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The Course Portfolio

The Course Portfolio. Danielle Mihram, Director Center for Excellence in Teaching University of Southern California. What is a Course Portfolio?. No single standard formula, but defining features: A focus on the course: From conception to results A spotlight on student learning

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The Course Portfolio

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  1. The Course Portfolio Danielle Mihram, Director Center for Excellence in Teaching University of Southern California

  2. What is a Course Portfolio? • No single standard formula, but defining features: • A focus on the course: From conception to results • A spotlight on student learning • A process of scholarly inquiry into approaches to teaching

  3. Five Practical Functions of the Course Portfolio • They serve as an aid to memory • What worked, what didn’t? • They help in investigating student learning • (Are they learning what I am teaching? Are they getting it? What happens to their understanding of the field itself? • They are available to others for discussion, feedback, and formal review • They are a way of bringing peer recognition of teaching excellence • They make a contribution to one’s field by influencing others in the field

  4. What kind of documentation is included in a Course Portfolio? • Course design (syllabus) • Pieces of evidence (this constitutes a wide array which varies from field to field). A few examples: • Weekly diary • Samples of work that are key to course design (problem sets, artifacts, reflections relating to student art or writing groups, study guides, hardcopy of electronic exchanges with individual students) • Videotaped class sessions • Peer observations of class sessions • Reports from student group work • Student projects (paper or electronic)

  5. Documentation (Continued) • Evidence of student learning • Longitudinal or vertical sampling of student responses to assignments or projects • Reflective essays • Evaluative summaries of classroom assessment data • Reflective essays on the progress of the course • In final portion of portfolio: implications and lessons learned

  6. How much documentation is enough? • Axiom: An ideal portfolio is both brief and complete • Electronic course portfolios are perhaps the the best format currently • Randy Bass (Georgetown University) • http://georgetown.edu/bassr/portfolio/amlit • William W. Cutler III (Temple University) • http://wwwtheaha.org/teaching/aahe/aahecover.html • The Knowledge Media Laboratory • http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/klm/KLM.htm

  7. How do I organize the information? • A clear table of contents (annotated perhaps) • An executive summary (or some kind of overview) • Tabs or color-coding to divide sections

  8. How long does it take? How will I find the time? • Time required varies from field to field and from individual to individual • Ideally, documentation for the course portfolio develops in tandem with the delivery of the course (About an hour of reflective comments per week.). • When cumulated the time amounts to approximately 15-20 hours or less.

  9. How do I know when I am “On the Right Track”? • If the course is team-taught collaborate with the other colleagues to assemble the course portfolio • Find a colleague (or another TA) with similar motivation or ask CET to help you find someone on campus with similar knowledge-base, goals and incentives • Faculty usually solicit outside responses (e.g., Bass, Cutler), then build on the process

  10. Is it worth my while to spend time on a course portfolio? • Ultimately it is a question of value: • How long does it take to conduct research? Is such a question asked in the context of research? • Course portfolios should be subject to peer review: is peer-reviewed research worth my time?

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