The Scholarship of Teaching: A Canadian Perspective with Examples

Abstract

Scholarship is the heart of academic work. Recognizing this the Carnegie report (Boyer, 1990) urges universities to extend the definition of scholarship to include application, teaching, and integration, as well as discovery, thereby making it possible to value all academic work. Although this inclusive view of scholarship holds promise, questions remain concerning the scholarship of teaching and how such scholarship differs from the activities which presently comprise teaching. How would scholarship be identified with teaching, enhance practices, and foster the development of teaching? These questions are addressed, examples given of teaching scholarship, and of institutional policies which support it. The enhancement of teaching, as it meets scholarship's criteria, is discussed.