Creating a
Teaching/Professional Dossier
Shea Wang, Ph.D
Interim Faculty Evaluation Coordinator
780-633-3591
Faculty Evaluation at MacEwan
Five elements to evaluation:
• Teaching Dossier
• Peer Review
• Annual Report
• Online Student Feedback
• Stakeholder review (ASAC)
Principles of Policies C5065 & C5066
Evaluation is guided by the philosophy that we:
• promote a culture of teaching & learning
• foster professional development & scholarly activity
• promote fairness & transparency
• benefit faculty members through timely & accurate
feedback
• comply with Collective Agreement
• undertake as a process involving multiple
stakeholders & a variety of assessment approaches
What is a Teaching/Professional Dossier?
Policy C5065:
• “A teaching dossier is a concise, evidencebased record of teaching activities and other
academic accomplishments prepared by a
faculty member.”
Policy C5066:
• “A professional dossier is defined as a
concise, evidence-based record of academic
and professional accomplishments prepared
by a faculty member.”
What information does it contain?
• It documents achievement and reflection
through the following information:
 Teaching Philosophy
 Professional Service Philosophy
 Teaching Responsibilities
 Non-instructional Responsibilities
 Narrative of Evidence (reviews & reports;
assignments; achievements)
 Appendix of Documents
Why do we need a dossier?
Probationary -> Continuing
• Evaluation of faculty performance for purposes of granting a
continuing appointment is conducted by Academic Staff
Appointment Committees (ASACs)
• C5065:“Sessional and probationary faculty members shall
prepare and submit teaching dossiers to Chairs or immediate
supervisors annually (and to ASACs when required). Although
not mandatory, continuing and term faculty members may
choose to prepare and submit teaching dossiers at any time.”
• C5066: “In some cases probationary faculty members shall
prepare and submit professional dossiers to immediate
supervisors.”
What else can we use it for?
• Help when applying for employment
• Keeps teaching accomplishments organized
• Vehicle for presenting information about our
teaching activities
• Could be presented to institutional & legislative
bodies or for consideration of awards
• Understand & reflect on teaching skills &
weaknesses
• Plan for future teaching events
• Promote yourself through personal websites
Writing a Teaching Dossier
FIVE STEPS:
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Step 1: Develop an outline.
Step 2: Write a statement of teaching philosophy.
Step 3: Clarify your teaching responsibilities.
Step 4: Reflect on your future teaching goals.
Step 5: Select and compile your best evidence.
Step 1: Develop an Outline
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Teaching Philosophy and Goals
Teaching Responsibilities
Course Development
Service
Research
Appendices
See handout for example of tables of contents
Step 2: Activity
Break into small groups and discuss the
following sentences:
• I most enjoyed teaching when __________
• I knew I had a problem when __________
• What do you think this says about your
teaching and learning environment?
• What is your teaching philosophy?
See handout for information on teaching perspectives
Step 2: Philosophy Statements
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Most are brief ~ less than 1 page
Use language appropriate for the audience
Use a first-person voice
Use reflection to create a vivid description
of your teaching & learning ideas
• Personalize (insightful, interesting, & lively)
Step 2: Review Statements
• Review the teaching philosophy statement
on your table (choose1 example)
• Roll the “Teaching Cube” and discuss the
teaching philosophy based on that facet
• Can you apply this question to your own
teaching philosophy?
See handout for examples on teaching philosophy
Step 3: Responsibilities
Consider:
• Workload
• Courses taught with student
numbers/levels/credit hours
• Details of other academic activity: seminars,
research supervision, coaching, advising…
• Student supervision
• Resource materials development
• Did you or any of your students get an award
as a result of your teaching?
Step 4: Goals
short-term (1 year) & long-term (2-5 years) goals
• Efforts at improving teaching, learning, service…
 Formal courses
 Conferences
 Participation in peer consultation/review
• How will you be changing your performance…
 New technology?
 Lecture -> case study?
Step 5: Appendices
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Curriculum Vitae
Bibliography
Service contributions
Awards
Information from student/stakeholder
feedback
• Information from peer reviews
• Information from administrators
Dossier as a Tool for Personnel Decisions
• For personnel decisions, faculty members
need to gather and present hard evidence
and specific data about teaching
effectiveness. This involves demonstrating
student learning through instruction.
• The burden falls to the faculty member to
provide a carefully organized case that
establishes the connections with the
evidence.
Personnel Decisions: Activity
Policy 5065: 4.2.2 Faculty members are evaluated
on performance pertaining to academic
responsibilities which can include:
- instruction
- research, scholarly activity, artistic engagement
- service
Policy 5066: 4.2.2 Faculty members are evaluated
on performance requirements outlined in position
descriptions.
In small groups, discuss what specific criteria you
think is used to assess a teaching/professional
portfolio and ways you can demonstrate it…
What are ASAC’s Looking For?
Reviewers will be looking for:
• Clear statement of responsibilities
• Purposes and goals consistent with department
and institution
• Evidence-based success in teaching as
demonstrated by student learning
• Comments from peer reviewers and colleagues
• Student ratings and comments
See handout for example of reflection on student feedback survey
Evaluating Your Dossier
Questions to ask:
• Is real evidence of accomplishment presented, not
just a reflective statement?
• Is the reflective statement consistent with the
syllabi, student evaluations, and peer feedback?
• Does the dossier present evidence that the
student’s actually learned in the instructor's
course(s)?
• Have efforts been made by the faculty member to
assess and improve their teaching?
See handout for guide to evaluating teaching dossiers & organizational matrix
Online Portfolios
• Many faculty are now compiling online
portfolios:
• http://home.gwu.edu/~nmilman/service/index.
html
• http://ageducation.org/portfolio/index.html
• http://kinzie.edschool.virginia.edu/
• http://academic.macewan.ca/katod/instruction
al-philosophy (PhyEd)
• http://academic.macewan.ca/pollardc4/testpage/ (Health and Community Studies)
Resources
https://facultycommons.macewan.ca/services/faceval
• Teaching Dossier – examples, instructions,
resources
• Student surveys – incl. instructions on accessing
CoursEval
• Faculty Evaluation Policies [C5065 & C5066]
• Chair & Faculty Evaluation Handbooks
• Events, speakers, workshops & past presentations
Thank you!