Universities in Australia are becoming increasingly concerned with their reputation as 'engaged' institutions. Yet there is significant confusion about what this idea of 'engagement' means and no clear way of measuring or reporting it. In part, this is because of the nature of engagement itself which is dependent on local context, partnerships and communities. This presents a difficulty for academic staff undertaking engaged work within institutions and stresses the need for institutions to develop internal processes that clearly articulate definitions of engagement, set out performance expectations and provide processes for the reward and recognition of the scholarship of engagement. In a sector increasingly concerned with the outputs of research as measurable by publication bibliometrics and grant income, the sometimes difficult to measure outcomes of engaged work can become relegated and dismissed. As part of a project to articulate performance expectations in the area of the scholarship of engagement for academic promotion at University of Wollongong, researchers undertook an extensive international literature review to learn what had been done in this area previously and to identify issues of concern. This paper sets out the findings from this review, considers the implications of engaged scholarship for academic promotion and suggests some possible ways forward for institutions and staff working in this area. KeywordsAcademic identity, career development, community engagement, higher education policy Abstract:Universities in Australia are becoming increasingly concerned with their reputation as 'engaged' institutions. Yet there is significant confusion about what this idea of 'engagement' means and no clear way of measuring or reporting it. In part this is because of the nature of engagement itself, that it is dependent on local context, partnerships and communities. This presents a difficulty for academic staff undertaking engaged work within institutions however, and stresses the need for institutions to develop internal processes that clearly articulate definitions of engagement, set out performance expectations and provide processes for the reward and recognition of the scholarship of engagement. In a sector increasingly concerned with the outputs of research as measurable by publication bibliometrics and grant income, the sometimes difficult to measure outcomes of engaged work can become relegated and dismissed. As part of a project to articulate performance expectations in the area of the scholarship of engagement for academic promotion at the University of Wollongong, researchers undertook an extensive international literature review to learn what had been done in this area previously and to identify issues of concern. This paper sets out the findings from this review, considers the implications of engaged scholarship for academic promotion, and suggest some possible ways forward for institutions and staff working in this area.
By redefining scholarship, schools and faculties are able to meet the multiple demands of the government, the institution, individual staff, students and the profession. Not everyone can do traditional research all the time, and staff involved in other scholarly work should be able to rewarded and promoted. By taking the lead in this issue, nursing as a discipline can set its own agenda, and pave the way for other disciplines. It can also go a long way to solving issues around the dwindling academic workforce.
Objectives: Objectives: The aim of this paper is to provide an integrative review of the literature associated with signature pedagogies and to discover what lessons have been learned about unearthing, articulating and applying signature pedagogies across a variety of disciplines, but particularly with respect to nursing. Design: Design: A systematic search of databases using key terms was utilised with a particular focus to papers emerging from nursing disciplines. Data sources: Data sources: The databases MEDLINE, CINAHL, ERIC, Web of Science and Google Scholar were searched for literature from 2005 to 2018 inclusive. Review methods: Review methods: An initial examination of titles and abstracts by the authors resulted in the retrieval of 45 papers and following the application of exclusion criteria, 25 papers were included. Results and conclusions: Results and conclusions: Signature pedagogy literature is a developing area and scholars both in nursing disciplines and beyond, often fail to develop on Lee Shulman's framework in their identification of signature pedagogies, resulting in poorly adapted conceptions. Ways forward include closer linking with the original signature pedagogy framework in research, the development of robust evidence-based signature pedagogy identification processes in disciplines and a reconsideration of the esteem of scholars performing signature pedagogies within disciplines.
Teaching and Learning as a form of scholarship has struggled for recognition in universities, with one of the biggest hurdles being visibility. As the Internet is now one of the primary sources of visibility, this study examines how Australia's 39 universities present their teaching and learning profiles online. The purpose was to examine the aspects of teaching and learning that were visible and those which were not, highlighting the areas of scholarship that may require enhanced focus. The study used a scoring system of 15 primary criteria drawn from the literature, in conjunction with common teaching and learning website elements as ascertained from a brief study of 20 websites. The results revealed that while certain teaching and learning aspects such as professional development and awards are consistently presented across the Australian tertiary sector online, other aspects such as scholarship of teaching and learning research foci and external impact are not generally visible on Australian university websites. Disciplines Medicine and Health Sciences | Social and Behavioral Sciences Abstract:Teaching and Learning as a form of scholarship has historically struggled for recognition in universities, with one of the biggest hurdles being visibility. As the internet is now one of the primary sources of visibility, this study examines how Australia's 39 universities present their teaching and learning profiles online. The purpose was to examine the aspects of teaching and learning that were visible and those which were not, highlighting the areas of scholarship that may require enhanced focus. The study used a scoring system of 15 primary criteria drawn from the literature, in conjunction with common teaching and learning website elements as ascertained from a brief study of 20 websites. The results revealed that while certain teaching and learning aspects such as professional development and awards are consistently presented across the Australian tertiary sector online, other aspects such as scholarship of teaching and learning research foci and external impact are not generally visible on Australian university websites.
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