The Daily Bulletin Archive

At its April 10, 2020 meeting, the College Senate voted in favor of a resolution on a Supplemental DOPS Policy on Scholarship, Encouraging Approved Applied Research and Teaching, Policy No. VI:04:05, presented by the Instruction and Research Committee.

BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE
DIRECTORY OF POLICY STATEMENTS
Policy Number: VI:04:05     
Date: April 2020
Subject: Supplemental Policy on Scholarship Encompassing Applied Research, Scholarship of Teaching, and Community-Engaged Research and Scholarship

The intent of the following is to provide formal institutional recognition of a variety of forms of scholarly activity and products. This policy allows faculty the ability to exercise a variety of scholarly activities with effective evaluation by departments, deans, and the Office of Academic Affairs in personnel procedures. Neither this policy nor the definitions and guidelines included are intended to place added demands on faculty, but rather to provide faculty with additional scholarship options and opportunities. Nor are they intended to deny the authority and rights of departments in making personnel decisions, but rather to provide guidelines for evaluating the products of these new forms of scholarship.

PREAMBLE

At every stage of a career, faculty members have the responsibility to conduct scholarly work in order to contribute to the knowledge base from which the professorate promotes learning and discovery and extension of knowledge. A variety of scholarly activities can contribute to the intellectual vitality of Buffalo State College. Accomplishments that suggest continued growth and high potential can include but are not limited to these types of scholarship:

• Discipline-based research, including creative activities, interdisciplinary research, and multidisciplinary research
• Applied research
• Scholarship of teaching
• Community-engaged research
• Community-engaged scholarship

The areas of discipline-based research and creativity, applied research, scholarship of teaching, and community-engaged research and scholarship enter into the evaluation of faculty performance. Scholarly profiles will vary depending on an individual faculty member’s areas of emphasis. Discipline-based research, applied research, the scholarship of teaching, and community-engaged research and scholarship often overlap. It is more important to focus on criteria for evaluating the quality and significance of the work than on categories of work when evaluating an individual’s achievements.

Faculty in all departments may take on responsibilities of discipline-based research, applied research, scholarship of teaching, and community-engaged research and scholarship in differing proportions and emphasis according to their talents. Irrespective of the emphasis given to different activities, it is important that the quality of the scholarly product be rigorously evaluated and that the individual contribution of the faculty member further the advancement of the mission of the college.

Discipline-based research products can be evaluated in a straightforward fashion, for example, by considering publication in peer-reviewed journals or other peer-reviewed media. However, applied research, scholarship of teaching, and community-engaged research and scholarship products may be more difficult to evaluate. While applied and teaching scholarship may result in publication in peer-reviewed journals, in some cases their most significant products may take other forms. The following are recommended guidelines to be used by departments, deans, and the Office of Academic Affairs in evaluating the products of applied research, scholarship of teaching, and community-engaged research and scholarship. Neither this policy nor the definitions and guidelines included are intended to place added demands on faculty, but rather, to provide faculty with additional scholarship options and opportunities.  Nor are they intended to deny the authority and rights of departments in making personnel decision, but rather, to provide guidelines for evaluating the products of these new forms of scholarship.

DEFINITIONS

Discipline-based research is the systematic investigation of questions or problems relevant to one’s discipline. The primary goal is to make a substantive contribution to knowledge or culture. Discipline-based research may be a basis for interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary research, where professors from several disciplines together articulate and undertake research projects.

Creative activity is the creation and publication of original texts, the giving of performances, and the creation and display of art. Again, the primary goal is a substantive contribution to culture.

Applied research is the use of appropriate methodologies to address practical questions and policies, interventions, treatments, practices, programs, etc. It constitutes a professional activity that extends the basic characteristics of traditional scholarship into the realm of practical application.  It broadens scholarly activities to address immediate real-world problems and provide concrete products, results, or solutions within a reasonable time frame. Applied research may be interdisciplinary in nature.

The scholarship of teaching involves integrating the experience of teaching with the scholarship of research, producing a scholarly product out of those integrative activities. It is the ongoing and cumulative intellectual inquiry, through systematic observation and longitudinal investigation by faculty, into the impact of teaching and learning.

Community-Engaged Scholarship Community-engaged scholarship (CES) addresses community-identified needs through research, teaching and service in the creation and dissemination of knowledge and creative expression in furtherance of the mission and goals of the university and in a mutually beneficial collaboration with the community. The quality and impact of CES are determined by academic peers and community partners.

Community- Engaged Research: A collaborative process between the researcher and community partner that creates and disseminates knowledge and creative expression with the goal of contributing to the discipline and strengthening the well-being of the community. Participation is beneficial to all stakeholders, and utilizes and incorporates campus and community assets in the design and conduct of the research.

Peer review is the evaluation of a scholarly product by an editor or editorial board, review committee, publisher, critic, established scholar, or professional outside the scholar’s institution but authoritative in the scholar’s field.

Characteristics of discipline-based research, creative activity, applied research, and the scholarship of teaching consist of several features that characterize all scholarship. Scholarly products must be systematically documented and peer-reviewed in order to evaluate the quality of the contribution they make. Scholarship is typically related to the scholar’s discipline, but may be interdisciplinary in nature. It usually breaks new ground or is innovative. Scholarship can be replicated or elaborated upon. Scholarship can be significant in that it has an impact on practice or policy.

DOCUMENTATION

Documenting Scholarship for Evaluative Purposes

The accomplishments of faculty must be documented in order to be evaluated. Scholarly activities presented to review committees and used for review in personnel actions MUST RESULT IN A PRODUCT OR PUBLICATION THAT IS SUBJECTED TO PEER REVIEW.

Acceptable products would include books, chapters, articles, monographs, presentations, compositions, scripts, scores, commissions, as well as policy documents, studies, research, and reports for/with community organizations. The documentation must allow the department to evaluate the quality and significance of the undertakings. There also must be evidence that the product or publication had been subjected to peer review and judged a contribution to the field.  Some examples include:

• Publication in peer-reviewed journal.
• Peer review by established scholars and/or professionals within the discipline away from the campus.

Evidence of the replication of the work elsewhere or the dissemination of the results by professional or cultural organizations.

• Honors, awards, grants, or recognition received for the scholarly activity.
• Reviews by critics or other evidence that the scholarship has enriched the artistic and cultural life of the community.
• Evidence of effective presentation at community events, or publication or broadcast through media.
• Production of policy documents, studies, research, and reports directed toward service providers, policy makers, or legislators.

Departmental Responsibilities

The assessment of scholarly products is evaluative. An individual’s contribution to knowledge should be evaluated in the context of the quality and significance of the scholarship achieved. In order to conduct such evaluation, individual departments must develop criteria for determining the quality and significance of scholarly products. All members of the department should be involved in setting these criteria. The department chair is responsible for seeing that the criteria are employed during faculty evaluations.

Criteria for Evaluating Discipline-Based Scholarship, Creative Activity, Applied Research, Scholarship of Teaching, and Community-Engaged Research and Scholarship

The following criteria apply to all forms of scholarship. The bulleted information following numbers one through six demonstrates examples of ways these criteria might be exhibited in applied research and the scholarship of teaching.

1. Clarity and relevance of goals. A scholar should clearly define objectives of scholarly work, and clearly state basic questions of inquiry. The scholarship should address substantive intellectual, aesthetic, or creative problems or issues. Clarity of purpose provides a critical context for evaluating the scholarly work.
   
   • Applied research might aim to improve theoretical understanding of a significant social problem or situation OR assess the efficacy of knowledge or creative activities to implement changes within a particular context.
   
   • Scholars should provide a clear statement of need and relevance at the disciplinary and community levels.
    
2. Mastery of existing knowledge. A scholar must be well prepared and knowledgeable about developments in the field under study. Ability to educate others, conduct meaningful research, and use knowledge and skills to address problems depends on mastery of knowledge.
   • Applied researchers propose methodologies, measures, and interventions that reflect the theory, conceptualization, and cumulative wisdom of previous work.
   
   • Scholars of teaching demonstrate a command of resources that allows them, as researchers and educators, to respond adequately to student learning needs and to evaluate teaching and curriculum innovations, within agreed- upon boundaries.
   
   • Scholars will demonstrate how research, teaching and/or service is informed by a community’s input to foster development of knowledge, curriculum, pedagogy and/or policy development.
    
3. Appropriate use of methodology and resources. A scholar should address goals with carefully constructed logic and methodology.
   
   • Applied research requires well-constructed methodology that allows for assessment of the efficacy of the chosen project.
   
   • Scholars of teaching use appropriate methodology to evaluate the link between teaching and learning. This includes assessing the impact of the broader curriculum on student learning.
   
   • Community Engaged Scholarship can enhance rigor in research and teaching, facilitate study of issues not otherwise considered, and increase understanding of complex real-world issues in the classroom. Scholars should provide evidence to demonstrate that scientific rigor is maintained, or even enhanced, through community engaged approaches.
    
4. Effectiveness of communication. Scholars should possess effective oral and written communication skills that enable them to convert knowledge into language that a public audience can understand.
   
   • Applied researchers should disseminate the knowledge gained in order to share its significance with those not directly involved in the project.
   
   • Scholars of teaching should communicate with appropriate audiences to open their work to critical inquiry and independent review.
   
   • Scholars should provide examples of how they have effectively communicated and disseminated the knowledge they have gained through engaged scholarship to appropriate academic audiences, practice areas, community partners, and public audiences/forums.
    
5. Significance of results. Customarily peers, students, community members, and experts in the field assist scholars in evaluating whether or not their goals are met and whether or not their achievements are useful to others.
   
   • Applied research can make a difference by resolving relevant social problems or issues, facilitating organizational development, improving existing practice or policy, and enriching the cultural life of the community.
   
   • Scholars of teaching can make a difference by promoting understanding of, or resolving, relevant pedagogical problems or processes. Scholars also might engage in substantive theoretical reflection on the impact and merit of a particular course or program.
   
   • Scholars should explicitly state what knowledge they created or applied and what impact it has had or may likely have in the future. It is important to note here that "significant results" is intended to be broadly defined and not only "statistically significant results."
    
6. Consistently ethical behavior. Scholars should conduct their work with honesty, integrity, and objectivity. Ethical behavior includes following the college’s procedures for approving research (e.g., the Institutional Review Board) and properly crediting sources of information in reports and presentations of results. Scholars should foster a respectful relationship with students, community participants, peers, and others who participate in or benefit from their work.

Examples of Applied Research and Community-Engaged Research

Examples of activities in applied research and community-engaged research include but are not limited to the following. The products of such activities, to be considered scholarship, must be documented as stated in the Documenting Scholarship for Evaluative Purposes section of this document (i.e., MUST RESULT IN A PRODUCT OR PUBLICATION THAT IS SUBJECTED TO PEER REVIEW). Community-engaged research must clearly benefit the community.

1. Conducting a needs assessment or creating an evaluation report that results in data used by policy makers or organizations.
2. Using discipline-based knowledge or theories to facilitate significant change in organizations or institutions.
3. Planning, designing, and/or administering intervention programs to prevent or remediate persistent negative outcomes for groups or individuals.
4. Analyzing and designing policy for local government, business, nonprofit organizations, and community agencies that is adopted in written form  and implemented.
5. Carrying out and reporting regional ecological, meteorological, and other environmental studies that serve the community.
6. Conducting or directing a performance that contributes to the success of a community group or agency.
7. Developing models that enrich the artistic or cultural life of a community.
8. Developing or improving the products and processes of business and industry and publishing the scholarly products of such activities.

Examples of the Scholarship of Teaching and Community-Engaged Scholarship

Examples of activities in the scholarship of teaching and community-engaged scholarship include, but are not limited to the following. The products of such activities, to be considered scholarship, must be documented as stated in the Documenting Scholarship for Evaluative Purposes section of this document. (i.e., MUST RESULT IN A PRODUCT OR PUBLICATION THAT IS SUBJECTED TO PEER REVIEW).

1. Designing and publishing a data collection and analysis plan to assess the impact of a curriculum change on student learning.  Publishing that plan.
2. Creating a course portfolio that documents the development, implementation, and assessment of a course.
3. Producing a textbook that offers an innovative approach to organizing and communicating the knowledge in a field.
4. Preparing and designing educational software, video, or television programs that are successfully used in classrooms beyond that of the instructor who created them.
5. Developing educational support programs for high-risk or gifted students that have led to demonstrated positive results.
6. Creating a database for instructional use that results in or supports a written product.
7. Assessing impacts of community-engaged learning on student participants and community partners.

References

Diamond, R.M. (1993). Recognizing faculty work: Reward systems for the year 2000. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Glassick, C.E., Huber, M.T., & Maeroff, G.I. (1997). Scholarship assessed: Evaluation of the professorate.  San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Hutchings, P. & Shulman, L.S. (1999). The scholarship of teaching: New elaborations, new developments.  Change, 31(5) 10 – 14.

Jordan, C. (ed). Community-Engaged Scholarship Review, Promotion & Tenure Package. Peer Review Workgroup, Community-Engaged Scholarship for Health Collaborative, Community-Campus Partnerships for Health, 2007.

Portions of this document are reproduced from the Portland State University Policies and Procedures for the Evaluation of Faculty for Tenure, Promotion, and Merit Increases, May 17, 1996, with the permission of Deborah Lieberman, Vice Provost and Special Assistant to the President (September 11, 2002).

Connecticut Campus Compact Engaged Scholarship Advisory Committee. Framework for Community Engaged Scholarship. Connecticut Campus compact. Fairfield, CT: Connecticut Campus Compact, 2012.

I hereby accept the recommendation of the College Senate and charge the provost with responsibility for overseeing the implementation of this policy change and for communicating the change to the campus community.