A professor is a scholar, and thus must continually strive to be a learned and erudite person who has profound knowledge of a particular subject. Because new developments occur in our academic subject areas, scholarship involves a life-long commitment to learning and intellectual growth. Professors promote scholarship in their students not only by sharing their knowledge, but perhaps more importantly by helping students learn how to learn, and by fostering a commitment to life-long intellectual growth.
Pedagogy is the art and science of teaching.
One important element of pedagogy is fostering the development of a high-functioning classroom culture. Such a culture is safe, lively, collaborative, supportive, nondiscriminatory, appropriately challenging, inclusive, and it promotes commitment. The quality of the classroom culture determines the extent to which a professor can promote scholarship. Effective pedagogy represents an adroit and flexible partnership between professor and student, and like any effective partnership it embodies the needs and the abilities of both parties. These expectations are addressed to the acquisition and application of knowledge in a subject area, to academically relevant skills such as communication or collaboration, and to appropriate demeanor in the classroom.