and interesting essays on academic scholarship, particularly on the scholarship of teaching.
Developing Learning-Centered Programs |
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