INSTRUCTIONS FOR CREATING AN EDUCATOR PORTFOLIO
Prepared for your use by the UTMB Academy of Master Teachers
An Educator Portfolio (EP) is a collection of evidence of your accomplishments as an educator. An
Educator Portfolio highlights your best work as an educator in a relatively easy to read format. It is more
than a CV as it generally includes more detailed descriptions of the work, samples of the work, evidence of
quality, and evidence of dissemination among the community of educators. An EP also includes your
teaching goals or philosophy, your preparation to be a good educator and, reflections on your work. All
areas of education may be represented, including direct teaching, mentoring, advising, and/or
assessment, enduring educational materials; and educational leadership. The EP may be used to apply for
promotion, tenure, entrance into a teaching academy, or other award. The following are general guidelines
to assist you in the creation of your EP.
The Educator Portfolio consists of a summary document and samples of your best work that show evidence
of the quality of the activities listed in the summary document. These documents should be organized with
each section clearly labeled.
We provide here the template1 for the summary document that includes three sections:
 Teaching/Assessment/Mentoring/Advising
 Enduring Educational Materials
 Educational Leadership
Under each section, you should present the following information related to the section:
 Goals or Philosophy
 Preparation
 Tables of Activities
Within each activity table, you should list information about the activity including three types of evidence:
 Quantity/duration of activity
 Quality of work
 Engagement with the community of educators (dissemination)
Supporting documentation/samples of work should be included in the Appendix section of the portfolio.
Go here for the template: www.utmb.edu/AMT/Educator_Portfolio/EducatorPortfolio.asp
TIPS:
1. Describe all of your activities thoroughly enough that reviewers from schools and backgrounds other
than your own will understand and be able to interpret your work. Define acronyms.
2. How much to include? Your EP can be a compilation of your career’s work (much like your CV is).
Concentrate on your most recent work (e.g., that done in the last 4-5 years.) The exception would be in
the case of enduring educational materials (publications, books, etc.) for which there is no set time
limit. Specific uses of the EP may then request only a certain number of activities (e.g. 5 years only; 5
activities only) so pay attention to directions from those requesting the EP.
3. When presenting numerical data (e.g. evaluation data), try to summarize in tables.
For more information about creating an Educator Portfolio, see also:
- a 12-min presentation at http://emedia.utmb.edu/educatorportfolio
- sample portfolios at www.utmb.edu/AMT/Educator_Portfolio/EducatorPortfolio.asp
Instructions For Creating The Educator Portfolio – Developed by the UTMB Academy of Master Teachers
revised Mar 2010
Page 1 of 6
SECTION I: TEACHING, ASSESSMENT, MENTORING, ADVISING
1. Describe the goals or philosophy that guides your practice as a teacher, assessor of learners,
mentor and/or advisor.
Reflect in one page or less on your goals or personal philosophy of education. You may discuss
such issues as how your practice relates to your role as a teacher, your strengths, and the areas that
still challenge you as a teacher. You could also include the strategies you have used to improve
your skills and your goals for your career as an educator. Your goals or philosophy should relate
in some way to the data that your subsequently report in your portfolio.
2. Describe how you have prepared yourself for your role as teacher, assessor, mentor and/or
advisor.
Here it would be useful to discuss any courses, books, personal research, mentoring, or other
preparation you have used to prepare yourself in your role as a teacher. You could even mention if
you have modeled yourself after other teachers you have admired.
3. Teaching/Assessment Activities
For Teaching and Assessment activities, duplicate and complete this table for each separate activity you
wish to present. List any documentation in the portfolio and place the documents in a labeled and tabbed
appendix.List in chronological order with the most recent activity listed first.
Teaching/Assessment Activity
Context of activity (school or
department, format of activity)
Description of role
Duration of service (give years)
Service quantity
(e.g., hours/year)
Number and type of learners (e.g.,
number per year, semester, term)
Goals for the activity
Outcomes, and other indicators of
quality of this activity
Dissemination among the community
of educators
Name the activity here
Teaching/Assessment Activities:
Types of activities can include but are not necessarily limited to any of the following:
 Courses
 Lectures
 Small group facilitation
 Community-based education
 Clinical teaching
 Laboratory teaching
 Developing or managing an assessment activity
 Other direct types of student assessment (e.g. serving as an oral examiner)
 Faculty Development
Quality indicators for each activity can include but are not necessarily limited to any of the
following:
Instructions For Creating The Educator Portfolio – Developed by the UTMB Academy of Master Teachers
revised Mar 2010
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Concise summary of evaluations including peer evaluations and student evaluations, including
if possible, change over time and normative data.-more complete data may be included in an
appendix.
Course/program director evaluations (also in concise tabular summary)
Invitations to teach outside of one’s school
Repeat invitations to teach the same group or in the same course
Growth in quantity
Learners’ success (in terms of their publications, grants, etc.)
Quotes from supporting letters (complete letters should be in appendix or included with letters
of recommendation for promotion)
Teaching Awards. Indicate the level of the award (international, national, regional, state, local,
etc.) and the criteria for receiving the award.
Evidence of Dissemination among the Community of Educators can include but is not
necessarily limited to, any of the following:
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Publications of descriptions of teaching or assessment innovation
Invited presentations (e.g., workshops, discussion group) related to teaching expertise focused
on teaching method or effective teaching strategies
Peer review of teaching and/or instructional material (Cite where and how peer reviewed)
Samples/examples of materials (or excerpts, summary)
Public dissemination and Impact/Use (Give citations for presentation(s); describe nature of
adoption and use elsewhere; indicated inclusion in national repositories and “hit” statistics
4. Mentoring/advising Activities
For Mentoring and Advising activities, duplicate and complete this table for each mentoring/advising
relationship you wish to present. List any documentation in the portfolio and place the documents in a
labeled and tabbed appendix. List in chronological order with the most recent activity listed first.
Name here
Name of mentee or advisee
Description of role as mentor/advisor
Purpose or goals of relationship
Description of mentoring/advising
process
Current status of advisee
Outcome(s) of relationship
Documentation
List your materials here and place the materials in an Appendix.
SECTION II: ENDURING EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS
1. Describe the goals or philosophy that guides your development of educational materials.
2. Describe how you have prepared yourself for your role as a developer of educational materials.
Instructions For Creating The Educator Portfolio – Developed by the UTMB Academy of Master Teachers
revised Mar 2010
Page 3 of 6
Duplicate and complete this table for each enduring material you wish to present. It is best to list your
materials in reverse chronological order, with the most recent one on top. List any documentation in the
portfolio and place the documents in a labeled and tabbed appendix. List in chronological order with the
most recent activity listed first.
Educational Material
Description of material
Role in development
Goals or purpose of educational
material
Outcomes, accomplishments, and other
indicators of quality of service or
impact of this material.
Dissemination among the community
of educators
Name of material here
Use space below for descriptions of teaching accomplishments that either do not fit the other categories or
fall outside the requested time frame but that are significant. List any documentation in the portfolio and
place the documents in a labeled and tabbed appendix.
Types of activities can include, but are not necessarily limited, to any of the following:
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Simulation development
Computer based instructional materials Instructional software
Audio-visual materials (e.g. instructional videos, audiotapes, slide sets)
Textbooks or Textbook Chapters (especially if used for teaching)
Review articles or extended abstracts with clear educational value
Items used for learner evaluations, such as multiple choice questions written for the NBME, or
OSCE based evaluations.
Case s developed for use in case-based teaching, problem-based learning, or team- based learning.
Manuals, guidelines, or curriculum guides (especially those that can be used by others, not just
developed for your own course)
Workshop/Group activity design
CME program materials
Patient education materials
Resources used for conducting teaching sessions
NOTE: Some examples of educational materials that should NOT be considered “enduring
educational materials” include the following:2
 A syllabus used only for one course, or by one individual , or in one school
 A PowerPoint presentation only used in one course, or by one individual
 Materials that require constant updating
 Review articles written principally for research with limited educational applicability
 Materials developed more to communicate research findings than educational purposes
 Self-published materials: textbooks that have no clear evidence of dissemination
 Course websites used solely for course management, communication, or clerical purposes.
 publications related to a content area not related to education (eg., a basic science research
publication)
Instructions For Creating The Educator Portfolio – Developed by the UTMB Academy of Master Teachers
revised Mar 2010
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Types of Quality indicators can include but are not necessarily limited to any of the following:
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Narrative or tabular summary of peer evaluations and student evaluations
Test item statistics
Invitations to share scholarly products outside of school
Growth in quantity
Adoption of educational material by other groups, schools, courses, etc.
Awards received for educational materials
Evidence of Engagement with/Dissemination among the Community of Educators can include but is
not necessarily limited to any of the following:
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Have teachers and learners other than the author used the materials? At the same or different
institutions
Peer review of educational materials
Invited presentations related to expertise on these educational materials
Public dissemination and impact
Publications of descriptions of educational materials
SECTION III: EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP
1. Describe the goals or philosophy that guides your development of educational materials.
2. Describe how you have prepared yourself for your educational leadership roles.
Duplicate and complete this table for each leadership activity you wish to present. It is best to list your
materials in reverse chronological order, with the most recent one on top. List any documentation in the
portfolio and place the documents in a labeled and tabbed appendix.
Activity
Description of leadership role
Duration of service (give years)
Goals and/or initiatives
Outcomes, accomplishments, and other
indicators of quality of service or impact in
this role.
Dissemination among the community of
educators
Name the activity here
Types of activities can include but are not necessarily limited to any of the following:
 Curriculum committee member
 Course director
 Leadership activities (office holder, committee chair, committee member,
regional/national/international education organization
etc)
Instructions For Creating The Educator Portfolio – Developed by the UTMB Academy of Master Teachers
revised Mar 2010
Page 5 of 6
for
 Program director
 Assistant/associate dean for education
 Curriculum development (Can also be in teaching section)
 Curriculum reform
 Course committee member
 Education project director
 National exam or licensing board service
 Peer reviewer for Educational Journal
NOTE: Being an “educational leader” for a course or curriculum generally involves directing or
coordinating or managing faculty who perform direct teaching in that course.
Evidence of Quality can include but is not necessarily limited to any of the following:
 Peer or 360° evaluations
 Letters of recognition or “reference”
 Dissemination/adoptions of practices by others
 Student evaluations
 Item acceptance rate (for NBME service)
 Awards for educational leadership
Evidence of Dissemination among the Community of Educators can include but is not necessarily
limited to any of the following:
 Evidence that you have presented to others about this leadership role
 Dissemination efforts made while in this role
 Evidence of achievement outside of one’s institution
 Invitations outside of one’s institution for leadership roles or responsibilities
1 The Educator Portfolio as created by the UTMB Academy of Master Teachers. This template is based on the criteria for
educational scholarship proposed by Glassick, Huber, and Maeroff: clear goals, adequate preparation, appropriate methods,
significant results, effective presentation, and reflective critique. Glassick CE, Huber MR, Maeroff GI. Scholarship Assessed –
Evaluation of the Professoriate. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1997. The template was adapted from Simpson D,Fincher RM,
Hafler JP, Irby DM,Richards BF, Rosenfeld GC, Viggiano TR. Advancing educators and education by defining the components
and evidence associated with educational scholarship. Med Educ. 2007 Oct; 41(10):1002-9. Epub Sep 5, 2007. See also:
Simpson, D, Marcdante, K, Fenzel, J, (2007). The Educator's Portfolio & Curriculum Vitae - Workshop & Resource Guide. At
MedEdPORTAL: http://services.aamc.org/30/mededportal/servlet/s/segment/mededportal/?subid=677
2
From Fulbright and Jaworkski L.L.P. Faculty Excellence Award. Definition of “Enduring Materials” 1.28.02
Instructions For Creating The Educator Portfolio – Developed by the UTMB Academy of Master Teachers
revised Mar 2010
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