Course Portfolio: Making Pedagogy Visible Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) Queensborough Community College, CUNY Spring 2008

Course Portfolio: An Introduction A course portfolio is a means of documenting the intellectual work of teaching a particular course It is a comprehensive and efficient way to document and design the execution of a course, including student learning

Making pedagogy visible: Collect, Select, Reflect, Connect Assignments Course Portfolio Goals & Objectives Media Clips Reflection Notes Image s Links Project Plan Review & Feedback Student Work Critical Analysis Pedagogical Research & Scholarship Support Materials

Professional Development (Pedagogical Research, Scholarly publications, presentations, etc.) Course Components Course Artifacts and the Institutional Context Storage and Information Mgt. (QCC- CUNY, Epsilen, etc.) for greater accessibility of data Student Work Reflection Critical Analysis of Key Assignments Guidance & Mentoring Communication ( World wide web, blogs, podcast, learning communities) A Course Portfolio connects People, Data, Systems, Institutions Course Portfolio Feedback and Review Course Portfolio

Examples of Course Portfolio From CASTL Higher Education gallery The sites in this collection include web based portfolios on the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) projects. They display the inquiry, processes, and reflections of faculty from various disciplines. At the same time, they reveal some unique ways of representing individual faculty investigations of teaching, collaborative inquiry, and disciplinary and interdisciplinary teaching and learning. asedListhttp:// asedList (Peer Review of Teaching and Learning)

Examples Advanced Mathematics for Secondary Teachers: Course Portfolio For the Fall 2000 class taught at Michigan State University Curtis Bennett Western Civilization: A Course Portfolio An Alternative Approach to General Chemistry: Addressing the Needs of At-Risk Students with Cooperative Learning Strategies Dennis Jacobs Learning Interdisciplinarity: A Course Portfolio Sherry Linkon

What are the benefits of creating a Course Portfolio? By identifying and documenting teaching effectiveness, a course portfolio ensures that quality teaching is recognized, valued, and rewarded Teaching can be understood and presented as a form of scholarship, utilizing the accountability through peer review that already exists in higher education

What are the benefits of a course portfolio? For Faculty Exhibit and reflect on pedagogical issues Cultivate scholarship Convey one’s work to appropriate audience (to review committees- for promotion & tenure, faculty awards, etc.) For Students Access to previous semester material Materials adapted to diverse learning styles Identify common mistakes Familiarity with past student experiences

Provide a source of information to improve courses Provide useful accreditation and assessment documents Access to course materials from previous semesters Identify supplemental material to enhance the previously collected material Benefits to administrators and departments

Components of Visible Pedagogy Approach Rationale Overview Suggested Artifacts Pedagogy Course Development Course Content and goals Learning Objectives Plan for accomplishing goals Student Learning Student work samples; Reflection Relevant Data Reflection & Critical Review Institutional Context Collaboration and feedback Enhancing current material Improving teaching strategies Support for new faculty

Types of Course Portfolio Benchmark Course Portfolio:  focuses on documenting a snapshot or range of activities and learning from a course Inquiry Course Portfolio:  focuses on exploring a specific issue or question in a course Developmental Course Portfolio:  focuses on a study or research conducted over a period of time, and may be directly tied to outcomes or rubrics. Representational Course Portfolio:  focuses on student achievements in relation to particular developmental goals and is, therefore, selective. Adapted from PRTP project in documenting, assessing, and improving student learning (University of Nebraska, Lincoln)

1. List of items included in the course portfolio 2. Teaching materials 2.1 Syllabus; Learning Objectives 2.2 Course manual; Lecture notes 2.3 Additions and revisions 3. Support materials 4.1 Computer files, programs, and documents 4.2 Departmental resources and workshops 4.3 Additions and revisions 4. Assignments 4.1. Expected format for assignments 4.2. Homework; Quizzes and exams 4.3. Laboratory experiments and in-class exercises 5. Student work 5.1. Samples artifacts; projects/papers; presentations 5.2. Graded assignments; 6. Personal reflections and student feedback 6.1 Reflections before/after the first day 6.2 Reflections during/after the semester 6.3 Critical review of assignments 6.4 Summary of relevant s 7. Future Issues Course Portfolio Contents