Dive Brief:
- University of Colorado education professor Scott McLeod writes on his personal blog about the benefits of faculty members blogging as a way to build citations, grow a following in a research area, and potentially, to make the case for tenure.
- McLeod, who has received thousands of views and hundreds of academic citations of his blog posts, suggests that digital publishing is light years ahead of traditional placement in journals for visibility and regard in the teaching profession.
- He argues that the lack of teachers publishing online does a disservice to research and industrial communities, and stagnates opportunities for academe to positively influence legislative impact.
Dive Insight:
In a digital age, it is increasingly important for faculty to function as teachers, researchers, social media correspondents and journalists to fully form their academic identities. These roles, which many academic executives do not require of all staff, help to boost the public and academic value of a department and a campus, particularly if a celebrity professor is born out of the practice.
Not every department rewards such activity favorably, but it should be the goal of every provost, dean or department chair to encourage public outreach as a matter of promotional consideration and contributions to the growth of the school or university.