“One of the questions we get asked quite frequently is what scholarship are you contributing to the field. [Academics] are very used to the tenure and promotion process that emphasizes scholarly productivity and that’s spilling over into our area as distance education is mainstreamed” So says Scott Howell, director of evening classes at Brigham Young University. He’s pointing to a fact that many distance educators are finding themselves dealing with. More and more, they’re expected to be scholars as well as administrators, to contribute to the academic discourse on distance education. “The need for involvement in academic research by distance education administrators today, as contrasted to even five years ago, has seen a dramatic increase,” Howell says.