Course Portfolio: Making Pedagogy Visible

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

2. 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

3. Making pedagogy visible: Collect, Select, Reflect, Connect Reflection Notes ProjectPlan Critical Analysis Links Assignments Goals &Objectives Course Portfolio Student Work Support Materials Pedagogical Research & Scholarship MediaClips Images Review & Feedback

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

5. Examples of Course PortfolioFrom 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. http://gallery.carnegiefoundation.org/gallery_of_tl/castl_he.html http://www.courseportfolio.org/peer/pages/index.jsp?what=showcasedList(Peer Review of Teaching and Learning)

6. Examples • Advanced Mathematics for Secondary Teachers: Course PortfolioFor the Fall 2000 class taught at Michigan State University Curtis Bennett http://gallery.carnegiefoundation.org/collections/castl_he/cbennett/index.html • Western Civilization: A Course Portfoliohttp://gallery.carnegiefoundation.org/collections/castl_he/mkelly/welcome.htm • An Alternative Approach to General Chemistry: Addressing the Needs of At-Risk Students with Cooperative Learning StrategiesDennis Jacobs • http://gallery.carnegiefoundation.org/collections/castl_he/djacobs/index2.htm • Learning Interdisciplinarity: A Course Portfolio Sherry Linkon http://gallery.carnegiefoundation.org/collections/castl_he/slinkon/CoursePortfolioHome.htm

7. 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

8. 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 What are the benefits of a course portfolio?

9. Benefits to administrators and departments • 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

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

11. 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) http://www.courseportfolio.org/peer/pages/index.jsp?what=rootMenuD&rootMenuId=2

12. Course Portfolio Contents 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 e-mails 7. Future Issues