Is All Scholarship Equally Valued? Fusion of Horizons on the Definition and Status of Scholarship.

It has been almost twenty years since the inclusive concept of scholarship was introduced by Boyer in "Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the professoriate" (1990). At the time, Boyer relabeled traditional research as the scholarship of discovery and introduced three other scholarships: application, teaching and service. His intention was to have all work done by academics valued equally. Using a hermeneutic approach, an understanding of the following questions is shared. What are the current definitions of scholarship and are all the types of scholarship equally valued and accepted? The history and context of interpretation used to answer these questions is presented. It is recognized that the scholarship of teaching is contested and has become the "other". Also, the definition of scholarship requires dissemination and it is argued that a variety of methods of dissemination need to be considered ranging from "proximal plus one" to peer reviewed journals and that each has a valid purpose. The wisdom of dividing scholarship into categories is questioned and faculty of higher education are asked to consider if this is a benefit or hindrance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]