Documenting Teaching Excellence
Teaching Portfolios
The most prominent book is "The
Teaching Portfolio: A Practical Guide to Improved Performance and Promotion/Tenure Decisions," 3rd
Edition, by Peter Seldin, Anker Publishing Company, 2004. It includes descriptions and examples.
The resources on teaching portfolios from Illinois State University
include short items and links to other sites and also examples.
Additional resources are forthcoming.
Links to Teaching Resources
Ithaca College Links
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Instructional Development Fund, Summer Research Grants, and other internal grants are described on
the Provost's Page.
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The Center for Faculty Research and Development, CFRD, the reassigned time program, is on the
Provost's Page.
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The Center for Faculty Excellence page continues to grow, so
explore the sections and check back periodically.
Online Resources from Other Institutions include these among many others
Lists of conferences, books, and periodicals are forthcoming.
Reflect, Collect, Select, and Reflect
Reflective practice improves our teaching and also helps us document it. Whether you create planning
notes as you design a course, or write periodic journal entries, or write notes to yourself as you try
a strategy, or assess each course at the end of the semester, reflective writing can be data for a
future narrative. The writing may never have any form but your private notes, but you will be able to
see patterns as you review it periodically. You could also select quotes to include in an overall
narrative of your progress as a teacher.
It is useful to collect along the way items that might be included in a review file. You can then
select the ones that provide the clearest illustrations of your progress. Useful items can include:
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Syllabi, even as you teach the same course multiple years. Perhaps part of your story will be about
how your syllabi have evolved.
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Sample assignments, especially ones that worked well or that were particularly well suited to a
learning objective, or that you revised over time. Making a note on why you are collecting it will
help later!
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Samples of student work that show your instructional interaction with the student. Whether they are
graded papers, or a sequence of drafts, or applications of rubrics, selections of these can later
document a characteristic of your teaching that you want to feature.
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Summaries of sets of student evaluations, if these are not provided by your school. You might
illustrate improvement in student responses to a particular course over time, or point out a semester
that was particularly problematic, or discuss differential responses to different course levels, or
demonstrate your strong performance in certain items on the evaluation instrument.
Consider building a teaching portfolio, even if not required in your department. Resources for
portfolios are on the right.
Resources for improving our teaching are listed on a separate page of the CFE, and include:
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Instructional Development Fund, Summer Research Grants, and CFRD funding for release time. Links to
descriptions are on the right.
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The Center for Faculty Excellence Mentoring Program, May Institute, and periodic workshops
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Conferences on teaching, or on teaching in your discipline. Funding can be available for these,
through your school or the Provost
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Books and periodicals
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Online resources from other campuses. Some links are on the right.
