Tips on Maintenance

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.

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 or ‘stronger’ material as and when they become available.

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.

Have your portfolio peer reviewed

Better than having a colleague’s informal input, have your portfolio 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, it too should be subjected to the same rigour and be painstakingly peer reviewed to help weed out the weaker evidence and improve the validity. Otherwise, the Committee, pressured by lack of time and 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.

Keep the criteria in mind

The value system that underpins the peer review of modules 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.

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