Faculty Portfolio | The Teaching & Learning Centre | Seneca Polytechnic

This website is intended to provide general guidelines about how to prepare and assemble the expected components of the Faculty Portfolio. Basic information is provided below and the overall process to be followed as well as links will take you to each of the components .

What is a Faculty Portfolio?

For a portfolio, faculty members collect documented evidence of teaching from a variety of sources and provide context for that evidence. Completing a faculty portfolio is a scholarly activity where the process of gathering and organizing material over time encourages experimentation, reflection, and development of a better understanding of the next steps to improving one’s teaching.

Overall Process

General Guidelines

Use the Developmental Continuum to better understand your areas of strength and where you would like to refine and grow.

• Start now. A Faculty Portfolio is an ongoing process and it is easier to collect components for each domain as you go than after you have finished a course.
• Less is more. Be selective when choosing your materials to include in your portfolio. A smaller set of well-chosen documents and samples accompanied by a meaningful context and thoughtful reflections is more effective than a larger “collection” of your teaching documents.

For more details, see the Reflecting on your Teaching Practice with Faculty Portfolios article in the Academic Newsletter.

What Makes a Faculty Portfolio Effective?

An effective portfolio should capture teaching skills, knowledge, and experiences, and be organized in a framework that builds a narrative and selects materials that aligns with your philosophy of teaching. The American Association for Higher Education (AAHE) suggests that a teaching portfolio should be structured, representative, and selective.

Structured

A structured portfolio means that it is highly organized and complete. The contents should clearly communicate the intended message.

Representative

The faculty portfolio should be comprehensive. The documentation should represent the scope of your work across the levels and types of courses you teach.

Selective

The faculty portfolio should not be made up of a collection of evidence and does not need to include everything. The portfolio should be concise and it is important to be selective about which items to include. Provide supporting evidence of your teaching in action, including reflections, and the impact of your work on student engagement and student achievement.

Edgerton, R., Hutchings, P., & Quinlan, K. (1991). The teaching portfolio: Capturing the scholarship of teaching. Washington, DC: American Association for Higher Education.

• Standards of Practice for Faculty and the Faculty Portfolio 
• Components of the Faculty Portfolio 
• Digital Faculty Portfolios – How to Get Started 
• Web Resources and Contact Information