Research Assessment
Exercise 2006
University Grants
Committee
Opening Remarks
by Prof Roland Chin
Convenor, Research Ad Hoc
Group (RAG)
University Grants Committee
Opportunities
for Scholarship
University Grants Committee
Research Assessment Exercise
January 23rd & 24th 2006
The Carnegie Foundation for the
Advancement of Teaching
Lee Shulman, President
Richard Gale, Senior Scholar & CASTL Director
Stephanie Waldmann, Foundation Secretary
Chun-Mei Zhao, Research Scholar
Dan Bernstein, University of Kansas
The Carnegie Foundation for the
Advancement of Teaching
“To do and perform all things necessary to
encourage, uphold, and dignify the
profession of the teacher and the cause of
higher education”
- from The Carnegie Foundation Mission Statement
The Work of the Scholar
The work of the scholar
remains incomplete
until it is understood and used
by others.
Scholarship Reconsidered (1990)

“Is it possible to define the work of faculty
in ways that reflect more realistically the full
range of academic and civic mandates?”

“… the work of the professoriate might be
thought of as having four separate, yet
overlapping, functions”




Discovery
Integration
Application
Teaching
The Four Scholarships: Discovery

Scholarship that makes a
commitment to knowledge for
its own sake, to freedom of
inquiry and to following in a
disciplined fashion an
investigation wherever it may
lead …

Comes closest to what is
usually meant when we
speak of “research”
The Four Scholarships: Discovery

Science

Mathematics
The Four Scholarships: Integration

Scholarship that makes
connections across the
disciplines, in a larger context,
at the boundaries where fields
converge … that seeks to
interpret, draw together, and
bring new insight to bear on
original research …

Interdisciplinary, interpretive,
integrative
The Four Scholarships: Integration

Humanities

Professional
The Four Scholarships: Application

Scholarship that serves the
interest of the larger
community by addressing
consequential problems …
bringing knowledge to bear on
the issues faced by members
of the society

The community’s issues
themselves define the agenda
for scholarly investigation
The Four Scholarships: Application

Education

Science
The Four Scholarships: Teaching


Scholarship using disciplinary
methods and practice to study
and improve student
learning … building on, peer
reviewing, and sharing
knowledge gained through
investigation to improve
teaching and learning
Not only transmitting
knowledge, but transforming
and extending it as well
The Four Scholarships: Teaching

Science

Humanities

Professional
The Advancement of Learning
Integration
Discovery
The University
Application
Teaching
Scholarship Assessed (1997)

All forms of scholarship include:






Clear goals
Adequate preparation
Appropriate methods
Significant results
Reflective critique
Effective presentation
Glassick, Huber, & Maeroff
Framework for Scholarly
Accomplishment

Levels of Scholarly
Performance

Components of
Scholarly Work
Threshold
Goals of the project
Well-articulated and intentional
Preparation for
scholar’s work
Based upon prior scholarship in its area
Methods used to
conduct work
Follows conventions of scholarly efforts
within its domain
Evidence gathered to
demonstrate impact
of work
Evidence appropriate to the scholar’s field
to evaluate proposed practices or ideas
Reflection on work
Scholar has articulated lessons learned
Communication of
results to others
Work is publicly accessible for others to
use, build upon, and review critically
Threshold
Goals of the
project
Preparation for
scholar’s work
Methods used to
conduct work
Evidence gathered
to demonstrate
impact of work
Reflection on work
Communication of
results to others
Advanced
Exemplary
Well-articulated and
intentional
Move well beyond existing
work in the field and
represent innovations
Articulates new goals that will
advance the work of other
scholars
Based upon prior
scholarship in its area
Includes broad synthesis of
prior work
Scholar acquires new
knowledge and skills that
enhance quality of the work
Follows conventions of
scholarly efforts within
its domain
Takes full advantage of
methods available to make
its impact
Generates new methods that
enable others to enhance their
scholarship
Evidence appropriate to
the scholar’s field to
evaluate proposed
practices or ideas
Evidence suggests that the
scholar’s ideas or practices
are worth implementing
Evidence suggests practices or
ideas have had great impact on
other scholars
Scholar has articulated
lessons learned
Scholar has made
adjustments in practice
based on reflection
Scholar can report enhanced
achievement of goals resulting
from lessons learned
Work is publicly
accessible for others to
use, build upon, and
review critically
Scholar’s reflective work
has been cited by others
Work has had broad impact on
practices and inquiry of many
others interested in the same
questions
Establishing Excellence

Qualities of Surprise and
Delight

Transparency of Argument
and Evidence

Commitment to Rigor and
Peer Review

Communication and
Dissemination of Standards
and Examples
Acknowledgements



Prof. Roland Chin, Mr. Michael Stone, and
The University Grants Committee
Hong Kong Institutions of Higher Education
Research Assessment Exercise Participants
Opportunities for Questions