The
Meta-Profession Project
|
The
Meta-Profession Project |
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Purpose of the Project
The purpose of the Meta-Profession Project is to promote a better understanding of the full complexity and variety of higher education faculty work. Such an understanding can contribute to the development of comprehensive faculty evaluation systems, the design of professional growth and development programs, and the establishment of academic policies and procedures that more fully support faculty in the full range of their diverse professional duties and responsibilities. Additionally, the Meta-Profession project aims to provide an over-arching model for both promoting research on faculty work and providing a convenient rubric for categorizing extant research in the field.
There are six main sections to this web site:
The Meta-Profession Concept [Return to Top]
The Meta-Profession project derives from a conceptualization of the professoriate as practicing a 'meta' profession. That is, a college professor must perform at a professional level a variety of roles that require expertise and skills in areas that often extend beyond the faculty member's specific area of scholarly expertise or "Base Profession". Thus, the skill sets required by faculty to perform in these roles are divided into two general categories: Base Profession Skills and the additional Meta-Profession Skills. These skill sets are delineated in a series of matrices which show the interaction between a specific role (e.g., teaching, scholarly/creative activities, service, or administration) and the skills required by the work involved in carrying out that role. These matrices may be accessed via the links in the Exploring the Meta-Profession Model section below.
Exploring the Meta-Profession Model [Return to Top]
Visitors to this site are invited to explore the various matrices that define and delineate the Meta-Professional model of faculty work. The matrices shown below represent a work in progress thus every cell may not yet be active.
To explore the model click on any term or interaction cell of interest in a matrix. Please note that the interaction cells are of different colors. These colors represent an estimate of the frequency with which a specific skill set is used in the performance of the faculty work represented by the cell. See the LEGEND at the left side of the matrix for the meaning of each color.
The Development of the Meta-Professional Model [Return to Top]
A copy of any of the papers listed below may be downloaded by simply clicking on its title. |
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| 1995 | The meta-profession
concept has been a featured part of the CEDA workshop on Developing a Comprehensive
Faculty Evaluation System for many years. However, the first elements of
the basic meta-profession model were published in the 1995 edition the book
Developing
a Comprehensive Faculty Evaluation System (Raoul A. Arreola,
Jossey-Bass) in defining the role of teaching for evaluative purposes.
In 2006 the third edition of the book was published and may be ordered from
the
publisher's web site. |
| 2000 | In the Fall of 2000
Dr. Arreola elaborated on his concept in an interview entitled "Higher
Education's Meta-Profession" in The Department Chair (Vol. 11,
No. 2). |
| 2001 | An expanded version
of the Meta-Profession model was presented in 2001 at the 9th Annual Faculty
Roles and Rewards Conference of the American Association for Higher Education
(AAHE) in a paper by Raoul A. Arreola, Lawrence M. Aleamoni, and Michael
Theall entitled "College
Teaching as a Meta-Profession: Reconceptualizing the Scholarship of Teaching
and Learning." |
| 2001 | In 2001 Michael Theall presented a paper (co-authored with Raoul A. Arreola) at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) which described the use of the metaprofession model in defining the professoriat entitled Beyond the Scholarship of teaching: searhing for a unifying metaphor for the college teaching profession. |
| 2002 | In 2002 Dr. Theall
received the McKeachie Career Achievement Award from the AERA Special Interest
Group on Faculty Evaluation and Development. Dr. Theall's keynote address,
entitled "Leadership
in faculty evaluation and development: some thoughts on why and how the
meta-profession can control its own destiny" focused on
the leadership implications of the meta-profession model. |
| 2003 | A more completely developed
version of the model was presented at the 2003 Annual Meeting of AERA in
a paper by Raoul A. Arreola, Michael Theall, and Lawrence M. Aleamoni entitled
"Beyond
Scholarship: Recognizing the Multiple Roles of the Professoriate."
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| 2004 | A
further development and application of portions of the meta-profession model
was presented at the 2004 Annual Meeting of AERA in a paper by Raoul A.
Arreola entitled "Scholarship
Re-Conceptualized: An Evaluative Perspective."
To download a PDF version of the slide presentation accompanying this paper
click HERE.
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| 2009 | Qualitatively Excavating below the Quantitative Surface: An action-oriented, Case-based application of the Meta-professional Model. Paper presented at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the AERA. Paper by Michael Theall, Bonnie Mullinix, and Raoul A. Arreola. |
ADDITIONAL RELATED PAPERS OF INTEREST [Return to Top] |
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| 2005a | Valid
Faculty Evaluation Data: Are there any? Symposium
presented at the 2005 Annual Meeting of the AERA. To download the entire
series of papers presented at this symposium including those by (Raoul A.
Arreola and Michael Theall) click HERE.
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| 2005b | Crossing
over to the Dark Side: Translating Research in Faculty Evaluation into Academic
Policy and Practice Dr. Keynote address by Raoul A. Arreola
when presented with McKeachie Career Achievement Award by the Special Interest
Group on Faculty Evaluation and Development of the American Educational
Research Association at its 2005 meeting in Montreal. This address further
explores the application of the metaprofessional model as an academic adminstrative
tool in promoting and evaluating professional growth and performance.
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| 2005c | The Monster at the Foot of the Bed: Surviving the Challenge of Market Place Forces on Higher Education (2005, in To Improve the Academy, Vol 24, pp 15-28) - explores the effect on higher education of the paradigm shift caused by the impact of technology on society. Portions of this article provide specific applications of the meta-profession model in addressing the changes the Academy may wish to make in response to the paradigm shift. |
Application of the Meta-Profession Model [Return to Top]
The first practical application of the metaprofessional model occurred in August of 2004. Based on the work cited above, Dr. Arreola was invited to develop and conduct a seminar for the faculty of the Florida State University School of Nursing. The objective of the seminar was to develop a plan for promoting the development, support, and recognition of key skills and competencies required for Nurse Education excellence at Florida State University. Based on both the National League of Nursing’s published statement of the 8 Core Competencies of Nurse Educators and application of the meta-professional model presented here, the faculty developed a set of competency statements and standards designed to meet their specific objectives. The Final Report resulting from this work may be downloaded here.
An Invitation to Contribute to the Model [Return to Top]
We invite members of the
professoriate to contribute to the full development of the Meta-Professional
model. As can be seen by exploring each of the matrices above, considerable
information remains to be gathered and developed within the various cells of
each matrix. The clarification of definitions, the identification of available
evaluative and training resources, as well as the citation of relevant research
studies remains a major undertaking. In addition, policy implications of the
issues defined by the interaction of (ROLE) X (SKILL SET) interactions remains
to be discussed. If you would like to contribute to the development of the Meta-Profession
matrices we invite you to do so by clicking HERE.
The Authors [Return to Top]
The authors of the meta-profession model may be contacted by e-mail by simply clicking on thier names.
| The University of Tennessee Health Science Center |
Youngstown State University |
The University of Arizona |
The
Teaching, Learning, and Technology Group |