Ambo University

A teaching portfolio preparation guideline

Teaching portfolio

A teaching portfolio is a means to document, reflect upon, and improve your teaching and your
students' learning. It illustrates your philosophy of teaching and your overall approach to
teaching and professional development. The process of developing your portfolio will help you
to develop and articulate your core values of teaching and learning and support the practice of
these values with evidence. You can use it to examine what you have learned through both
personal experience and professional development activities, and thereby to develop and analyze
more effective approaches to your teaching. It is a personal record of your teaching experience
and your reflective practice over your career (Lyons, 2002). Hence, your teaching portfolio will
also be among your most valuable resources, for demonstrating your teaching abilities and
accomplishments to other people. According to Paul (2004) your teaching portfolio will allow
you to:
• Document teaching accomplishments within your discipline;
e Take ownership of your development in teaching and learning;

• Track how you integrate what you learn in professional development activities into your
teaching;
;, Demonstrate your successes in promoting learning by all students;
o Present your contributions to improved student learning through teaching-as-research I;
• Help generate meaningful change through collaboration with your colleagues (P2).

Purpose of teaching portfolio

Mues and Sorcinelli (iOOO) state that teaching portfolio have two particular purposes; 1) a
developmental process for reflecting on and improving one's teaching; and 2) an evaluative
product for personnel decisions such as tenure, promotion, or a teaching award. It' is a process
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which encourages teachers to think about their teaching and to reflect on their a proach to

- Teaching-as-research involves the deliberate, systematic, and reflective use of research methods to develop and implement teaching practices
that advance the learning experiences and learning outcomes of students and teachers.

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teaching and how this may have evolved over time. Explaining the reasons for preparing a
teaching portfolio, Seldin (2004) listed out the following:
" to gather and present hard evidence and specific data about teaching effectiveness to
promotion committees;
G to provide the needed structure for self reflection about areas of teaching that may
need improvement;
• to foster an academic environment where discussion about teaching practices become
the norm;
G to apply for teaching awards;
~ to present as part of documentation submitted for a job search;

" to share teaching expertise and experience with new faculty members.

Outline for teaching portfolio

While teaching portfolio is unique to each teacher, the following five section headings should
help direct you in terms of what to include, and should provide a helpful framework within
which to document and reflect on your teaching. A typical teaching portfolio might include:
1. Introduction: Statement of teaching philosophy

The teaching philosophy is a statement about how you view teaching and your personal
orientation towards teaching and learning within your academic discipline. In effect, this is the
part of your portfolio where you present your ideological stance on teaching, a brief statement
about your views in relation to your assumptions, attitudes and expectations toward your
responsibilities and obligations as a teacher and how this impacts on your approach to teaching ..
The purpose of this statement of philosophy is to describe the individual's general approach to
teaching and learning and their changes in response to changing conditions. It could include:
e How the individual views the teacher's role in a range of teaching situations and in
general.

o How the teaching methods typically used reflect that interpretation of the teacher's role.
o How the teaching methods have been modified in response to changes in students, course
materials, the instructor's situation, curriculum changes, and other mitigating factors.

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0' Farrell (2007) highlights a number of questions to reflect on when considering your personal
philosophy:
• What are your goals as a teacher?
e What demonstrates your desire to grow as a teacher?
G What are the opportunities and constraints under which you learn and others
learn?
• Has your approach to teaching changed?
• What role do your students play in the classroom (listeners, participants etc?)
• What teaching practices do you use and prefer? Why?
This statement should be no longer than 2 pages in length so it is important to distil your beliefs
about teaching down to their essence. As your teaching philosophy is a personal statement, it can
be presented in the first person. It is also a good idea to elucidate at this point how long you have
taught for, and your specific context of teaching e.g. the discipline within which you teach. As
you develop your teaching portfolio, it useful to think about how your teaching philosophy is
reflected in your practices, and how you are illustrating that.

Example of statements of teaching philosophy

Teaching has been a major part of my life since 1988. My philosophy of teaching is
learner-centred and emphasizes the importance of the learner's active participation in
the construction of meaning. I believe we need to remember that our students are
individuals, bringing with them a diverse range of experiences, interests and abilities,
which will inform their learning. In this context the role of the teacher is very much one
of providing an environment where the students can contribute, interact and experiment
while building their own knowledge from materials provided by the teacher or by other
students or located by themselves. A necessary element in this learning environment is
that the students must feel at ease, have fun, and be given the opportunity to develop
good cooperative learning relationships with each other and also with the teacher.

2. Teaching performance and effectiveness

Highlight and discuss the key disciplines you teach and describe your delivery strategies,
evaluation of the quality of teaching and how you would describe the teacher/class relationship.
• Versatility, volume and level of teaching

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 It is a good idea to clearly outline your teaching roles and responsibilities,
including course/module and whether they are undergraduate or
postgraduate etc.
e Range of delivery strategies/Quality of delivery
Q How do you deliver your modules? Why do you elect to use this strategy, and
how does it impact on student learning?
o How do you evaluate and reflect on whether these strategies have been
successful?
o How do you develop and deliver an effective learning expenence for your
students?
~ Discuss how you would incorporate your philosophy of teaching and learning into
courses you plan to teach.
iI Teacher/class relationship
• What sort of classroom dynamic do you aim to develop? How and why do you do
this, and what indications do you have that you have been successful?

e Teaching materials
Ii> What is the rationale behind the materials you use in class?

3. Assessment and examination of student learning

Describe your approach to assessment and discuss any innovative assessment strategies or
materials which you have developed:

• Assessment strategies
o What range of specific assessment strategies do you use? How do these
strategies complement the learning outcomes of your module or course?
What impact does assessment have on your students? How do you provide
feedback for your students?

• Innovation in assessment
o Have you designed new and effective methods of assessment? You may
wish to include samples of students' work.

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 4. Developing teaching
e Curriculum planning
e Use of research in one's own teaching
II Own research linked.to teaching
$ Projects for developing teaching as well as both domestic and international
teaching collaboration (e.g. teaching visits and networks, teacher exchanges)
5. Other relevant information
Highlight any other information which you regard as relevant to your development as a teacher
including any of the following:
e Invitations to teach elsewhere (as guest lecturer);

e Publications in journals;
e Publications of student textbooks
• Development of teaching software;
o Leadership/ Administrative tasks (e.g. in working groups or on committees)
~ Professional service to other Universities (as external examiner, subject expert or adviser
/ consultant);
CI Teaching appointments such as visiting professorships/lectureship;
«I ational and international tasks
o Other merits to be taken into consideration

Appendices
Short, specific, and original documents that illustrate and provide evidence that you have
accomplished what you discussed in the narrative:
ei Illustrate your philosophy of teaching and learning, with an original syllabus, course plan
or description.
o Samples of items that illustrate the breadth and depth of your expenence: original
assignment, example of student work, classroom technology.
e Assessment of student learning: Evaluations of student learning: sample assignments,
quizzes, tests, grading mbrics or models; copies of test or assignment with your feedback
to student (to be used only with written permission from student)

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o Assessment of Your Teaching: peer observation notes, summaries of students' midterm

feedback. For evaluation of your teaching include student evaluations (quantitative data
summarized into a chart, written notes from one whole class typed up as an example),
staff evaluations of your teaching, or unsolicited student feedback.
c Examples of experiences you have had or work you have done to develop as an academic
professional.

o Academic leadership or service documents.

General Tips for Maintaining a Teaching Portfolio

Seldin (2004) offers some useful tips for developing and maintaining your portfolio in order to
increase effectiveness:
8 personal details, including name, department, contact details, date of portfolio
e Include a detailed table of contents, so it is easy for the reader to find items
u Add a list of appendix items
It Include specific dates for courses taught
o Use specific examples to illustrate points
QI Integrate material from the staff member, material from others and products of student
learning
• Explain the evidence in the portfolio
It Enhance the student evaluation section

• Limit number of student comments

• Include names and titles of people to whom you refer

• Use page numbers

o Make bulky portfolio items available on request

Reviewing your Portfolio

Once you have prepared a draft of your teaching portfolio, ask a colleague or a staff member to
review the draft and offer advice regarding improvement. The key aspects that others will look
for in your portfolio include:
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• Is your portfolio clear and concise?

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 The portfolio should be set out logically with a table of contents. It must be concise and
yet representative of the range of your teaching activities.
• Does your portfolio accurately reflect your teaching?
.,.

Be honest about your teaching. The teaching portfolio IS meant to be a reflective

document. Others should be able to understand the basis of your approach to teaching.
,
They will be looking for evidence of the impact of your teaching. Think about what
documents you will need to provide and make sure you cross-reference appropriate
evidence.
• Have you taken a scholarly approach to your teaching?
Others will be looking for evidence of the scholarship that has informed your teaching. Is
your approach likely to promote student learning? What literature have you cited?

Seldin, P. (2004) The Teaching Portfolio: A practical guide to improved performance and
promotion/tenure decisions, 3rd Ed., MA: Anker Publishing.
Mues, F. & Deane-Sorcinelli, M., Preparing a Teaching Portfolio, (2000) [online], available:
httD://vrww.umass.edulcft/publications/teachingportfolio.pdf.
Lyons, N., Hyland A. & Ryan, N., (2002) Advancing the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
through a Reflective Portfolio Process: the University College Cork Experience [online]
http://Vv'WVi.ucc.ie/en/teachingandleamill!.z/reoortsandpublications/DocumentFile.25791.e
n.pdf
Murray, J.P. (2004).Why Teaching Portfolios? Community College Review, Summer 22(1)