How?

The following³ 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.⁴

• 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.

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 you are wholly responsible for the module 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 a 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 committees, 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 their 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, 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 and so on;
  
• 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 letter 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;
  
• sample recordings of representative classroom teaching.

What? | Why? | How? | When? | Tips on Maintenance

3. Adapted from B.M. Shore, et al. (1986). The Teaching Dossier: A Guide to its Preparation and Use. Ottawa: Canadian Association of University Teachers.
   
4. 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.