gms | German Medical Science

Background: Traditionally, academics have been expected to fulfill a three-fold mission:

• knowledge creation (research),
• knowledge application (service/clinical practice) and
• knowledge dissemination (teaching).

Despite the fact that teaching the next generation of medical and healthcare professionals is of paramount importance to improving healthcare outcomes as well as advancing the development of these disciplines, teaching tends to take a back seat to research. While many would argue that research is a prerequisite of quality teaching and, hence, must take precedence over teaching, others would say that teaching needs to be prioritized. In an effort to correct this imbalance, Boyer [1] proposed redefining scholarly activity to include teaching. This resulted in the development of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning/SoTL as a new expression of scholarly activity. Contrary to Boyer’s original intent, however, SoTL evolved into yet another form of research, which must be differentiated from the practice of scholarly teaching [2].

Scholarly teaching/ST is defined as “teaching grounded in critical reflection using systematically and strategically gathered evidence, related and explained by well-reasoned theory and philosophical understanding, with the goal of maximizing learning through effective teaching.” [2]. Scholarly teachers “treat their classrooms and programs as a source of interesting questions about learning; find ways to explore and shed light on these questions; use this evidence in designing and refining new activities, assignments, and assessments; and share what they’ve found with colleagues who can comment, critique, and build on new insights.” [3]. As such, ST should be considered a scholarly activity on par with research. However, in order for perceptions within the scientific community to shift, scholarly teachers need to find ways of sharing and presenting their work with others.

Question: How can medical/healthcare professions teaching be made accessible to an audience of peers in a way that is comparable/functionally equivalent to how research is presented, without becoming research in and of itself?

Objectives: To discuss the merits of various oral and written approaches for making ST accessible to one’s peers for critical appraisal, thereby increasing its visibility as a valid form of academic scholarship.

Target group: Medical and healthcare professions educators interested in finding ways to engage with their peers to improve their teaching practices and to increase the visibility of their scholarly activity.

Preparation: Familiarize yourself with the recommended reading; pick one of the suggested approaches from the list; consider how you might present your teaching practice (or individual aspects thereof) to your peers using this approach; be prepared to discuss the merits and possible constraints of using this approach.