Teaching Portfolios

Teaching Portfolio Guidelines

An effective teaching portfolio identifies an individual’s instructional contributions over the relevant time period (the kinds and numbers of contributions), and will include evaluative evidence of the quality of the contributions.

An effective teaching portfolio is seven to ten pages long and requires less than a day to construct. The seven to ten pages should consist of a narrative that is broken down into sections that reflect the different components. Each component will then have a tab in the appendices where supporting evidence is to be placed. A portfolio should be treated as a scholarly work—a thesis with support.

Typical Components of a Teaching Portfolio

The following is a list of typical components and related supporting evidence that might be included in a teaching portfolio. This list is comprehensive and is intended as examples only. Individual departments should make their own determinations regarding necessary and acceptable portfolio content. Because some of the components overlap, certain examples of evidence have been appropriately placed in more than one area.

1. Teaching Philosophy: In one page, the faculty member explains, "This is how I teach, and here are my reasons for doing so." This section is primarily a part of the narrative and should not require a tab in the appendices.
2. Classroom Teaching: The purpose of this component is to describe and document basic classroom teaching responsibilities. Supporting evidence might include the following:
• List of course titles and numbers, unit values or credits, and enrollments with brief elaboration of responsibilities
• List of course materials prepared for students
• Information on teacher's availability to and interactions with students outside of class
• Information on research conducted on one's own teaching
• Record of participation in seminars, workshop, and professional meetings that are focused on instruction and learning
• Record of course, curriculum, software, etc. development
3. Teaching outside the Classroom: The purpose of this component is to describe and document teaching responsibilities outside the context of the classroom. Supporting evidence might include the following:
• Summary of interactions/research with undergraduate students
• Summary of interactions/research with graduate students
• Summary of interactions with honors students
• Description of curriculum/program development
• Record of mentoring activities
4. Teaching Effectiveness/Student Learning: The purpose of this component is to describe and document teaching effectiveness, as shown through student learning. Supporting evidence might include the following:
• A brief summary of student evaluations (including some written comments)
• A written peer review report or comments from a colleague-either one who teaches the same course or one who teaches a course at the next level who can attest to the preparedness of students. See link to peer review.
• Pre- and post-scores on tests (standardized and other)
• A wide range of student work-essays, papers, exams, creative work, projects, lab reports, field-work reports, publications, etc.-from both high- and low-achieving students, that includes instructor feedback
• Evidence of effective supervision of theses
• Documented evidence of the effect of courses on student career choices and employment
5. Professional Development Activities: The purpose of this component is to describe and document professional development activities undertaken. Supporting evidence might include the following:
• A list of workshops, seminars, etc. attended
• New courses developed
• New methods employed in the classroom
• Preparation of new materials or textbooks
6. Contributions to the Teaching Institution or Profession: The purpose of this component is to describe and document creative contributions made to the teaching institution or profession. Supporting evidence might include the following:
• Publications, papers, or reviews
• Committees
• Development of new course work and/or software and evidence of use and effectiveness
• Textbook development and evidence of use and effectiveness
• Curriculum revisions
• Research and/or evaluation of instructional effectiveness on student learning and/or development
• Presentation of research findings at local, state and national conferences
• Editing a professional journal on teaching and/or learning
• Organizing and/or hosting a conference or paper sessions on teaching and/or learning
• Descriptions of peer reviews or other assistance to colleagues
• Workshops on teaching
7. Evidence of an Ongoing Plan for Instructional Improvement - Supporting evidence might include the following:
• Description of active projects/efforts to improve one's instructional effectiveness
• Summary of research-based readings related to teaching, knowing and learning, followed by an explanation of how this information has been implemented and/or influenced the faculty member's instruction
• Record of course and/or curriculum refinement that is based on data of its effectiveness on student understanding, learning, or development
• Written reflections of teaching effectiveness based on data and/or feedback from colleagues
8. Additional Teaching Contributions not Covered in above Topics

Using Portfolios in Evaluation

An effective teaching portfolio includes the faculty member's observations about his or her own teaching. A crucial part of the portfolio is the evidence that the faculty member provides to support and document the self-evaluations. Although the faculty member may spend a day constructing a teaching portfolio, a chair or personnel committee can easily read a portfolio in fifteen minutes.