Defining and Promoting Educational Scholarship

Intensive Mentoring Group WorkshopMarch 13, 2014Jeffrey G. Wong, MD

Professor of Medicine

Learning Goals

• Identify the work of Boyer, Glassick, and Shulman defining and refining the meaning of scholarship in higher education

• Recognize and begin to formulate educational scholarship as defined by AAMC-GEA Consensus Conference statement

• Construct and codify personal projects that demonstrate educational scholarship

Structure of Presentation

• Discuss the seminal work of Ernest Boyer and the subsequent expansion by Charles Glassick and Lee Shulman (15 mins)

• Outline the AAMC-GEA Consensus Conference of 2007 (15 mins)

• Begin outline of personal educational scholarship projects (pair-share) (15 mins)

• Summary (5 minutes)

Background – Academic Medicine

• Abraham Flexner – 1910– Medical Education in the United States and Canada– Official report to the Carnegie Foundation

(sponsors)– Goal: To improve the state of medical education

• Academic Universities– Disproportionate rewards for externally funded

research– Teaching versus research debate

Ernest Boyer (1928-1995)

• American Educator• President of the Carnegie Foundation for the

Advancement of Teaching• Importance of Teaching, Service and

Research in academia• Worried that research had “trumped” the

roles over teaching and service in academic institutions

The Carnegie FoundationPublished in 1990

Four Categories of Scholarship• DISCOVERY – Original research that advances knowledge

within a discipline• INTEGRATION – Involves synthesis of information across

disciplines, across topics within disciplines or across time• APPLICATION (ENGAGEMENT) – application of

disciplinary expertise to be shared with and evaluated by peers

• TEACHING (TRANSMISSION) – systematic study of processes involving teaching and learning which effectively transmits disciplinary expertise

The Carnegie FoundationPublished in 1997

Book Methodologies

• A group of Carnegie scholars contacted:– 51 Granting agencies and asked, “How do you

decide which proposals to fund?”– 58 Scholarly press directors and asked, “What

criteria do you use when selecting manuscripts for publication?”

– 31 Scholarly journal editors and asked, “What do you tell referees to look for?”

Standards for Assessing Scholarship

• Clear Goals• Adequate Preparation• Appropriate Methods• Significant Results• Effective Presentation• Reflective Critique

Clear Goals

• Does the scholar state the basic purpose of his/her work clearly?

• Does the scholar define objectives that are realistic and achievable?

• Does the scholar identify important questions in the field?

Adequate Preparation

• Does the scholar show an understanding of existing scholarship in the field?

• Does the scholar bring the necessary skills to her/his work?

• Does the scholar bring together the resources necessary to move the project forward?

Appropriate Methods

• Does the scholar use methods appropriate to the goals?

• Does the scholar apply effectively the methods selected?

• Does the scholar modify procedures in response to changing circumstances?

Significant Results

• Does the scholar achieve the goals?• Does the scholar’s work add

consequentially to the field?• Does the scholar’s work open additional

areas for further exploration?

Effective Presentation

• Does the scholar use a suitable style and effective organization to present her/his work?

• Does the scholar use appropriate forums for communicating work to its intended audiences?

• Does the scholar present his/her message with clarity and integrity?

Reflective Critique

• Does the scholar critically evaluate his/her own work?

• Does the scholar bring an appropriate breadth of evidence to her/his critique?

• Does the scholar use evaluation to improve the quality of future work?

Lee Shulman – Defining Scholarship

• The work must be made public

• The work must be available for peer review and critique according to accepted standards

• The work must be able to be reproduced and built on by other scholars

Three P’s

• Professional interest– inherent obligations and responsibilities to the discipline associated with becoming a professional scholar/ educator

• Pragmatic responsibilities –ensuring that one’s work is constantly improving and meeting the learners’ objectives and needs

• Policy pressures – capacity to respond to external social and political demands and expectations

AAMC-GEA Consensus Conference On Educational Scholarship

February 9-10, 2006Charlotte, NC

Deborah Simpson, PhDMCW

Ruth Marie E. Fincher, MDMCG

Janet P. Hafler, EdDTufts

David M. Irby, PhDUCSF

Boyd F. Richards, PhDColumbia

Gary C. Rosenfeld, PhDUT – Houston

Thomas R. Viggiano, MD, MEdMayo

Consensus Conference Goals

• Categories of scholarly activities for educators in medical schools

• Appropriate forms of evidence and presentation displays for each category

• Area that need further investigation specific to educational scholarship

Conceptual Framework

• Quantity – Descriptive information regarding the types and frequencies of educational activities and roles

• Quality – Evidence that activities achieve excellence using comparative measures, when available

• Engagement with the educational community– Scholarly approach– Educational scholarship

Scholarly approach

• Systematically design, implement, assess and redesign and an educational activity– Drawing from the literature and/or “best

practices”– Documentation on how the literature and/or

“best practices” informed construction is required.

Educational Scholarship

• Both drawing upon resources as well as contributing resources

• The educational activity product is publicly available in a form that others can build on

• This availability is at local as well as distant levels

• Peers can assess its value to the community applying accepted criteria

Educator Activity Categories

• Teaching• Curriculum• Advising and Mentoring• Educational Leadership and

Administration• Learner Assessment

Teaching - Defined• Any activity that fosters learning, including:– Direct teaching– Creation of Associated instruction materials (when

specifically designed to enhance instructors’ own presentations)

• Examples of direct teaching– Lectures, workshops, small-group facilitation, role

modeling in any setting, precepting, demonstration of procedural skills, facilitation of online courses, providing formative feedback

Curriculum - Defined• A longitudinal set of designed educational activities that

includes evaluation.• Can occur at any level and in a variety of venues• Delivered face-to-face or electronically• Four questions:– What is the educational purpose of the activity?– Which learning experiences are most useful in achieving those

purposes?– How are those learning experiences organized and

longitudinally sequenced for effective instruction?– How is the curriculum’s effectiveness evaluated?

Advising/Mentoring - Defined

• Developmental relationships encompassing a spectrum of activities in which educators help learners or colleagues accomplish their goals.

• Mentoring implies a sustained committed relationship from which both parties obtain reciprocal benefits

• Advising is a more limited relationship that usually occurs over a limited period of time

Leadership/Administration - Defined

• Achieve results through others• Transforming organizations through rigorous

pursuit of excellence• Key Features– Active and continuous pursuit of excellence– Ongoing evaluation– Dissemination of results– Maximization of resources

Learner Assessment - Defined• All activities associated with measuring learners’

knowledge, skills and attitudes• Must include at least one of the four assessment

activities– Development – Identifying and creating assessment

processes and tools– Implementation – Collecting data using processes and tools– Analysis – Comparing data with correct answer key or

performance standards– Synthesis and Presentation – Interpreting and reporting data

to learners, faculty, and curriculum leaders

Workshop Exercise

• Individually (5 minutes)– Think about one project that you are presently doing

or are thinking about doing– In which of the five educator categories does it

belong?– Are you taking a scholarly approach?– Can you create educational scholarship?

• Pair-Share (10 minutes)– Present your plans to your partner for critique (5

mins) and vice-versa

Summary – Next Steps

• Take workshop ideas to begin formulating educational scholarship project(s)

• Meet with Mentor and/or Vice-Chair– Strategy– Logistics– Evaluation– Follow through

Schedule of Events (through June)• 2nd CE workshop – Thursday April 3rd 12:00-1:00 [TBA] “Teaching in a small

group setting”• 1st Combined workshop – Tuesday April 22 5:00-6:00 [HCC Room 120] “How

to write a scientific manuscript”• 3rd CE workshop – Thursday May 1st 12:00-1:00 [TBA] “Effective Curriculum

Design”• 2nd Combined workshop – Tuesday May 27th 5:00-6:00 [HCC Room 120]

“Resources at SCTR”• 4th CE workshop – Thursday May 29th 12:00-1:00 [TBA] “Evaluating Learners’

Performance”• 3rd Combined workshop – Tuesday June 17th 5:00-6:00 [HCC Room 120]

“How to be an effective mentee” • 5th CE workshop – Thursday June 26th 12:00-1:00 [TBA] “Making it Count

Twice – Identifying Opportunities for Educational Scholarship”