August 19, 2005

Release                                                                                  

Research Committee Proposes Pilot Program

Focusing on Scholarship of Practice and Applied Research

Greenville, NC – Dr. Charles Thompson will present plans for the creation of a Center for the Scholarship of Practice and Applied Research in Education (CSPARE) to College of Education faculty; Monday, August 22, 2005 at 10:30 a.m. in the Willis Building auditorium.

The purpose of CSPARE is to support scholarship of practice and applied research by COE faculty and those with whom they collaborate. CSPARE will initiate and support research and other scholarship with College of Education faculty, and with collaboration of faculty from other units of ECU, other universities, and practitioners in K-12 and higher education settings.  It will promote and support the analysis of teaching, administration and other practice in both K-12 and higher education, promote and support applied research in education, and reduce impediments to the scholarship of practice and applied research at ECU.

ECU has a long tradition of preparing teachers, administrators, counselors, and other educational practitioners and of service to schools and other educational institutions throughout the region.  East Carolina University – founded as East Carolina Teachers College -- owes its very existence to the function of preparing new educators.  In recent years, ECU has become a leader in “distance education” – particularly in the preparation and continuing education of educators via various technology-based channels, including interactive two-way video and audio, as well as web-based and other online instruction. Throughout its history, ECU’s faculty have also conducted various forms of research into teaching, learning, administration, and other aspects of education.

To continue these efforts, the Research Committee of the College of Education proposed creation of a Center for the Scholarship of Practice and Applied Research in Education (CSPARE). “Scholarship of practice,” refers to such faculty members’ reflection on their own curricular and instructional practice.  Such reflective examination may be designed simply to illuminate and improve one’s own teaching practice, or may aim to create more generalizable knowledge. 

There are an ambitious set of goals and milestones set for the first six months of operation. The pilot program enables the College of Education to further determine the scope and direction of CSPARE as capabilities are expanded into the future. 

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For more information, contact John Stiles, CSPARE, at 252-328-5651 or Jessica W. Davenport, Director of Communications, College of Education at 252-328-2179.