HI, Jim This is good stuff. Thanks Janet > ---------- > From: Teaching Breakfast List on behalf of Greenberg, James ([log in to unmask]) > Reply To: Teaching Breakfast List > Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 7:59 AM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Making Visible the Intellectual Work in Teaching - Posted to TB List by Jim Greenberg > > Folks: > > The posting below gives some useful insights on the construction and use of > course portfolios. It is by Dan Bernstein, director of the Center for > Teaching Excellence and Professor of Psychology at the University of Kansas > and Ellen Wert, formerly of the Pew Trusts, and now an editor and > educational consultant. Reprinted with permission. > > > MAKING VISIBLE THE INTELLECTUAL WORK IN TEACHING > > Dan Bernstein and Ellen Wert > > No scholar spends months in the library, laboratory, or field and then > discards the information, notes, data, and artifacts collected during those > visits. The materials represent the scholar's intellectual effort during > that time. They also are the basis of the books, papers, and articles that > help spread ideas and information, teach others how to be scholars, and make > up the record of the scholar's work that is judged during hiring, promotion, > and tenure. > > Yet semester after semester, most college teachers discard the evidence of > the intellectual effort they put into teaching. The idea of the course, > decisions about texts, assignments, creative solutions to problems that crop > up during the course, innovative plans for next year-the very things that > make sense of the syllabus and notes in the files and dog-eared texts on the > shelf-exist only in the busy teachers' mind. Teachers design assignments > and then review and evaluate their students' papers, tests, performances, > labs, and projects. But typically, the only trace of that enormous effort > (the teacher's as well as the students') is the students' final grades. > > When all the careful, difficult, intentional, and scholarly work of planning > and teaching a course is undocumented, it is lost for further use. Not only > is it unavailable for the teacher's own reflection, but it is not there for > aspiring teachers and colleagues to learn from. It is also unavailable to > those making important decisions about hiring, promotion, and tenure, and to > those mentoring colleagues who are being considered in those processes. > > Documentation of the intellectual work involved in teaching-and its > results-should be a critical part of each teacher's professional record. > Student course evaluations and peer observation of classes, although part of > the record, would be much more meaningful and useful in the context of a > nuanced picture of the course. > > A practical way to produce this documentation is the "course portfolio," a > written record for each of the teacher's courses that includes > > * The teacher's goals for the course > * A plan for achieving the goals > * Assignments and samples of student work that show the depth and breadth of > learning > * Reflection on how effective the course has been and why > * Ideas for making the course better the next time > * Comment from peers on the design of the course and the students' > achievement > > A small but increasing number of college teachers are creating and > maintaining "course portfolios." To be sure, making a course portfolio > requires some planning (asking the students' permission to make copies of > their work, saving copies of syllabi, assignments, notes) and some > diligence. But most of what goes into a course portfolio is material > produced in the process of planning and teaching a course. These materials > can be organized into six sections: goals, design, student work, reflection, > plans for improvement, and peer comment. > > Goals > > A good course syllabus spells out clearly the teacher's goals for the> > learners, along with a basic rationale for how the skills and knowledge they > develop will fit into their larger educational program. The course > portfolio starts with these statements. For example, a teacher of a > foundational course in visual literacy identifies the skills and > understanding that students will develop as they analyze and create textile > art, photographs, sculptures, or paintings. A teacher of literary/critical > theory states that students should consider both the assumptions they bring > to the task of analysis and the origins of the theories they use in their > analysis. A professor of material sciences states that students should be > able to use abstract mathematical representations of systems to solve > practical problems, rather than relying on computational approaches. > > Design > > In the syllabus and during the course, the teacher explains the > instructional practices used in the course. The design section of the > course portfolio includes these explanations plus reflections about the > reasons for choosing them for this particular course and why these > approaches to teaching and learning are likely to produce good outcomes for > the students in the course. > > Student work > > Examples of student work provide evidence of the effectiveness of the course > and offer a student voice that can complement the student perspective found > in course ratings. At the start of each course, instructors can obtain > permission to retain copies of a small sample of student work. From this, > they can develop an accessible archive that shows clearly what students > understand at the beginning, middle, and end of each course. > > For example, to demonstrate the depth of student learning, the visual > literacy instructor displays digital images of student work, commenting on > the qualities of color, line, and form; the instructor also provides the > feedback she gave to her students. Similarly, the literary/critical theory > instructor offers essays that show how students analyze literature and > question their own cultural assumptions, complete with comments and grades. > The material science professor provides pages of graded examination problems > to demonstrate the range of solutions that students use in solving problems. > In all cases, the teachers display the breadth of student learning by > reporting what percentage of learners achieves at different levels of > quality. The teacher's vision of what constitutes deep understanding is > thus available for discussion. > > Reflection > > Even the reflection section of the portfolio is not completely new work. > Teachers talk frequently with colleagues about the progress of their courses > and consider various reasons for their students' successes and failures. > And most teachers privately ponder their own work before, during, and after > the course. Taking a moment to make some notes about these conversations > and thoughts is a small investment, especially in comparison with the many > hours already invested in the course. > > Plans for improvement > > Again, during and after the course, the teacher thinks about ways to > strengthen the course in the future. Committing those thoughts to writing > not only helps make those plans reality, but also makes the ideas part of > the record of the course. > > Comments from expert peers > > Colleagues with knowledge of teaching practices and expertise in the subject > area can provide valuable written feedback on the quality of the course by > reading the portfolio's first five sections. The readers' feedback on the > course focuses on central questions about the design and delivery of the > course: the appropriateness of the goals and content of the course, the > adequacy of the instructional design, the depth of understanding expected of> > the students, the breadth of achievement across the whole range of learners > in the course, and the teacher's insights and future plans for the course. > Although reading the portfolio and writing feedback takes time, the > colleagues who have done this report that learning about the teaching > practices of others is stimulating and improves their own teaching. > > In 1999, faculty and administrators on five campuses began a project to > create and use course portfolios. Groups of faculty members across a > variety of disciplines from the University of Michigan, Indiana University, > the University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Texas A&M University, and Kansas State > University are participating. Together, they have developed a collection of > examples of course portfolios that both instruct and inspire. These can be > found at http://www.unl.edu/peerrev/. (See also at that site information > about a conference on the course portfolio, March 26-28, 2004.) > > What is to be gained through course portfolios? > > Quite practically, course portfolios provide an accurate and nuanced record > of the teacher's effort and the results of that effort. They complete the > picture suggested by grades, student evaluations, and peer observation of > classes. By documenting their work, teachers have the option to make it > available for meaningful formative and summative evaluation during hiring, > promotion, and tenure. > > Also, by preserving the work of teaching, we can then spread effective > practice among faculty members, instructors, and graduate teaching > assistants. In the same way that advanced students are engaged by reading > research articles, teachers find it fascinating to read accounts of other > teachers' work and samples of student learning. Providing access to a > sample of course portfolios is a very effective way to promote reflective > practice as a part of the professional life of college teachers. > > Moreover, the use of course portfolios can generate ongoing professional > conversations of the sort we have about our disciplinary scholarship. The > material in the course portfolio is rich and can give substance to our talk > about teaching: > > * By presenting examples of student work, teachers shift the focus of > conversation from presentation style to learning and understanding > > * In writing and reflecting, each teacher articulates what has been > effective in promoting learning and can use those insights to improve > > * By sharing work with peers, teachers are able to get helpful feedback from > colleagues that can strengthen their work > > Although building and learning to use course portfolios requires an initial > investment of time and effort, the returns on that investment are valuable. > Course portfolios can help faculty and administrators alike make better use > of time in planning, teaching, and making effective decisions. > > What would it take to make course portfolios a regular feature of academic > life? A pioneering group of teachers on each campus can start building and > reviewing course portfolios. But their efforts will continue only when > faculty, staff, and administrators explore the many ways the course > portfolio can be used. Equally important, faculty and administrators need > to communicate broadly both the benefits of portfolios and ideas for > improving the model. > > References > > Resources on course portfolios > March 26-28, 2004 Peer Review Project Conference: > http://www.unl.edu/peerrev/conference/ > > Hutchings, P. (Ed.) (1998). The course portfolio. Washington, DC: > American Association for Higher Education. > > Hutchings, P. (1996). Making teaching community property. Washington, DC: > American Association for Higher Education. > > Bernstein, D. (2002). Representing the intellectual work in teaching > through peer-reviewed course portfolios. In S. Davis & W. Buskist, (Eds.),> > The teaching of psychology: Essays in honor of Wilbert J. McKeachie and > Charles L. Brewer (215-229). Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum > Associates. > > Bernstein, D.J., Jonson, Jessica, & Smith, K.L. (2000). An examination of > the implementation of peer review of teaching. New Directions for Teaching > and Learning (no. 83), pp 73-85. > > Peer Review Project: http://www.unl.edu/peerrev/ > > Contents of a course portfolio (a handy list) > * The teacher's goals for the course > * A plan for achieving the goals > * Assignments and samples of student work that show the depth and breadth of > learning > * Reflection on how effective the course has been, and why > * Ideas for making the course better the next time > * Comments from peers on the design of the course and the students' > achievement > >