PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY REPORT
RE / FORMATION
Transforming a form into reflections on professional activities.
Site links filtered category:
TEACHING , CREATIVE ACTIVITY (aka SCHOLARSHIP), SERVICE
Categories defined below quoted from the Agnes Scott FAculty Handbook (18/19 faculty handbook p. 49-52)
(additional category called IDEAS is used for college considerations that don’t fall into the three critical groups.)
Definitions:
2.1 TEACHING
Liberal arts teaching is rooted in knowledge but is not limited to the transfer of information; in presenting the materials and methods of the discipline, it develops skills of critical and creative thinking, analysis, and argumentation. Its goal is to produce active learners who are able to think for themselves, to speak and listen well, to engage in debate, to question II. THE FACULTY–GOVERNANCE 2019-2020 Faculty Handbook 52 Return to Table of Contents received opinion, to solve problems separately and together, and to make connections between the classroom and the world outside. Teaching and learning are a communal activity. Successful teaching methods depend on the discipline, the nature and level of the course, the talents and skills of the teacher, and the students in the room. Teaching and learning can take place in a lecture, a group discussion, a lab session, a studio critique, a seminar meeting, or an individual conference. The teacher’s role as academic advisor extends the focus of the activity from specific subject matters to the overall shaping of the student’s college career. The college itself is a larger learning community whose members share responsibility for the intellectual and cultural vitality of the whole. In every setting, the teacher must also be an active learner who leads by example and who is responsive to students, conversant with current research in the discipline, and aware of relevant curricular and pedagogical issues.
2.2 SCHOLARSHIP (Creative Activity)
Scholarship fosters intellectual growth and vitality, provides knowledge and understanding, engages the issues of its day, grounds the scholar in the discipline, and underlies and inspires teaching and learning. The liberal arts setting encourages a broad view of scholarship, which recognizes the value of discipline-based and interdisciplinary research, creative effort, artistic performance, and pedagogical inquiry. Scholarship is a cooperative enterprise, engaging the scholar in interaction with the wider community. Scholarship is most valuable when it is shared, especially in a public forum, is subject to validation by fellow academics or other editors or critics, and demonstrates the principles of discovery, integration with existing knowledge, or application to questions of relevance to the classroom or the world. Liberal arts scholarship embraces opportunities for growth and transformation over the course of a faculty member’s career. In addition to more traditional forms of research, classroom interests may lead to research on pedagogy; conversations with colleagues may raise scholarly questions that cut across disciplinary boundaries; and we may reshape our scholarship to provide students first-hand experience in research or creative endeavors.
2.3 SERVICE
Through service, we create and maintain the community as a whole. Service to students, the department, the college, the profession, and the broader community is essential to the day-today work of the college and to the shaping of an institution that values diverse perspectives and fosters a continuing exchange of ideas. Faculty participation in governance, in studentand staff-related events and activities, and in the wide array of opportunities available both on and off campus helps make the college a place where the values of inquiry, learning, and integrity are lived. In short, we view service as our duty as community members. Service models the link between liberal education and a deeper and more inclusive kind of citizenship, providing the infrastructure of the teaching and scholarship that drives the college, and cultivating a compassionate imagination. In exercising these service roles, we often discover the most about ourselves and how our profession operates, and find opportunities for professional growth and human connection. When faculty members from different disciplines work side by side to solve a wide variety of problems, they embody the principles of cooperation and engaged participation that will enable our students to become active citizens and leaders.
Faculty members are evaluated on the basis of their teaching, scholarship, and service, with the highest priority given to teaching. The review process emphasizes the importance of growth at all stages of the career and considers the needs of the department and the college and the strengths and interests of the individual faculty member.
