Advancing the scholarship of teaching and learning: Reflective portfolio inquiry in higher education ‐ a case study of one institution

Abstract At a time of intense interest in third level teaching in the Ireland, the UK, and the US, this paper describes an effort underway at University College Cork (UCC) to foster a new kind of scholarship, a scholarship of teaching and learning. Although impelled by the announcement in 2001 of an award for Excellence in Teaching at UCC, the project was framed by ideas first outlined by Ernest Boyer (1990) in his provocative book, Scholarship Reconsidered. This paper describes how Boyer's concept of a ?scholarship of teaching? was implemented at UCC through a reflective portfolio inquiry process; presents the value and meanings staff say they find in engaging in a portfolio process; and, concludes with a consideration of the sometimes sobering institutional implications of this work. This case study of an institutions experience is one contribution to an evolving genre currently being invented: a new way of capturing and conveying the knowledge of teaching.; At a time of intense interest in third level teaching in the Ireland, the UK, and the US, this paper describes an effort underway at University College Cork (UCC) to foster a new kind of scholarship, a scholarship of teaching and learning. Although impelled by the announcement in 2001 of an award for Excellence in Teaching at UCC, the project was framed by ideas first outlined by Ernest Boyer (1990) in his provocative book, Scholarship Reconsidered. This paper describes how Boyer's concept of a ?scholarship of teaching? was implemented at UCC through a reflective portfolio inquiry process; presents the value and meanings staff say they find in engaging in a portfolio process; and, concludes with a consideration of the sometimes sobering institutional implications of this work. This case study of an institutions experience is one contribution to an evolving genre currently being invented: a new way of capturing and conveying the knowledge of teaching.