28, no. 3 (Spring 1997): 50-51
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Guidelines for Evaluating Computer-Related Work in the Modern Languages
MLA Committee on Computers and Emerging Technologies in Teaching and Research
The Statement on Computer Support (see pp. 51–52), adopted by the Modern Language Association in 1993, highlights the importance of new electronic technologies for the humanities and provides the basis for departmental and institutional support of modern language faculty members who use such technologies and integrate them into their work. As the statement notes, “Generating, gathering, and analyzing texts electronically is becoming a necessity for all education, especially for the contributions made by the humanities.” As a supplement to the 1993 statement, the following guidelines address means of evaluating the scholarship, teaching, and service of faculty members who study, develop, and use electronic technologies in their work.
Because the role of computer technologies in the study of language, literature, and writing is evolving, departments wishing to hire and retain faculty members centrally concerned with the application of these emerging technologies to the humanities need to consider the tasks, support, and evaluative procedures involved. And faculty members who pursue computer-related work as part of their formal assignments should be prepared to make explicit the results, theoretical basis, and intellectual rigor of their work, as well as its relevance to the discipline. The following guidelines, which deal with both the hiring and promotion processes, are designed to help departments and faculty members build productive working relations, effective evaluation procedures, and means of disseminating the results of computer-related work.
Guidelines for Search Committees and Job Candidates
When departments seek candidates with computer expertise or when candidates wish to have such work considered an important part of their positions, there should be an initial understanding of the recognition given to computer-related work and of what electronic facilities are available or planned.
Departments should ensure that computer-related work can be evaluated within their tenure and promotion procedures. In particular, search committees should be prepared to discuss the following with all candidates:
- how the department evaluates research and publication in computers and the humanities,
- what importance is attached to the development of new software and what criteria are used to evaluate such software,
- what credit is given for the integration of electronic technologies into courses,
- what recognition is given to professional activities relating to computing, and
- what criteria are used to evaluate faculty members who provide computing support to colleagues, staff, and students.
As candidates discuss the teaching, scholarship, and service responsibilities of an academic position, it is important that they ask questions, such as the following, about the role of electronic technologies in the department and the university: Are technical support staff members available to the department's faculty members and students? Does the department plan to undertake initiatives in the use of electronic technologies? What access do faculty members and students have to computer facilities and resources?
Guidelines for Reappointment, Tenure, and Promotion Reviews
Computer-related work, like other forms of scholarship, teaching, and service, should be evaluated as an integral part of a faculty member's dossier, as specified in an institution's guidelines for reappointment, promotion, and tenure. Faculty members are responsible for making a case for the value of their projects, articulating the intellectual assumptions underlying their work, and documenting their time and effort. In particular, faculty members expecting recognition for computer-related work should ensure that their projects remain compatible with departmental needs, as well as with criteria for reappointment, tenure, and promotion. Periodic reviews provide an opportunity to assess the match between a faculty member's scholarly and pedagogical development and the department's needs and expectations.
Because appropriate roles for computer technology in the study of language, literature, and writing are still emerging, faculty members should be prepared to explain
- What theory informs their work,
- Why their work is useful to the discipline, and
- the evidence of rigor and intellectual content in their work.
Documentation of projects might include internal or external funding, awards and professional recognition, and reviews and citations of work either in print or in electronic journals.
For subsequent evaluation of professional service, faculty members should maintain a record of the duties involved in activities such as organizing and managing a lab facility, increasing the meaningful use of electronic media in instruction, training student aides or faculty colleagues, and moderating an electronic discussion group.
Pedagogy and scholarship involving technology often entail collaborative or interdisciplinary work. Departments need to find appropriate ways to evaluate the faculty member's role in such work. This process may include finding evaluators with expertise in both specific disciplines and computer technology; these experts are best qualified to evaluate and translate accomplishments in a rapidly changing field. Sources that may help departments choose appropriate evaluators include the editorial boards of computer-related journals (e.g., CALICO Journal, Computers and the Humanities, Computers and Composition , Hypermedia), the committees focusing on electronic technologies in appropriate scholarly and professional organizations (e.g., the MLA, CCCC, ACTFL, the AATs, NCTE), the courseware review sections of modern language journals (e.g., CALICO Journal, Computers and the Humanities, Computers and Composition, Foreign Language Annals, French Review, Hispania, IALL Journal, IDEAL: Issues and Developments in English and Applied Linguistics, Language Learning Journal, Literary and Linguistic Computing , the Northeast Conference Newsletter , the Institute for Academic Technology's Newsletter and Research Reports, TESOL Journal, Tongues Untied, Unterrichtspraxis), Humanities Computing Yearbook (Oxford UP), and the latest edition of the CALICO Resource Guide (Durham: CALICO) .
© 1997 by the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages. All Rights Reserved.
ADFL Bulletin 28, no. 3 (Spring 1997): 50-51 |
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