The Evolving Meaning of Scholarship in Academic Medicine

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The Evolving Meaning of Scholarshipin Academic
Medicine

• Topics for Educators of
• Emergency Medicine Conference
• February 23, 2003
• Ruth-Marie E. Fincher, MD
• Vice Dean for Academic Affairs
• Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine

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Fact No One Cares More About Your Promotion
than YOU

• Recommendation
• Take the lead!
• Be sure you are ready

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Read and Understand the Rules at Your School

• What?
• Faculty Handbook
• Guidelines for Promotion
• School of Medicine
• Department of Emergency Medicine
• When?
• Before you sign your contract!

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By the Time You Are Notified by Your Deans
Office. . .

• that you are eligible for promotion or tenure
  based on time in rank, you should be putting the
  finishing touches on your promotion packet. . . .
• not beginning to think about whether or not you
  meet the criteria. . . .
• or have documented your achievements

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As a Clinical Faculty Member, You Are Probably
Expected to. . . .

• Care for patients and earn money
• Teach medical students residents
• Emergency department practice
• Small groups
• Lecture
• Engage in scholarly activity
• Provide service to the institution
• Committees

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Teaching Should Not Be Willy-nilly Activity You
Must Decide. . . .

• How important is teaching to your career
  development?
• How much time do you invest?
• Do you and your chair have agreed-upon
• goals?
• expected outcomes?

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Research/Scholarship

• Should be an extension of your primary
  responsibilities
• Is your research/scholarship
• Teaching/education?
• Bench research?
• Clinical research?

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Plan Your Activities and Assess Outcomes

• Are your activities congruent with your career
  development goals?
• Teaching responsibilities
• How will you document and assess?
• Scholarship
• Extension of primary responsibilities
• Clinical care
• Committee assignments
• Are you are on the appropriate academic track for
  your responsibilities?

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Varying Interpretation Can Lead to. . . .

• inappropriate track appointment
• disconnect between fulfillment of
  responsibilities and meeting expectations for
  promotion
• underestimation of expectations for teaching
  quality and quantity
• failure to engage in or demonstrate accepted
  forms of scholarship

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Educational Contributions Could These Be
Scholarly Activities?

• Curriculum design or development
• Direct teaching responsibilities
• Instructional materials
• Educational administration
• Educational scholarship
• Professional development in education
• Advising/mentoring

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What Is teaching?
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What is scholarship?
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ScholarshipA Broader Definition

• Scholarship is demonstrated when knowledge is
  advanced or transformed by application of ones
  intellect in an informed, disciplined, and
  creative manner.
• Hansen Roberts Tch Learn Med 4136-9,1992.
• Teaching becomes scholarship when it demonstrates
  knowledge, pedagogical innovation, invites peer
  review, and explores learning.
• Hutchings Shulman Change 11-15,1999.

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Products Might Include. . .

• Instructional materials
• Web-based, syllabi, modules/cases
• Evaluation tools
• Program development
• Educational leadership or administration

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Scholarly Products Must Be. . .

• assessed for quality and value by peers, using
  agreed-upon criteria
• How? By whom?
• made public for others to learn from or build
  upon
• What constitutes dissemination?

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Scholarship Must Be Assessed by Consistent Methods

• Clear goals
• Adequate preparation
• Appropriate methods relative to goals
• Significant results that contribute to field
• Effective communication
• Reflective critique
• 
  Glassick et al., Scholarship Assessed, 1997

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Glassicks Model Applies to Discovery and
TeachingClear Goals

• Discovery
• Hypotheses
• Clearly stated
• Pose questions that are important to field
• Testable

• Teaching
• Objectives
• Clear
• Achievable
• Measurable
• Appropriate to course expectations and level of
  learners

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Effective Presentation Includes Dissemination

• Discovery
• Publication of papers in peer-reviewed journals
• Presentation in public domain

• Teaching
• Evidence of sharing results
• Curriculum committee
• Web site information
• Adoption of materials, techniques or process
• Mentoring colleagues
• Influencing teaching skills of others

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Future Directions Teaching and Educational
Scholarship

• Single measures
• Emphasis on student evaluation for summative
  purposes
• Teaching - technical
• Teaching - private
• Emphasis on faculty characteristics
• No. Contact hours
• Emphasis on teaching
• Strive for adequacy

• Multiple measures
• Emphasis on peer participation for formative
  purposes
• Teaching - scholarly
• Teaching - public
• Emphasis on learning environment characteristics
• Demonstrated learning
• Emphasis on learning
• Strive for excellence

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Illustrative Cases

• How does each individual demonstrate/fail to
  demonstrate scholarship related to teaching?
• Assuming no additional scholarship, should this
  individual be promoted?
• If not, what advice would you give?

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Your Own ExperienceTalk with your neighbors

• In what teaching activities are you involved?
• What is your scholarship related to teaching?
• If none (and you are interested), how could you
  generate a two-for-one?