17 Creating a Teaching Portfolio
Lynn Meade
A portfolio would do what no other form of evaluation can do.
It would enable faculty to document and display their teaching
in a way that stays connected to the particular situations in which their teaching occurred.
Edgerton, 1991
What is the purpose of a teaching portfolio?
- To provide an opportunity for self-reflection by looking at development over time.
- To document teaching effectiveness for promotion and tenure.
- To reflect on and refine their teaching skills and philosophies.
- To document teaching for awards packets.
- To be actively involved in presenting your own accomplishments.
Your teaching portfolio is not a collection of everything you have done, rather it is curated samples that demonstrate teaching effectiveness and your willingness to reflect on teaching. Your portfolio should show both the product (evidence) and process (reflection).
The Association of American Colleges and Universities has recently indicated the portfolio as a high-impact practice for the effectiveness of university teaching.
Possible things to include in your portfolio
Most include a teaching philosophy and evidence of teaching effectiveness but there are no hard fast rules for what to include in your teaching portfolio. Here is a list of possible things to include in your portfolio:
About Me / Bio
- Describe your teaching interests and tell the story of you.
- Write about things that interest you in a way that we can relate to you as a well-rounded person.
Examples of About Me / Bio
Courses
- Teaching responsibilities- Titles and catalog description of courses.
- Brief description of the way each course was taught.
Artifacts from the Classes That You Teach
Think of your portfolio as you telling your story. The artifacts that you chose will support your story. The key is to decide which artifacts to include and which ones to exclude. After all, this is your story, and you get to tell it the way that you want.
Possible artifacts to include:
Artifacts that show intentional course design
- Syllabi
- Homework assignments
- Assessments
- Philosophy of course design
Artifacts that demonstrate student learning
- Scores on standardized or other tests, before and after instruction
- Pre and Post-test course assessment
- Students’ lab books or other workbooks
- Students’ papers, essays, or creative works
- Videos of student work (used with permissions)
Artifacts that demonstrate teaching effectiveness
- Student numerical evaluations
- Student comments from course evaluations
- Letters of support from students
- Unsolicited emails and thank yous from students
- Peer observation report from a colleague
- Letters from colleagues and/or supervisors
- Statements from alumni
- Student scores on pro- and post-course examinations
- Student scores on national or discipline-specific exams
- Student essays, speech outlines, fieldwork reports, laboratory workbooks, or logs
- Examples of graded student essays showing excellent, average, and poor work
- A record of students who succeed in advanced study in the field
- Student publications or conference presentations
- Testimonials from students about how you influenced their career choice
Artifacts that demonstrate growth
- Demonstrate how a course has evolved
- Discuss a course redesign
Examples of Teaching
- Adam Dastrup, Associate Professor, Geosciences Department, Salt Lake Community College
- Kristin Stoepler, Assistant Professor Practicum Coordinator. Certified Health Education Specialist at the University of Alaska
- Jesse Stommel, University of Denver
- Lynn Meade, University of Arkansas
- Michael Reese, Sociology, John Hopkins
Teaching Philosophy
As Nancy Van Note Chism, Professor Emerita of Education at IUPUI observes, “The act of taking time to consider one’s goals, actions, and vision provides an opportunity for development that can be personally and professionally enriching. Reviewing and revising former statements of teaching philosophy can help teachers to reflect on their growth and renew their dedication to the goals and values that they hold.”
Questions to Think About while constructing a Teaching Philosophy….
- What are your beliefs about student learning?
- What are your aims for students?
- How do your actions as a teacher reflect your belief about teaching and learning?
- How do you make decisions about your content?
- What is your greatest strength as a teacher? Why?
- What does learning look like in your class?
- What do you believe is your role as a teacher?
- How has your thinking about teaching changed over time? Why
- How do you create an engaging learning environment?
Seldin, P. (2004).The teaching portfolio: A practical guide to improved performance and promotion/tenure decisions (3rd ed). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Additional Resources on Writing a Teaching Philosophy
- Western University: Writing a Teaching Philosophy
- Chism, N. V. N. (1997-98). Developing a philosophy of teaching statement. Essays on teaching excellence: Toward the best in the academy, 9(3). Retrieved from: http://podnetwork.org/content/uploads/V9-N3-Chism.pdf
- University of Vanderbilt Center for Teaching has a wonderful resource for writing teaching statements.
- Grundman, Helen (2006). Writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement (opens as a PDF),Notices of the AMS, Vol. 53, No. 11, p. 1329.
- Montell, Gabriela (2003). How to Write a Statement of Teaching Philosophy, from the Chronicle Manage Your Career section of the Chronicle of Higher Education.
- Montell, Gabriela (2003). What’s Your Philosophy on Teaching, and Does it Matter?, from the Chronicle Manage Your Career section of the Chronicle of Higher Education.
- Writing A Statement Of Teaching Philosophy For The Academic Job Search (opens as a PDF), The Center for Research on Learning and Teaching at the University of Michigan.
Examples
From Deb Korth, Teaching Professor, ARSC Student Success, Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences:
My teaching philosophy is ever evolving as the student population and my teaching assignments change. My heart still overflows with pride when witnessing a student’s “aha” moment. However, I have been increasingly gratified to witness my students engaging in meaningful conversations with each other about tough subjects. My goal has always been to create a student-centered learning environment in the classroom. As students become more and more obsessed with their smart phones, I come to increasingly value student interactions not only with me as their teacher but more importantly, with each other. As young people attempt to figure out how to deal with fake news, discrimination, and isolationism, effective communication and collaboration are key components in shaping a better future. It is important to me to enable students to seek understanding and truth long after they are done being students at the university. They will continue to obtain information from technology reservoirs. However, they will need to be able to collectively process this information.
From Don Johnson, University Professor, Agricultural Education Communication and Technology, Bumpers College of Agricultural Food and Life Sciences
As a first-generation college student, I am firm in my belief that attending and graduating from college is nothing short of a catapult that allows students from humble backgrounds to access opportunity and excel in their professional and personal lives. As an undergraduate, I benefitted immensely from a professor who “saw more in me than I could see in myself.” His confidence in and encouragement of me is responsible for where I am today. Because of his influence, I am constantly aware of how even an off-hand remark can have a profound effect on a student. In all my interactions, I attempt to encourage students to do their best, overcome adversity, learn, and graduate into successful lives and careers. For years I have contended that you can never truly “become” a great teacher, you can only “be” a great teacher in the moment; having been great (or even good) last semester or even the last class meeting is no guarantee of being great (or good) in the next semester or next class meeting. For this reason, I constantly reflect on my successes and failures, read the literature on teaching and learning, attend workshops, conduct research on teaching and learning, and try to be the best teacher I can be for each student in each class each day.
My philosophy of teaching is straightforward. Keep content current and relevant; be organized, clear, and enthusiastic in teaching; encourage and enable students to meet high standards; encourage effort and reward accomplishment; be fair; be flexible when the situation warrants; be approachable and treat students with courtesy and respect. This simple philosophy is consistent with Lowman’s (1995) two-dimensional model of excellence in college teaching. According to Lowman, teaching excellence consists of two distinct, but related, components: intellectual excitement and interpersonal rapport. Intellectual excitement relates to clear and organized presentations, enthusiasm for the subject, and encouragement of student interest and curiosity about the subject. Interpersonal rapport describes how the instructor relates to students as people and as learners. Professors with good interpersonal rapport are often described as caring, accessible, approachable, respectful, fair, challenging, and motivating. To be a truly effective college teacher requires both components. Although I sometimes fall short, this is exactly what I strive for in all student interactions whether in the classroom, lab, office, or hallway, or by email, text, or telephone.
Examples of Teaching Philosophy in a Portfolio
Academic Presentations and Research
Examples of Publications and Research
Publications
Contributions to the Teaching Profession
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- Presentations at teaching conferences
- Publications in teaching journals
- Papers delivered on teaching
- Reviews of forthcoming textbooks
- Service on teaching committees
- Mentoring Teaching Assistants
- Service to teaching conferences as a reviewer
- Assistance to colleagues on teaching matters
- Work on curriculum revision or development
Honors, Awards, or Recognitions
-
- Teaching awards
- Invited presentations on teaching topics
- Teaching honors from student groups
- Invitations based on teaching reputation to give a workshop
- Requests for advice on teaching by committees or other organized groups
Professional Development
Your portfolio is an excellent place to demonstrate your willingness to grow as a teacher. Rather than merely listing things you attended, provide details about how it shaped you as a teacher.
- Workshops and seminars
- Teaching Conferences
- Grants
- Books read
Examples of Professional Development
David Huburt, Associate Provost for Learning Advancement, Salt Lake City Community College
Adam Dastrup, Associate Professor, Geosciences Department, Salt Lake Community College
Portfolio Prompts
The Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center at the University of Arkansas offers the following prompts to help faculty build their portfolio reflections. Thanks to Carole Shook and Hope Ballentine for sharing.
Rapport/Engagement Prompt:
- Describe how you set expectations for your course with students?
- What are ways that you challenge your students to learn?
- What are ways that you seek to connect with students?
- Tell about some ways that you create engagement in your classes?
- Reflect on what changes you have observed in students’ attitudes, participation, and learning in the course as deeper rapport and relationships develops.
- What barriers have you overcome in making impactful connections with students in your courses?
Course/Assignment Design Prompt:
Take a current course or lesson outcome from a class you teach. If you do not currently have outcomes, design one based on a skill, attitude or specific item of knowledge you want your students to have. Be sure to use language describing the student’s perspective (i.e. by the end of the lesson, the student will be able to prioritize the needs of the client as non-urgent, urgent, or emergent).
Using backward design and principles, how would you transform an assignment you already have (or you can come up with a new one!) to meet this outcome? Describe changes you made and how they will better meet the outcome and benefit students.
Planning, Deliver, and Assessment of Teaching:
Share a brief plan of a class or particular lesson within a class. Describe how the delivery of that class or lesson met the plan you made and several things you thought went well and at least one thing you might change going forward. Provide a brief assessment of your teaching and student learning based on your original plan.
Student and Peer Feedback:
Describe at least 3 ways you are using student feedback (formal or informal) to improve your courses. If you have not yet implemented student feedback, please include 3 strategies you plan to use going forward. In addition, please include at least one way you have utilized peer feedback (a visit to your class meeting by a peer, your visit to another faculty member’s class, or even conversation with a peer) to improve your courses. Also explain an additional strategy you plan to use for peer feedback in the future.
References
Open AI. (July, 2023). ChatGPT. Why write a teaching portfolio?
Chism, N. V. N. (1997-98). Developing a philosophy of teaching statement. Essays on teaching excellence: Toward the best in the academy, 9(3). Retrieved from: http://podnetwork.org/content/uploads/V9-N3-Chism.pdf
Edgerton, R., Hutchings, P., & Quinlan, K. (1991). The teaching portfolios: Capturing the scholarship of teaching. Washington, DC: American Association for Higher Education.
Edgerton, R. (1991). The teaching portfolios a display of best work. Paper presented at the National Conference of the American Association for Higher Education, Washington DC.
Kaplan, M. The teaching portfolio. University of Michigan’s Center for Research on Learning and Teaching Occasional Papers CRLT_no11.pdf (umich.edu)
Seldin, P. (1991). The teaching portfolio: A practical guide to improved performance and promotion/tenure decisions. Ankor
Seldin, P., Miller, J. E., & Seldin, C.A. (2010). The Teaching Portfolio: A Practical Guide to Improved Performance and Promotion/Tenure Decisions (4th Ed.). Jossey-Bass.
Seldin, P. and Annis, L. (1991). The Teaching Portfolio Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network in Higher Education. Document2 (podnetwork.org)
Schönwetter, D. J., Sokal, L , Friesen, M., & Taylor, K. L. (2002): Teaching philosophies reconsidered: A conceptual model for the development and evaluation of teaching philosophy statements, International Journal for Academic Development, 7(1), 83-97. https://doi.org/10.1080/13601440210156501
Schulman, L. (1988). A union of insufficiencies: Strategies for teacher assessment in a period of educational reform. Educational Leadership, 36-41.
Shook, C. & Ballentine, H. (2024). Teaching Portfolio Prompts Wally Cordes Teaching and Support Center. University of Arkansas.
Torre, E. (2019). Training University Teachers on the Use of the ePortfolio in Teaching and Assessment. International Journal of EPortfolio, 9(2), 97–110. https://www.theijep.com/pdf/IJEP335.pdf
Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching.Teaching Portfolios | Center for Teaching | Vanderbilt University
Watson, C. E., Kuh, G. D., Rhodes, T., Light, T. P., & Chen, H. L. (2016). Editorial: ePortfolios—The eleventh high-impact practice. International Journal of ePortfolio, 6(2), 65-69. Retrieved from http://www.theijep.com/pdf/IJEP254.pdf
Western University. Writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement
Portfolios Referenced
Adam Dastrup, Associate Professor, Geosciences Department, Salt Lake Community College
Tanisha C. Ford, Professor of History at the Graduate Center, CUNY (Professional media page)
David Huburt, Associate Provost for Learning Advancement, Salt Lake City Community College
Alion Lietzenmayer, Communication, Old Dominion University
Lynn Meade, Teaching Assistant Professor, Student Success and Communication, University of Arkansas
Megan Mize, Director, ePortfolios and Digital Initiatives at Old Dominion University
Michael Reese, Sociology, John Hopkins
Jesse Strommel, Writing Program at University of Denver
