I think one of the perennial challenges we as online faculty face is ensuring that we bring a high level of scholarship to our classrooms daily. Given the many different demands placed upon us, taking the time to ensure our work, the interactions we have with students, and our presence in the classroom reflects a scholarly paradigm is challenging. I realize that our intentions are to provide a scholarly experience for our students. We have all spent a significant amount of time in institutions of higher education ensuring we have received scholarly credentials, yet the process of being a scholar within the classroom setting can be elusive. A crucial aspect of exhibiting scholarship within the classroom setting is to define the meaning of scholarly. Boyer (1990) defines scholarship, or at least my distillation of his work, as:                                                                

Clear Goals

Does the scholar state the basic purpose of his or her work clearly? Does the scholar define objectives that are realistic and achievable? Does the scholar identify important questions in the field?

Adequate Preparation

Does the scholar show an understanding of existing scholarship in the field? Does the scholar bring the necessary skills to his or her work? Does the scholar bring together the resources necessary to move the project forward?

Appropriate Methods

Does the scholar use methods appropriate to the goals? Does the scholar apply effectively the methods selected? Does the scholar modify procedures in response to changing circumstances?

Significant Results

Does the scholar achieve the goals? Does the scholar's work add consequentially to the field? Does the scholar's work open additional areas for further exploration?

Effective Presentation

Does the scholar use a suitable style and effective organization to present his or her work? Does the scholar use appropriate forums for communicating the work to its intended audiences? Does the scholar present his or her message with clarity and integrity?

Reflective Critique

Does the scholar critically evaluate his or her own work? Does the scholar bring an appropriate breadth of evidence to his or her critique? Does the scholar use evaluation to improve the quality of future work?

I am not sure this is a complete reflection of scholarship, however. Producing significant results may not be one of the cornerstones of scholarship as a researcher can produce statistical significance by altering the population sample or through many other quantitative shenanigans. Nonetheless, Boyer does provide a firm basis for the tenets of scholarship, and I believe we should exhibit these qualities within our classrooms. The issue is how we do this while concurrently meeting the expectations of posting, grading, and answering student quires in a timely manner. I look forward to reading your thoughts. Anything you would add or subtract to the abovementioned definition?   

Thanks,

Eric

Reference

Boyer, E.L. (1990). Scholarship Reconsidered Priorities of the Professoriate. Princeton, NJ: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.