In a previous post for the Ontario Extend Scholar module, I explored my definition of scholarship, identifying that it is central to my practice as an educator. Since then I have been working on refining the scholarship page on my dossier website. Attending the LU Teaching and Learning Days was incredibly valuable as a deep-dive into reflecting on the characteristics of a 21st-century educator, which has me questioning the definition of scholarship and refining my teaching philosophy. My recent experiences as Cambrian’s Innovation Champion and an Open Education Fellow with eCampusOntario have shaped how I view teaching and scholarship.
Redefining Scholarship
I am going to be quite honest with you and say that based on my academic training I had a narrow definition of scholarship before I met eCampusOntario in August of 2017. Now, I consider more things scholarly than I use to. Thus, on my website, I have indicated that “Although I feel that this model does not adequately capture all elements of the scholarship of teaching and learning, it is a useful framework for a common understanding among nursing educators.”
I understand and support the need to make a distinction between scholarly activities and scholarship. However, I believe that there is some need for clarity around when an activity (like blogging) meets the criteria for something to be considered scholarship. My blog is public and scholars can build on this form of dissemination. It is open to peer critique and is sometimes peer reviewed. Arguably it does not actually meet the three criteria because it is not critiqued consistently or prior to publication. Does that make it any less valuable? I have decided to be a rebel and include it as a form of scholarship anyway. I feel that I can defend it’s value as a reflective tool for the advancement of knowledge in the teaching and learning field.
My refined definition of scholarship and past examples of scholarly activities can be found here. I need to add some professional development that I have engaged in but am trying to figure out how to be awesome like UBC and develop some kind of table that can be filtered. The list of activities needs an update, but for the purposes of my scholarship module, the definition is refined. Engaging in this activity has me thinking that I should add categories to my blog for each of the domains of scholarship … but that is a task for another day.
A New Website
It has been about a year since I updated my dossier website. A lot changed in that year. Fundamentally I still hold the same values as a year ago, but my appreciation for larger issues has evolved. Click here if you want to see my old dossier website. I opted to change my domain, layout and content all at the same time. The domain was fine, but it was not secure (https). The layout looked fancy but was not functional due to the need to scroll too much. My dossier needs to be easy to navigate as I will be using it for accreditation and to apply for a PhD one day. I am also planning to direct my students to it on the first day of a course about how to teach. My innovative approach to that class will be discussed further in another post (I hope). The content is more important than pictures. The content on my new website is still evolving as it involves deep reflection on who I am. Click here for an in-progress view. I would like to send a huge thank-you to my friend Sidney for helping me with the technical side of web design.
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