Teaching portfolio/dossier - What to include?

[whatsupwithsecuritycheckwords]

A few positions that focus mostly on research (i.e. 2+2 teaching load) ask for a teaching dossier or teaching portfolio (or 'evidence of teaching excellence). That means that they obviously care about teaching. What should be included there?

I go over my teaching experience and philosophy in a couple of paragraphs of the cover letter already. So my idea of a teaching portfolio right now includes:

- sample syllabi from courses taught (in my case I'm thinking of including 3 or 4 courses to show a range).
- assignments and activities for those courses (to show teaching philosophy in practice).
- student evaluations (survey numbers only).

Is there anything more/less that should be included there?

What about the narrative comments from student evaluations? (they are separate from the numbers). In my case, some are really cool and reflective of my teaching style, 90% very positive comments and a few criticisms, which I think might also reflect on what students like and don't like about my teaching. But, while it provides valuable information, I'm afraid including it would be too long and unnecessary for a Search Committee going over hundreds of applications. The dossier is long as it is with all the other stuff. So I'm inclined to exclude it.

So, the specifics above, plus the general question: what should go in a teaching dossier/portfolio?

I appreciate your input. This forum has been really helpful.

[drbearjew]

You can be selective in the narratives from students on your teaching evals. Pick ones which speak to your teaching style and effectiveness, and include them with your scores from the quant evaluations. It will help to complement the raw numbers.

[agree]

I agree with ^. I think the narrative comments are more telling than the survey, but that might be my qualitative orientation (bias noted. I think syllabi and assignments are good. If it is a full-on teaching job (which you say it isn't) it is also good to include teaching goals and a more developed teaching philosophy (beyond what you'd put in a cover letter).

[unclekarl]

I know a number of quantitative analysts who do not like summary teaching evaluations, but they are unfortunately what a lot of places pay attention to. I think that summary evaluations and student comments are good. Most public 2-2's are not predominantly focusing on teaching, but they need to hire someone who will not decrease the N of undergrad soc majors....

[whatsupwithsecurityword]

I appreciate your responses. I put together syllabi (4), assignments, and evaluations (including a selection of narratives) and the whole thing is about 70 pages. It seems ridiculous. Most of the pages is taken by syllabi. I could:

- reduce the number (and diversity) of classes that I put in the portfolio.
or
- cut the policies from all of the syllabi but one (a lot of stuff that goes in the syllabi is exactly the same in all of them), and leave for those the reading list and the description and goals of the class. Like an abridged version of the syllabus, without all the crap about turning off cellphones, etc.

In any case, how many pages is a reasonable teaching portfolio? What's the number of pages that would make you look like a freak?

thanks!

[drbearjew]

That seems a bit too long. My teaching dossier is around 12 pages. It includes sample syllabi, assignments, evals, and my teaching philosophy.

You can definitely cut the standard policies you find in all syllabi - ADA notice, Academic Honesty statements, etc. These are usually mandated by the University you work at, and they will want you to include their official statement in your syllabi anyway.

Truncate your syllabi to demonstrate the course descriptions (in your own words), the texts your students read (textbooks vs monographs), the schedule of assignments (how many assignments over the course of a semester, how the due dates add up, etc), your grading schema/rubric for the course (how do you evaluate your students), and perhaps your policy on handling classroom issues (how do you manage a class discussion on a hot topic, etc).

This should cut each syllabus down to roughly 2-3 pages.

Last, are you including all of your quant. evals, or just the summaries. If you aren't doing so already, summarize your quant. evals. Most universities have a particular question that is weighted more than others in determining how a prof/instructor is evaluated. For instance, my University gives a great deal of weight to a question that goes something like...

"How would you rate your overall satisfaction with this course?"

[way too long]

70 pages i way too long. Mine is about 16 pages and includes teaching philosophy, teaching goals, evaluations (both quant and selected narrative), teaching awards and publications. I agree to significantly abridge your syllabi to highlight the stuff they will really want to know (what are you learning objectives, what books will you use, what approach will you use, how will you assess them).

You might also choose two of your best (or two that fit what they will want you to teach).

I think 'freak' level is over 25 pages. Maybe 30, but if this is a 2-2 Research-focused job they are not going to care THAT much about teaching that they want all 70 pages. My advisor reminds me that committees are lazy and stupid (harsh, but to her point). Don't make them work too hard to see how awesome you are.

Happy trimming!!! May it be liberating!

[oops]

Ooops. I also include ONE syllabi in my portfolio. One school requested syllabi so I included 2 additional ones. Try to get it under 20 pages. good luck

[guest]

the one i send to a 2+2 is about 20 pages. the one i send to a lac is about 120 pages. i agree that most committees are not going to read 120 pages, but then they are likely not reading your papers either...or most of your app packet. i don't think the number of pages matters. the committees that are going to read it will read it and those that do not want to read it can recycle it...

[seriously]

I thought it was considered sketchy to pick and choose comments from the evaluations! I was including all - the good with the bad.

[drbearjew]

It's not a matter of picking and choosing the good and bad...it's a matter of picking those comments which demonstrate your teaching abilities.

Would you submit your "good" and "bad" syllabi?

[advancedassistant]

It's certainly considered sketchy to do so with regard to the promotion and tenure document. For job apps, I only send full evaluations when evaluations are requested. Any of us can cherry pick the sweet stuff; presenting the whole kit and kaboodle--quant and qual data--says a lot more about what students *really* think about our "teaching abilities." Cherry picking the good stuff is a better demonstration of my ego than my "teaching abilities."

[guest321]

First, no, it is not bad practice to pick which comments to include; it is most necessary, in fact. I have taught a large number of courses independently, so it would be silly to include every single comment that was ever made.

What I have seen modeled, and what I do with my own teaching portfolio, is a sectioning of comments so that they most effectively speak to what we want to highlight about our teaching. For example, I have several comments that speak to my commitment to students, another section that speaks about course organization and classroom environment, still another that speaks of making course material cognitively accessible to non-majors, etc.

Finally, yes, I also feel that it is reasonable to include some points for improvement, as this shows an ability to reflect on one's work and improve, since few people emerge from grad school as finished products. ("You suck!", should I ever have gotten such a review, would not qualify as one of these, but "Your grading is unfair" would have.) When feasible, I then include a parenthetical statement after the student's comment that addresses how I altered my teaching style or approach to evaluation by making constructive use of the comment. For example: "Sometimes slides felt too long, would have found it more useful if they were shorter and gave overall main ideas. (Edited slides and reduced them in length for future classes)"

[anon]

I agree with guest321. There are other reasons to not the whole shebang in there, too. If your students are like mine, you get a lot of pointless comments unrelated to your teaching no matter how many times you tell them to comment on your teaching and things in your control (e.g. "I wish this class weren't at 8:00AM," "the classroom was too hot and the chairs were packed in to tight"). And sometimes you get students making comments that you'd rather not have the search committees see ("Congrats on your pregnancy!").

I have wanted to send in the whole lot but there are enough that fall into these categories to keep me from doing so.

[advancedassistant]

These are great points, guest 321 and anon. Another reason for taking the more selective approach would be that a committee could always ask for full evaluations later if they wish to see them.