Workshop Result: Environmental Engineering Faculty Learning Boyer's Model of Scholarship

Abstract

As part of the 2021 (delayed until 2022 due to COVID) biennial conference of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP), a preconference workshop on the topic of Ernst Boyer's four-pillar model of academic scholarship in higher education (i.e., discovery, integration, engagement, and the science of teaching and learning) was delivered to 32 workshop participants. The workshop had three objectives, namely: 1) raising awareness to Boyer's model of scholarship in higher education; 2) applying Boyer's model to evaluate participants' own work; and 3) leading institutional change by sharing Boyer's model back home. To achieve these objectives, four activities were undertaken, including: 1) pre-conference review of educational materials introducing Boyer's model (view a video and share on a discussion board); 2) on-site expert testimony clarifying Boyer's model (brief lectures by four speakers); 3) onsite hands-on, small-group work (employing career cartography to achieve Boyer's Model); and 4) post-conference sharing, expert-coaching, and peer-encouragement as workshop participants engaged back home. Assessment of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of workshop participants was undertaken using an on-site, anonymous, voluntary readiness assessment test (RAT) as well as an on-site, anonymous, voluntary comprehension assessment test (CAT0), administered immediately preceding and following the on-site portion of the workshop, respectively. To support the long-term adoption of Boyer's Model, the workshop moderator provided voluntary mentoring/coaching to workshop participants in the months following the completion of the on-site portion of the workshop. The value of this long-term mentoring/coaching was assessed through the collection of additional feedback identifying the Best, Worst, and ways to Improve the workshop. The purpose of this paper is to share: 1) workshop content and format that could be used by other conveners of similar workshops; 2) results of the analysis of the RAT, CAT0, and additional feedback; and 3) the authors' experience with mentoring/coaching workshop participants on Boyer's model of scholarship in higher education, which contribute to suggestions for an educational module that could be used to introduce Boyer's Model and career cartography to graduate students as well as early and mid-career faculty of environmental engineering.