Models of Academic Excellence:
Is a “Third Way” Emerging?
Scholars in Action: 2011 UNI Symposium on Research,
Scholarship and Creative Activity
University of Northern Iowa (UNI)
Cedar Falls, Iowa
R. Eugene Rice
Senior Scholar
Association of American Colleges and Universities
Washington, DC USA
rice@aacu.edu
The Dominant Modes of Academic
Excellence
1. Liberal Arts—Faculty as Teacher Scholar
2. Research University—Specialist on the Cutting Edge of a
Field (Expert)
—TRANSITIONS (OR TRANSFORMATIONAL) PERIOD
3. Emergence of a “Third Way”
- Integrated
- Engaged
- Collaborative
- Networked
- Inclusive
The Assumptive World of the Academic Professional
• RESEARCH is the central professional endeavor & the focus of
academic life.
• Quality is preserved through PEER REVIEW and the maintenance
of PROFESSIONAL AUTONOMY.
• The pursuit of knowledge is best organized according to DISCIPLINE.
• REPUTATIONS are established through NATIONAL and
INTERNATIONAL PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS.
• Professional rewards and mobility accrue to those who persistently
ACCENTUATE their SPECIALIZATION.
• The distinctive task of the academic profession is the pursuit of
COGNITIVE TRUTH.
Changing Faculty Role
From Focus On:
Faculty
To:
Learning
(who faculty are,
(faculty are
and what we know)
beginning to see this)
Student Development &
Community Engagement
(big question)
Changes in What We are
Learning About Learning
Pedagogical Revolution:
(3 central thrusts)
1. Active, experienced-based learning
- service learning
- undergraduate research
2. Power of relational learning
- peer learning
- learning communities
3. Technologically enhanced learning
- web-based social networks
- distance learning
High Impact Educational Practices
• First year seminars
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Common intellectual experiences
Learning Communities
Writing intensive courses
Collaborative assignments
Undergraduate research
Diversity—global learning
Service learning, community-based learning
Internships
Capstone courses
George D. Kuh, AAC&U Project
The Overflowing Plate
• RESEARCH
• TEACHING
• PROFESSIONAL ENGAGEMENT
• PROFESSSIONAL
AUTONOMY
• PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY
• PEER REVIEW
• STUDENT EVALUATION
• ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING
• FOCUS ON DISCIPLINE
• CROSSING KNOWLEDGE
DOMAINS
• PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
• LOCAL NEEDS
• Institution building
• Broader community
• SPECIALIZATION
• INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE
• Bridging theory and practice
• COGNITIVE RATIONALITY
• DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO
KNOWING
A Broader, More Integrated Understanding of Scholarly Work
CONCRETE, CONNECTED
KNOWING
ACTIVE
PRACTICE
Scholarship
of
Teaching
&
Learning
Scholarship
of
Engagement
Scholarship
of
Integration
REFLECTIVE
OBSERVATION
Scholarship
of
Discovery
ABSTRACT ANALYTIC
KNOWING
Epistemological Shift
- A different relationship with students
- Focus on student learning and development
- Attend to the making of meaning
- A different kind of research
- Community-based research
- Two-way street
- Honoring local as well as cosmopolitan knowledge
- A different relationship with community
- Not “application of knowledge”
- Collaborative practices
- Honoring wisdom of practice
- “Stewardship of place” (AASCU)
W. B. Yeats
-
On the power of the relationship of intellectual development and
active practice:
“The human soul is always moving outward into the
external world and inward into itself, and this movement
is double because the human soul would not be
conscious were it not suspended between contraries.
The greater the contrast, the more intense the
consciousness.”
Other Challenges
(From Focus On)
1. Complete scholar
(congruence)
2. Culture of unexamined
assumptions
3. Career dependence
(To Focus On)
Unbundling of
faculty role
Networks for learning &
new forms of integration
Culture of evidence
(evidence-based practice)
Resilient, interconnected careers
4. Diminished public support & increased demand for access
5. “My work”
“Our work”
6. Collegial culture
Managerial culture
Managerial Culture
Collegial Culture
 Corporate Sector
 Liberal Arts (Athens)
 Bottom Line
 Research University (Berlin)
 Accountability
 Faculty-oriented
 Efficiency
 Peer Review
 Productivity
 Peer Leadership
 Technical Leadership
 Community of Scholars
 Managerial Professionals
- Tenure
 Quantitative
- Academic Freedom
 Instrumental Knowledge
 Shared Governance
 Hierarchical
 Qualitative Judgments
 Customer-oriented
 Substantive Knowledge
 Worth
 Merit
Collaborative Culture
• Learning Organization
• Bi-cultural
• Building on Both Cultures
• Alternative to the Two Economies
• Systemically-oriented
• Learning Centered
The Emergence of a “Third Way”?
Is higher education facing a
Copernican moment?
Characteristics:
1.Integrative/ Beyond Differentiation
2.Collaborative/ Beyond Hierarchy & Competitiveness
3.Inclusive/ Beyond Diversity
4.Engaged/ Beyond Walls & Silos
5.Toward a Network Culture