Evaluation research as academic scholarship

In nursing, the ability of educators to progress successfully toward promotion and tenure may be hampered by heavy teaching or practice workloads and an inability to complete the research mission of the institution. In a 1990 report, Boyer noted that the scholarship of teaching, integration, and application can be embraced in the same manner as the scholarship of discovery and research. One source of data that is often neglected as integral to scholarship is evaluation data that results from teaching, service, and practice. Such data can be reframed and thought of as a compelling avenue for scholarly activity. This article connects the evaluation process with the four types of scholarship outlined in the Boyer model and illustrates how the formal evaluation of a nursing curriculum can be linked to a rigorous scholarship assessment framework.