The Academic Services staff of The Teaching Center is available to consult with Washington University graduate students as they prepare and refine their teaching portfolios for use on the academic job market.

What is a teaching portfolio?

A teaching portfolio is a collection of documents, prepared for the purpose of applying for academic jobs and documenting professional developing in teaching. A teaching portfolio provides a record of
• The ideas and objectives that inform your teaching
• The courses that you teach or are prepared to teach
• The methods you use in your teaching
• Your effectiveness as a teacher
• How you assess and improve your teaching

While dissertation abstracts and research summaries document your expertise in research, the teaching portfolio documents your expertise in teaching. If you are a graduate student or postdoctoral fellow preparing a teaching portfolio for the academic job market, the portfolio will necessarily be both forward- and backward-looking, with examples drawn from courses you have taught or assisted in and from courses you are prepared to teach in the future.

While it is important to present to search committees a version of your portfolio that is well-organized, clear, polished, and tailored to the specific position, consider your portfolio as a work-in-progress that you will continue to revise throughout your academic career.

Finally, a teaching portfolio is a selective or curated collection rather than a comprehensive holding place for all your teaching materials; it presents the syllabi, assignments, and other materials that best illustrate your teaching approach and methods.

Why create a teaching portfolio?

A Teaching Portfolio is a useful tool that can help you:
• Develop, clarify, and reflect on your teaching philosophy, methods, and approaches
• Present teaching credentials for hiring and promotion in an academic position
• Document professional development in teaching
• Identify areas for improvement
• Prepare for the interview process

When should you create a teaching portfolio?

Begin creating a teaching portfolio as soon as your graduate training begins. Even before you set foot in the classroom as a Teaching Assistant or instructor, begin thinking about the ideas and objectives that will guide you when develop and deliver courses.

Reading articles and attending workshops on teaching will help you identify current issues and potential approaches, as well as provide material for your professional development section. As you build your teaching experience, you will be developing your portfolio, which you can then update, refine, and improve when you are entering the academic job market.

How do you construct a teaching portfolio?

We suggest the following steps to guide your process of preparing a thoughtful teaching portfolio:

1. Collect teaching materials as you gain experience
2. Reflect on your teaching
3. Select materials to include in your portfolio
4. Organize your portfolio
5. Share your portfolio

Links and References

Kaplan, Matthew. “The Teaching Portfolio.” The Center for Research on Learning and Teaching. University of Michigan. http://www.crlt.umich.edu/publinks/CRLT_no11.pdf.

Rodriguez-Farrar, Hannelore B. Creating a Teaching Portfolio: A Handbook for Faculty, Teaching Assistants and Teaching Fellows. The Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning. Brown University. 2008. http://www.brown.edu/Administration/Sheridan_Center/teaching/documents/T….

Seldin, Peter. The Teaching Portfolio: A Practical Guide to Improved Performance and Promotion/Tenure Decisions. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing Company, Inc. 1991.

“Teaching Portfolios.” Center for Teaching. Vanderbilt University. http://www.vanderbilt.edu/cft/resources/teaching_resources/reflecting/portfolio.htm.

Vick, Julia Miller and Jennifer S. Furlong. The Academic Job Search Handbook. 4th ed. Philadelphia: U Pennsylvania P, 2008.

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