Find out What It Means to Me Respect. (the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning)

Abstract This article addresses the need to conduct research in college classrooms in a methodical way. The reciprocal nature of teaching and research is discussed. The body of the article describes a project at the University of Wyoming satellite campus in Casper conducted by three faculty members, showing how research, even that done in individual classrooms, can be done collaboratively. Working smartly, in this case, produced a number of conclusions about conducting research in classrooms that can be applicable to a number of different disciplines. ********** According to Boyer (1990) scholarship in the world of academia includes four dimensions: discovery, integration, application and teaching. Scholarship of discovery encompasses the ideas of what we traditionally think of as research, pursuing knowledge for its own sake. Scholarship of integration, in its simplest form, is taking what has been learned and making it meaningful, connecting it in some way to what has been learned previously. Scholarship of application is taking the knowledge that has been made meaningful and applying it to existing problems. The focus of this paper is on the scholarship of teaching, what it looks like in an individual classroom and how it can be conducted through a collaborative project. In describing the scholarship of teaching, Boyer (1990) states that all good teachers not only transmit knowledge, but they also transform and extend knowledge. Good teachers are also constantly learning. In their description of the scholarship of teaching, Hutchings and Shulman (1999) state that Boyer did not "draw a sharp line between excellent teaching and the scholarship of teaching" (p. 12). They explain that excellent teaching includes engaging students and fostering important forms of student learning. But, in order to be considered scholarship of teaching classroom practice should include "certain practices of classroom assessment and evidence gathering, ... peer collaboration and review" (p. 12). Atkinson (2001) concurs with this, stating that scholarship of teaching is not scholarship until it is documented and available for peer review. Witt and Heinrich (2000) also say that scholarship of teaching includes the idea of sharing scholarly products with the broader community. While sharing scholarly products may include publication in journals, it can also include more informal types of sharing, such as the brown bag lunch (Hutchings, 2000). Boyer (1990) addresses the idea of faculty as a community of learners. "A campuswide, collaborative effort around teaching would be mutually enriching" (p. 80). The Carnegie Scholars emulate this ideal, meeting periodically to discuss the work they are doing. In describing these meetings Hutchings states that, "They [Carnegie Scholars] draw on and acknowledge one another's work" (p. 9). In calling for more collaborative approaches to scholarship on campuses across our country, Boyer (1990) encourages campus presidents to get involved in this process, using their "power of persuasion" (p. 78) to enhance the work of creative campus projects. Sockett (2000) reiterates the need for a supportive infrastructure to allow the scholarship of teaching to be public. I had the good fortune of participating in one such campus project at the University of Wyoming sponsored by the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE). In the summer of 2000, Audrey Kleinsasser established InVISIBLE College at the CTE inviting professors and graduate students from all five colleges on the University of Wyoming campus. The purpose of INVISIBLE College was to provide opportunities for collaboration and reflective practices in the scholarship of teaching arena. Like many large research universities, the emphasis on research at the University of Wyoming did not overtly emphasize research into the practice of teaching. Tierney and Rhoads (1994) talk about the ritual process of tenure and promotion and how the idea of research as an important step in this process becomes almost a part of a myth on many campuses, albeit a myth that carries much weight. …