Documentation and Assessment of Scholarship in Extension and Engagement: A National Perspective

Documentation and Assessment of Scholarship in Extension and Engagement: A National Perspective Amy Driscoll Associate Senior Scholar Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Fifth Annual Symposium On The Engaged University North Carolina State University January 2007

Scholarship of Engagement “… the academy must become a more vigorous partner in the search for answers to our most pressing social, civic, economic and moral problems, and must reaffirm its historic commitment to what I call the scholarship of engagement.” Ernest Boyer, 1996 The Scholarship of Engagement Journal of Public Service & Outreach, 1(1), 11-20

Making a Place for the New American ScholarRice, 1996 • Rather than fostering careers in which faculties are disconnected from society, American higher education institutions can form new models that encourage faculty to engage in multiple forms of scholarship throughout their academic career. • Need a new reward system that cultivates knowledge anchored in practice, a reworking of the tenure systems, and continuous review of senior faculty. New Pathways Working Paper (No. 1). Washington, DC: American Association for Higher Education

American higher education institutions need to engage in a deep examination of their purposes, processes, and productsto assess whether and to what extent they have aligned all three with the democratic and civic mission on which they were established. Universities must entertain and adopt new forms of scholarship—those that link the intellectual assets of higher education to solving public problems and issues. Achieving this goal will necessitate the creation of a new kind of action research with norms of its own, which may conflict with the norms of traditional rationality, the prevailing epistemology built into research universities. (Conference on Research Universities and Civic Engagement, 2006)

The Bottom Line… Faculty will not take outreach seriously as a mission of the university--particularly the research university--until they are confident that outreach efforts can be evaluated as carefully and reliably as is other peer reviewed scholarship.

Dilemma Viewing scholarship broadly but evaluating it narrowly Traditional notions of knowledge

“Expectations that faculty will garner competitive funding, publish refereed articles in top journals, and develop national reputations in their disciplinary research remain unchanged.” “Scholarly contributions to teaching and learning (and community engagement) are considered add-ons.” Shapiro, 2006

Barriers to Engaged Scholarship • A focus on individual disciplines rather than on public problems or issues. • An emphasis on abstract theory rather than actionable theory derived from and useful for real world practice • Lack of understanding about what engaged scholarship is and how it works • Few incentives exist to reward engaged scholarship • Institutions are organized in ways that prohibit engaged scholarship

Encouragement for Engaged Scholarship • Many of our universities were founded with a civic mission and have renewed those commitments • Interdisciplinary, collaborative, and community-based scholarship is becoming a requirement for consideration for funding, accreditation, and classification. • Students and other higher education stakeholders increasingly are asking for engaged scholarship curricula and opportunities • Demographic, cultural, economic, and knowledge shifts in our society are demanding new approaches to research and problem solving • Engaged scholarship can enhance the credibility, usefulness, and role of universities as important institutions in civic life

Engaged Scholarship: Implications for Documentation and Evaluation • Is collaborative and participatory • Draws on many sources of distributed knowledge • Is based on partnerships • Is shaped by multiple perspectives and expectations • Deals with difficulty and evolving questions and complex issues (with constant shifts) • Is long term, in both effort and impact • Requires diverse strategies and approaches • Crosses disciplinary lines (Holland, 2005)

Potential New Leaders • University Administrators (from the top) • Tenured and Full Professors • Untenured – Newly Hired – Faculty • Doctoral Candidates

University Administrators • Speak as easily and as powerfully about community engagement as you articulate other goals and priorities • Lead campus discussions to define community engagement as well as evaluate and reward it • Align the dialogue “in the closed conference rooms” and the decisions of promotion and tenure with the discussions • Hold all faculty accountable

Tenured and Full Professors • Embrace the scholarship of community engagement yourself (study, practice) • Become an advocate for scholarship of community engagement • Mentor new faculty and doctoral candidates • Practice evaluation of new scholarship

Untenured – Newly Hired Faculty • Studythe scholarship of community engagement • Identify models • Proceed in meticulous scholarly processes • Connect with advocates • Join support groups for documenting new scholarship

Doctoral Candidates • Study the scholarship of community engagement • Identify faculty mentors • Be relentless in your commitments • Question and reflect

Time for New Leadership and New Exemplars Is North Carolina State University Ready?

Documentation and Assessment of Scholarship in Extension and Engagement: A National Perspective