Public engagement: Faculty lived experiences and perspectives underscore barriers and a changing culture in academia.

Autor: Calice MN; Department of Life Sciences Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America., Beets B; Department of Life Sciences Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America., Bao L; Department of Life Sciences Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America., Scheufele DA; Department of Life Sciences Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America.; Morgridge Institute for Research, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America., Freiling I; Department of Communication, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah., Brossard D; Department of Life Sciences Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America.; Morgridge Institute for Research, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America., Feinstein NW; Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America.; Robert E. and Jean F. Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America., Heisler L; Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America., Tangen T; Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America., Handelsman J; Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2022 Jun 15; Vol. 17 (6), pp. e0269949. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Jun 15 (Print Publication: 2022).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0269949
Abstrakt: The idea of faculty engaging in meaningful dialogue with different publics instead of simply communicating their research to interested audiences has gradually morphed from a novel concept to a mainstay within most parts of the academy. Given the wide variety of public engagement modalities, it may be unsurprising that we still lack a comprehensive and granular understanding of factors that influence faculty willingness to engage with public audiences. Those nuances are not always captured by quantitative surveys that rely on pre-determined categories to assess scholars' willingness to engage. While closed-ended categories are useful to examine which factors influence the willingness to engage more than others, it is unlikely that pre-determined categories comprehensively represent the range of factors that undermine or encourage engagement, including perceptual influences, institutional barriers, and scholars' lived experiences. To gain insight into these individual perspectives and lived experiences, we conducted focus group discussions with faculty members at a large midwestern land-grant university in the United States. Our findings provide context to previous studies of public engagement and suggest four themes for future research. These themes affirm the persistence of institutional barriers to engaging with the public, particularly the expectations in the promotion process for tenure-track faculty. However, we also find a perception that junior faculty and graduate students are challenging the status quo by introducing a new wave of attention to public engagement. This finding suggests a "trickle-up" effect through junior faculty and graduate students expecting institutional support for public engagement. Our findings highlight the need to consider how both top-down factors such as institutional expectations and bottom-up factors such as graduate student interest shape faculty members' decisions to participate in public engagement activities.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Databáze: MEDLINE
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