December 5, 2023
What Once Was Old is New Again - Extension Programming's Role in Engagement
There has been much discussion about what K-State 105, Next-Gen K-State and the One K-State concept means for K-State Research and Extension.
The goals of all these initiatives are rooted in the engaged university concept. In 1996, Ernest Boyer wrote extensively about the engaged university and the scholarship of discovery. For him, the concept of engagement is a two-way street of interactions or partnerships between “the academy and the outside world.”
His model of scholarship of discovery has four types:
- 1. Discovering knowledge.
- 2. Integrating knowledge.
- 3. Applying knowledge.
- 4. Scholarship of teaching.
His foundational model of engagement has been expanded upon by many scholars and used by universities to operationalize engagement.
His basic concepts are as true today as they were when he first penned them in the 1990’s. The application of knowledge moves us to ask: How can knowledge be responsibly applied to consequential problems? And how can we effectively teach that knowledge in a way that our audiences can use?
The answers lie in how we translate research into action. Boyer wrote that “the concept of engagement is a two-way street of interactions or partnerships between the academy and the outside world.” Extension has been and always will be an engaged process from needs assessment through implementation to evaluation. The extension service has always been the embodiment of the scholarship of discovery as we seek to improve lives, business and communities.
Yes, what once was old is new again as we reimagine our programming possibilities as the epicenter of the Next-Gen K-State.