WSU Teaching Portfolio
From wsuwiki
Contents |
Overview
This page is a record of my [user:gtvanek] explorations of creating a WSU Teaching Portfolio for Tenure in a SharePoint ePortfolio.
The goal of this page is to document the process and lessons learned about creating a portfolio. If you are creating your Teaching Portfolio for Tenure (electronic or not) you are invited to share insights into the process and your lessons learned. If you are new to wiki, just sign in (upper right) and then click on the EDIT tab and begin typing (preview and save are at the bottom of the screen).
If you would like more information about my explorations, feel free to contact me--Todd Vanek.
Material presented in boxes comes directly from the Faculty Manual.
WSU Teaching Portfolio for Tenure Guidelines
The Faculty Manual provides guidelines for constructing a teaching portfolio for tenure. I also discovered the same guidelines at [Office of the Provost Webpage]. The Provost page provides two made up examples of portfolios and a list of references, neither of which are in the faculty manual.
"A teaching portfolio is a compilation of information about a faculty member’s teaching, made by that faculty member, often for use in consideration for tenure or promotion. It is not, in itself, an instrument for teaching evaluation, but a vehicle for presenting information that may include results of evaluations and that may itself contribute to evaluation. It can therefore be selective, emphasizing the positive to serve as a showcase for the faculty member’s achievements in teaching, not necessarily a comprehensive or balanced picture of everything." Faculty Manual, III.D.5.d
The Faculty Manual guidelines suggest using goals, responsibilities, evaluation, and results as section headings. I will address each one individually and then collectively as they relate to the main/cover page.
Goals
1. A compact but thoughtful statement about the faculty member’s intentions and aspirations in teaching, especially for the near future. 2. Examples include preferred principles for good teaching and plans for improvement, curricular projects, publications, presentations, and so forth. Platitudes and vacuous generalities should, of course, be avoided. 3. Obstacles the faculty member has encountered, such as inadequate facilities, inadequate library resources, excessive class size, would be appropriately noted in this part of the portfolio.
Responsibilities
The topics listed below reflect a broad concept of teaching. Others might be added.
(a) Percentage of appointment devoted to teaching, if stipulated
(b) Courses recently and currently taught, with credit hours and enrollments
(c) Work with individual students
(d) Advising.
(e) Instructional innovations.
(f) Extraordinary efforts with special groups of students
(g) Use of disciplinary research in teaching
(h) Out-of-class evaluation activities
(i) Service on WSU or other committees concerned mainly with instruction
(j) Learning more about teaching
(k) Projects and potential projects requiring non-state funding
For specific details and examples for these topics, see the Faculty Manual.
Evaluation
The Evaluation section in a portfolio should consist chiefly of comparative data from whatever methods are used for
evaluating teaching—not only evaluation by students. Some faculty members may wish to include explanations or rejoinders for
evaluations which they believe to be potentially misleading.
(a) Student evaluations
(b) Measures of student learning
(c) Peer evaluation
(d) Letters from students, alumni, and employers of alumni.
(e) Teaching awards
(f) Other evaluations.
Results
(a) Student successes
(b) Instructional materials
(c) Contributions to the scholarship of teaching
In items (b) and (c), data about publications should be presented with full citations and also included in the
resume.
(d) Other results
Main Page/Cover Letter
This should be the page that ties everything together. In an electronic version, it can also be the navigation page.
Challenges of going electonic
The faculty manual states that "the teaching portfolio shall be firmly limited to five pages." So, do I interprete that literally and say then that I can only have 5 "pages" of typical paper length. I think I can work within that structure because there are 4 areas in the teaching portfolio. That allows for a single cover page and a sub-page for each of the 4 areas requested. This will have to be explored more in depth in the future as you can get a lot more on a single webpage than a normal sheet of paper (8 1/2 by 11). An example is imbedding images or sidebars, a navigation bar, search function, etc.
General Reflections
My first general reflection in building this page comes in the form of praise for the authors (faculty at WSU) for thier work on the Teaching Portfolio section of the Faculty Manual. I was not expecting to see things like "Contributions to the scholarship of teaching," "Learning more about teaching," "Use of disciplinary research in teaching," and "Peer evaluations."
A reflection related to going online but in the form of putting guidelines online, not the portfolio itself. Having three guiding documents (see below), which appear to be very similar, on line could be problematic. Which is the most up-to-date? One Provost Page is dated 12/22/00. The other does not have a date but appears more recent. The Faculty Manual is listed as 2005. Which one should be referenced? Where does one provide feedback for updating the document(s)? The Faculty Manual provides directions for feedback/updates (last paragraph in the document). The Provost's Page provides a prompt " Questions should be submitted to [email address that no longer exists]. There should be a single source to guide the creation and management of a teaching portfolio (electronic of not). Having pointed this out, I now feel obligated to do something. I have emailed someone in the Provost Office.
Teaching Portfolio Guidelines in the WSU Faculty Manual