Upcoming Reconceptualizing the Scholarship of Teaching in Higher Education: Boyer, Dewey, and Schoen
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Abstract
The status of university-level teaching as a form of scholarship equal to that of university research, or “discovery” (as argued by Boyer, 1990), is in flux. An examination of the relevant literature suggests a number of recurring misunderstandings: the conflation of “discovery” with “scholarship,” a failure to distinguish between “discovery” and “teaching,” a false attachment of publication to scholarship, and the mistaken role of the student in the definition of teaching. A careful reading of the writings of Boyer, Dewey, and Schoen indicates that for them the scholarship of teaching is not a scientific search for new or improved methods of teaching in controlled situations. Instead, they see it as the actual performance of teachers guiding students into meaningful engagement with the subject. As both Dewey (e.g., 1929) and Schoen (e.g., 1987) argue, scholarly teaching is the integration of scientific knowledge with the artistry required in meeting the highly varied needs of their students. The argument that we lay out opens up many important questions that deserve further investigation not just to improve the status of university teaching but to re-envision the goals of teaching in higher education today.
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