Organising your Teaching Portfolio / How to Create a Teaching Portfolio / Teaching and Learning Services / University Services / The University of Newcastle, Australia

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Important approaches to guide collecting and presenting items for your portfolio:

Accumulate general information and materials on the scope and quality of your teaching which you will update regularly, preferably each semester.
When organising your information for a particular purpose, you will need to tailor and select your evidence to meet the specific current criteria.
Initial statements about your philosophy and approach to teaching must be supported by appropriate data which has been analysed and summarised.
Include self-reflection on areas of teaching which have required improvement and changes you have made.
End with future teaching and learning goals: short and long term.
Present a coherent document on your teaching performance and contributions to teaching / course development.

Background / Introductory Information

General values and aspirations. Consider questions such as *:

What is it that you like your students to achieve?

What effort do you put into achieving this outcome?

What scholarly literature most informs your approach to teaching?

What changes in your approach to teaching have you implemented?

Performance as a teacher

Interpret the evidence you have collected about your effectiveness as a teacher. *

Contextualise your feedback - how have you demonstrated the appropriateness of your teaching approaches for the purpose of the subject?

Feedback may not always be positive - how are you acknowledging your weaknesses and demonstrating how you have been addressing these?

How has feedback changed over time? - ensure that the reader is clear about when the data was collected,

Highlight objectivity of feedback procedures - when the data has been collected and interpreted by an independent / objective third party (such as Statistics and Evaluation Services).

Briefly report on the method of data collection / analysis - response rates, source of instruments, independent / objective body collecting / analysing the data etc.

Contribution to teaching / course development?

Does your portfolio illustrate your…*

Roles in curriculum development or the development of new modules, subjects or learning materials?

Involvement in research on teaching, learning or the curriculum?

Implementation of teaching innovations?

* Suggestions are based on Developing a Teaching Portfolio at the Southern Cross University site.