Assessing Scholarship in UWExtension: Adapting Scholarship Reconsidered and Scholarship Assessed to

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Assessing Scholarship in UW-Extension Adapting
Scholarship Reconsidered and Scholarship Assessed
to Evaluate Outreach Faculty for Promotion and
Tenure
Greg Wise, Secretary of Faculty Academic
Staff Fariba Pendleton, Faculty Senate
Outreach Scholarship 2003 Excellence Through
Engagement October 13, 2003
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Our mission

• UW-Extension mission
• Working with the UW institutions and the
  Wisconsin counties, apply University research,
  knowledge, and resources to meet the educational
  needs of Wisconsin people wherever they live
  and work
• The Wisconsin Idea
• Extending the knowledge of the University to the
  boundaries of the state and beyond

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Who we are

• 3rd-largest institution in the UW System
• Combination of statewide assets is unique in the
  nation
• More than 1.5 million educational contacts
  annually
• 169 million annual budget
• More than 1,600 employees
• Statewide reach through 72 county offices, 26
  campuses, and public broadcasting networks

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How we got there
2001 New assessment guidelines approved
1997 2nd task force
1990-1994 Concerns expressed about tenure process
2000 Need to develop assessment and
implementation guidelines
1995 1st task force
1997 Adoption of revised portfolio guidelines
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Fundamental concepts

• Scholarship is an approach to the way we do our
  work (not everything an educator does is
  scholarly)
• Scholarly work encompasses all four elements of
  the definition (not every question needs to be
  addressed)
• Scholarship may occur in various forms
• Scholarly work may be collaborative (an
  individual scholars work needs to be uniquely
  identified)
• Assessment questions are not meant to be a
  checklist
• This definition and assessment can be applied to
  the promotion and tenure step and other reviews
  and rank changes, including post-tenure review

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Features of earning tenure

• The effectiveness of the educational programs of
  the University of Wisconsin-Extension depends on
  the scholarship of its faculty
• Tenure awarded to those with demonstrated
  professional accomplishment based on a consistent
  and high level of scholarship, not on years of
  experience
• Candidates for tenure must demonstrate the desire
  and capacity for professional growth and
  continued productive scholarly study
• Tenure involves the exercise of professional
  judgment and therefore requires the thoughtful
  and reflective application of a set of criteria
  to evidence of professional accomplishments

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Scholarship in UW-Extension

• Creative, intellectual work
• Reviewed by the scholars peers who affirm its
  value
• Added to our intellectual history through its
  communication
• Valued by those for whom it was intended

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Assessing scholarly work
creative, intellectual work
UW-Extension Definition
Assessment Questions

• How does the work build upon the knowledge,
  research, or practice in the field?
• How does the work respond to an identified need
  for new knowledge, a new approach, or a new
  method, or the creative adaptation of existing
  knowledge, approaches, or methods?
• How did the work result in the development of new
  information or the development of new or
  creatively adapted methods or approaches?

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Assessing scholarly work
UW-Extension Definition
reviewed by the scholars peers who affirm its
value
Assessment Questions

• How has the work been shared in published
  articles, academic presentations, exhibitions of
  work, creative performances, or in other public
  venues in which peers independently evaluated it?
• Has the work resulted in the receiving of an
  award, honor, or some other public recognition by
  peers?
• How has the scholars work resulted in
  testimonials, letters of recommendation, or
  adaptations that affirm the value of this work?

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Assessing scholarly work
UW-Extension Definition
added to our intellectual history through its
communication
Assessment Questions

• How has the work been shared with colleagues?
• How has the work added to the body of knowledge?
• Where is the work accessible?

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Assessing scholarly work
UW-Extension Definition
valued by those for whom it was intended
Assessment Questions

• What actions did the intended audience take as a
  result of this work?
• What measurable impacts occurred as a result of
  the effort (e.g., individual, family, community -
  knowledge gained, information shared, behavior
  changed)?
• How were the developed materials or processes
  subsequently used by others?
• What were the implications (positive or negative)
  beyond those anticipated for the intended
  clientele and/or community?

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Evaluation of effort

• Evaluation of workshops, seminars, orientation,
  and training programs devoted to understanding
  the scholarship of engagement and how to assess
  it
• Gathered over the past three years through
  workshop evaluations, an e-mail survey, and phone
  interviews some immediate, some up to 24 months
  after the event
• Respondents included 120 tenured and 45 untenured
  community-based outreach faculty

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Understanding scholarship

• The vast majority of respondents better
  understand scholarship in an outreach context
• Specifically, they better understand
• the definition
• the formal policy guidelines
• the application of assessment standards
• Multiple exposure to the information (attending
  more than one session) clarifies and improves
  understanding

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Applying standards

• Faculty have learned to think about their
  programming in a scholarly way
• Faculty expressed a greater degree of confidence
  in documenting their scholarly work
• Faculty expressed a high to average level of
  comfort applying the standards to their work
• The use of probing questions specific to each
  element of the definition of scholarship is a key
  factor contributing to the facultys enhanced
  understanding

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Reviewing peers

• Faculty, specifically academic department leaders
  and mentors, have a high to average level of
  comfort reviewing peers using the assessment
  standards
• An ongoing challenge is telling the story of
  community outreach programming in a scholarly way
• Additional needs
• continuing professional development in research
  design and qualitative evaluation methods
• linking planning and reporting, impact
  evaluation, and documentation of scholarly work
• continued skill building for documenting and
  reviewing scholarly work

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Thank You

• This poster presentation and the tenure and
  promotion policies that have been described can
  be found on the University of Wisconsin-Extension
  web site at
• http//www.uwex.edu/secretary
• http//www1.uwex.edu/secretary/policies/section8/f
  app1b.pdf
• You can contact us at
• Greg.wise_at_uwex.edu
• fariba.pendleton_at_ces.uwex.edu