What

A teaching portfolio documents evidence of teaching-related activities, materials, reflections and successes to:

• serve as a basis for tenure and/or promotion decisions;
• assist in continuing professional development.

Some have argued that both positive and negative evidence should be documented. This is particularly valid for diagnostic and improvement purposes, but a case may also be made for inclusion of 'failures' even for appraisal purposes. The data gains in authenticity by showing your willingness to risk failure when experimenting with teaching methods and by indicating what lessons you have learnt from your failures.

Why

While academics pay a good deal of attention to documenting their research activities, such documentation is generally not extended to their teaching activities. The reward system may have contributed to this. But increasingly, serious practitioners have recognised the need to correct this imbalance. Among other things, building a teaching portfolio will help to:

• stimulate and intensify interest in innovation and improvement in teaching (keeping a record will encourage follow-through and assessment of attempts at instructional innovation);
• formalise and consolidate teaching activities;
• create a useful 'database' that can be assessed by colleagues as well as those outside the community;
• reduce the potential pressure from without to produce evidence of performance (with the growing concern with accountability and quality assurance, more systematic presentation of evidence of effective te 2 September, 2005

  Quality is no longer seen as a philosophical concept; it is now being defined and measured, largely by those who fund the system rather than by those within it... Those in the system who now cry at this pain, might well reflect that with the wisdom of hindsight, how sensible it would have been to demonstrate our ability to make hard-edged judgments at our own institutional level, rather than armchair statements about the impossibility of making such judgments.

  (Tom Schuller (Ed). (1991).'Quality in Higher Education'. The Future of Higher Education. pp. 91-99. Refers to the UK experience.)

How

The following² may be helpful in providing some guidelines in creating and maintaining a teaching portfolio. A simple and practical organisation might include:

• Table of contents
  For purposes of evaluation, systematic itemising and labelling with section headings will help the appraisal process.
• Summary
  The question of how much to include is not easily answered.

  Each professor must set the balance scale between 'too much' and 'not enough' information. However, for most professors, six to eight pages plus supporting appendix material is sufficient... In deciding what to include, it is best not to engage in overkill... The best examples should be chosen for the portfolio and evaluators informed that additional evidence is available upon request. ³

  Whatever the length, items will include information about:

  • your teaching philosophy and goals;
  • your duties and responsibilities;
  • your achievements;
  • evaluations you have received;
  • other relevant activities.
• Evidence
  A systematic and clearly labelled set of documents will be helpful to the reviewer.

²  Adapted from B.M. Shore, et al. (1986). The Teaching Dossier: A Guide to its Preparation and Use. Ottawa: Canadian Association of University Teachers.

³  C. O'Neil & A. Wright. (1991). Recording Teaching Accomplishment: A Dalhousie Guide to the Teaching Dossier. Halifax, NS: Office of Instructional Development and Technology, Dalhousie University.

On teaching philosophy/goals

A teaching portfolio can provide a concise statement of personal stand regarding the purpose and principles of teaching and the educational goals you intend to achieve. This could-indeed, should-include references to action plans for achieving these goals, e.g. highlight major revisions in course design and instructional materials. Anticipated constraints could also be mentioned to provide a perspective that is grounded in reality.

On duties and responsibilities

There often exists among colleagues an informal agreement concerning teaching responsibilities and criteria. The first task is to summarise these understandings in writing. Points covered might include the types of approaches to courses to be taught, the progress expected in students and how they are to be evaluated. Where such arrangements do not exist, there is greater likelihood of arbitrary and inconsistent evaluation criteria. Where there is no informal understanding, the individual should include a brief statement of his/her own assumptions concerning responsibilities and obligations.

In preparing the summary of the work accomplished, you may wish to include the following.

• Your teaching load (plus percentage of appointment devoted to teaching, if stipulated).
• Modules recently and currently taught: syllabus, module descriptions, aims/objectives, credit hours and enrolments, degree of involvement (indicate whether wholly responsible or percentage if co-teaching).
• Consultation with/supervision of students.
• Special projects, if any (e.g. organisation of archaeological expeditions and other study-related activities not incorporated as standard part of module).
• Instructional innovations (e.g. use of IT or innovative strategies for teaching, activities for helping students develop learning/thinking skills, revision of syllabi/module content, inter-department/institution collaborative learning).
• Research (e.g. action research on classroom transactions, investigations into new pedagogies).
• Professional development (e.g. reflecting on teaching, reading literature about teaching/learning, attending/conducting teaching-related workshops or seminars, conferences and other learned meetings).
• Service to the university in teaching-related activities (e.g. serving on teaching committee, serving as advisor to student societies, giving talks to students within and outside the university).
• Help given to colleagues (e.g. mentoring new/inexperienced faculty).
• Contributing to, or editing, teaching-related publications.
• Projected teaching initiatives in the immediate future.

On achievements

These could include:

• student successes (e.g. student performance in examinations and workplace attachments, number of graduate students successfully completing degree);
• recognition gained for instructional materials (e.g. textbooks, software, adoption by other institutions);
• contributions to the scholarship of teaching (e.g. reflected in papers in journals, presentations and representation at conferences);
• teaching awards, grants and other honours for teaching achievement received either within or outside the institution (e.g. invitation to speak at international conferences).

On evaluation

The 'Evaluation' section in a portfolio should consist chiefly of data summarised from whatever methods for evaluating teaching are used-not only evaluation by students. The data themselves may be attached in exhibits or offered as available on request. Some faculty members may also wish to include explanations or rejoinders for evaluations which they believe to be potentially misleading. The different materials that can be included are as follows.

• Module folder/s containing syllabus, module aims/objectives, reading list, assignments, graded essays with explanation for grade given, examination questions, etc.

• Samples of students' essays, creative work, project and fieldwork reports.

• Self-evaluation (e.g. record of efforts at self-evaluation and resultant changes).

• Student evaluations (e.g. the formal end-of-module feedback, interviews with students, findings from 'classroom research').

• Peer evaluation, either 'official' peer reviews or the less formal letters of recommendations from colleagues.

• A statement from the Head of Department stating/evaluating teaching contribution to the department.

• Letters from students, alumni, and employers of alumni.

• Teaching awards.

• Record of 'training plan' and the teaching/learning workshops and other activities participated in.

• Video recording of representative classroom teaching.

When

In an age of growing paperwork, there may be some reluctance to add to it. Besides, it has been argued that academics are not trained stock-takers and their time is better spent in engaging stimulating research and doing rather than documenting the teaching. However, there are counter-arguments. For instance, academia must keep pace with the practices and professionalism of other enterprises. And documentation is not mere pen-pushing; systematising the account of one's teaching does help to focus and sustain efforts at improving teaching. Just as a writer finds keeping a notebook or journal useful, so teachers may find that keeping a teaching portfolio supports intellectual as well as professional growth.

Bear in mind too that for it to be truly meaningful, a teaching portfolio must be responsive to and document changes over time. Regular updating is important. This is reasonably easy with a word processor, and if items relating to teaching are routinely deposited into a file. Undeniably some effort is involved, but feedback from those who have adopted the teaching portfolio is highly positive. As such the creating and maintaining of a teaching portfolio is well worth thinking seriously about, and acting upon.

Tips on Maintenance

Do use a word processing system

Using a popular package, preferably one most commonly used in your department, greatly facilitates maintenance. If some clerical help can be enlisted, the task will obviously be much easier.

Do make frequent updates

Think of the teaching portfolio as a 'living document' that evolves and accommodates changes over time. Make entries of items before you forget them and collect support data together in a box file or folder. 'Upgrade' support evidence, replacing with more current/'stronger' material as and when they become available.

Do involve a colleague

Someone who is informed about your discipline and department will be very helpful in determining the credibility of your portfolio. A colleague from another department/faculty can also be useful in providing a more global-and possibly more objective-perspective.

Do have it peer reviewed

Better than having a colleague's informal input, have it more formally peer reviewed. Research evidence is generally peer reviewed before it is presented to the Tenure and Promotions Committee. If teaching portfolios are to have similar robustness as data and enjoy the same credibility as a list of publications, they too should be subjected to the same rigour and be painstakingly peer reviewed to help weed out the weaker evidence. Otherwise, the Committee, pressured by lack of time and lack of access to primary sources of evidence such as the classrooms, students and their assignments, will not regard the evidence with the same degree of confidence.

Do keep in mind the criteria

The value system that underpins the peer review of modules ( see previous section ) should inform the activities documented in the portfolio. Cross-referencing to these values and explanations as to how the evidence embodies the values will highlight the value of the evidence. Increasingly, it is felt that there should be clear definition of standards that can be used as a measure of competence for teachers in higher education. This, together with faculty development and continuing professional education, is consistent with professionalising teaching.

Selected Bibliography

Edgerton, R., Hutchings, P. & Quinlan, K. (1991). The Teaching Portfolio: Capturing the Scholarship in Teaching. Washington DC: American Association for Higher Education.

O'Neil, C. & Wright, A. (1992). Recording Teaching Accomplishment: A Dalhousie Guide to Teaching Dossier. Halifax, NS: Office of Instructional Development and Technology, Dalhousie University.

Seldin, Peter. (1991). The Teaching Portfolio: A Practical Guide to Improved Performance and Promotion. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing Company, Inc.

Shores, B.M. (1986). The Teaching Dossier: A Guide to its Preparation and Use. Ottawa: Canadian Association of University Teachers.

References

NUS Teaching Awards website provides a set of helpful pointers on the Preparation of a Teaching Portfolio.