Scholarship

Draft

Definition

“The twentieth century saw the university change from a site in which teaching and research stood in a reasonably comfortable relationship with each other to one in which they became mutually antagonistic (2003:157).” (Barnett, 2003: 157).

Boyer's four part paradigm

Summarized by Zamorski (2003:3-4)

1. The scholarship of discovery: Boyer states that: 'research is at the very heart of academic life, and we celebrate what we call the scholarship of discovery. Research will always be central to the work of higher learning, and in the century ahead, universities must support and provide a home for this essential function.' (An activity of investigation)
2. The scholarship of integration: This is a plea for inter-disciplinarity, as, Boyer argues: 'in the coming century, there will be an urgent need for scholars who go beyond the isolated facts; who make connections across the disciplines; and who begin to discover a more coherent view of knowledge and a more integrated, more authentic, view of life.' (An activity of synthesis)
3. The scholarship of application: Boyer suggests that the third element, application: 'defines the campus not as an isolated island, but as a staging ground for action.' Here he argues for a 'reciprocity' - both between higher education and societal development, and 'from theory to practice, and from practice back to theory.' Otherwise, he suggests, we fall into the trap of 'irrelevance'. (An activity of engagement)
4. The scholarship of teaching: Boyer suggests that for the next century, universities need to 'deepen their commitment to the scholarship of teaching' as it is 'through the influence of great teachers that the flame of scholarship is kept alive from one generation to the next'. In order to do so, he suggests that we need to reinterpret our conception of teaching and reaffirm it as the 'heart of the scholarly endeavour ... if the lifelong interests of the students of the coming century are to be met.'(An activity of transmission). (Boyer 1994: 116 - 121)

References

• Barnett, R. (2003). Beyond All Reason: Living with Ideology in the University Buckingham: Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press

• Boyer. E. (1990). Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriat Princeton Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. 15-25.

• Boyer, E. (1994). Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities for a New Century. In Rigby, G. (Ed) Universities in the Twenty-First Century: a Lecture Series London: National Commission on Education.

• Zamorski, Barbara (2003). Keynote Address: The role of scholarship and research in teaching and learning in Higher Education. International Conference - Lithuanian Higher Education: Diagnoses and Prognoses, 11 - 12 December 2003., PDF, retrieved 18:57, 19 November 2007 (MET)