Scholarship at VIU encompasses not only discovery, integration of knowledge, application, engagement (with community, civil society, etc.) and teaching and learning (Boyer, E.L.., Scholarship Reconsidered, 1990), but also creative activity in its many forms. If one or more of these will be the subject of self-directed evaluation, this page points to several common practices associated with collecting information and getting feedback. SRCA includes highly individual, local activities such as reading to expand one’s knowledge, or mentoring students in research. It also includes public activities, such as writing articles, consulting on a community project, conducting performances, or exhibiting one’s work for a broader community. This list below is neither exhaustive nor prescriptive.
Sample activities for professional development in SRCA
- Reading books, articles, and web materials related to subject areas
- Interacting with colleagues to share ideas within one’s department and across faculties
- Seeking certifications and other learning at conferences and seminars within a disciplinary area
- Revising and re-designing courses or programs to reflect changes in the field
- Choosing to teach a course known for its challenges, in order to develop new understandings
- Mentoring students in research (course-based activities, paid assistantships, thesis-writing)
- Using expertise to aid the community or society such as by addressing pressing issues or raising funds
- Leading or participating in a funded or unfunded research activity, project, centre or lab
- Inquiring into one’s teaching practices (i.e., “scholarship of teaching and learning”)
- Using one’s disciplinary expertise in creative outputs such as a writing, performance, exhibition
- Applying for external funding to undertake basic or applied research, or a creative endeavour.
Sample activities for collecting information about SRCA
- Observing the impact of one’s scholarship, research and creative activity outputs.
- Reflecting on the impact one’s community engagement has had
- Reflecting on one’s own discipline as it relates to and is influenced by other disciplines
- Reflecting on students we have mentored/supervised in research or creative projects
- Receiving reviews on scholarly or creative outputs
- Using existing metrics (e.g., reads, downloads, impact scores) to determine the impact of one’s outputs
- Highlighting awards received for one’s scholarly or creative work
- Retaining letters of support on the impact of one’s scholarly outputs on public life, community organizations, etc.
- Using results of grant and contract competitions to highlight success in obtaining funding and managing projects.
- Noting patents, copyrights or commercialization resulting from one’s research, scholarship or creative work
Sample activities for communicating work in SRCA
- Hallway conversations; informal brown bag discussions
- Seeking and pursuing opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration
- Informally sharing books, articles web materials with students, faculty and community members
- Bringing new research and knowledge into the classroom, applied settings or the community
- Uploading scholarly outputs onto VIU’s online repository
- Using webpages, social media or VIU Space to share scholarly and creative activity
- Maintaining a CV or a portfolio that includes all forms of scholarly, creative or community outputs
- Publications, conference sessions within the discipline for academic as well as for non-academic audiences
- Press coverage associated with our scholarship