International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Volume 2, Number 2, July 2008
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Excerpt
Changing Our Brains: Transforming a Traditional View of Scholarship
and Teaching
The purpose of this essay is to capture, in its earliest stages,
the influence that formal recognition of Boyer’s multiple domains
of scholarship within faculty evaluation standards had on a select group
of colleagues within a disciplinary diverse academic unit at a mid-sized,
comprehensive university. A process is described whereby the combination
of a book discussion group, a newly approved faculty contract recognizing
Boyer’s multiple domains, and a genuine commitment from a disciplinary
diverse group of colleagues to the academic mission of the unit, resulted
in a transformation in attitudes toward scholarship and teaching. Scholarship
of teaching and learning was viewed as the key element leading to the
formation of a team approach to a scholarship of teaching and learning
project within a group that had traditionally pursued research separate
from instruction, and individually rather than collectively.
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Full ArticleBios
Brian Caster
Western Oregon University
Monmouth, Oregon, USA
casterb@wou.edu
My appreciation for an interdisciplinary approach to teaching, learning and problem solving was fostered by my liberal arts undergraduate education, and is apparent in the contrast among my degrees (B.A. in German from Linfield College; M.S. and Ph.D. in Biomechanics from the University of Oregon). As an Associate Professor at Western Oregon University, I strive to pass on my passion for interdisciplinary thinking to students in Exercise Science courses that I instruct (Biomechanics, Kinesiology, Motor Development and Motor Learning). I attempt to bring a holistic, interdisciplinary approach to my teaching of the science of human movement, and to my research interests in contemporary approaches to physical fitness, sports-specific training, and instructional methodology in the Exercise Sciences.
Robert Hautala
Western Oregon University
Monmouth, Oregon, USA
hautalar@wou.edu
I have been a teacher for over 30 years of students at every level from Kindergarten through graduate level. Currently an Assistant Professor at Western Oregon University, I began my career as an Elementary School Physical Educator, and maintain my interest in the role of movement in teaching and learning. My degrees are a Bachelor of Science from Springfield College, a Master of Arts in Education-Counseling from the University of Denver and an Ed.D. from the University of Northern Colorado. In 1992, I received the “Outstanding Teacher” Award at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. My current teaching/research interests are the use of brain-based and dynamic system models of learning in the classroom and the effect of skill sequencing on learning.