Preparing a Teaching Portfolio for Tenure, Promotion, or Permanence at McMaster

A teaching portfolio is a curated document that showcases your teaching beliefs, practices, impacts, and goals. For tenure- and teaching-track faculty, a teaching portfolio is required as part of the documentation you submit when applying for tenure and permanence.

If you are a sessional instructor, and particularly if you are on the academic job market, a teaching portfolio is often required for job applications. In both cases, and for tenured and permanent faculty, a teaching portfolio can act as a tool that allows you to reflect upon, evaluate, and document your teaching strengths and areas for enhancement. A teaching portfolio can also, of course, come in handy when applying to teaching awards!

For tenure-track or teaching-track faculty, teaching portfolios for the purposes of tenure, promotion, or permanence are expected to align with the requirements of the SPS B2 Teaching Portfolios policy. This document outlines the main parts of the teaching portfolio and lists the specific components required for each.

• Part A: Executive Summary
  • Description of responsibilities and mechanism of evaluation drawn from the appointment letter, or updates thereto (maximum one page);
  • Description of teaching approach/philosophy (about one page);
  • Description of teaching practice, including examples of how the approach/philosophy has been realized, or how teaching has been adapted to unusual conditions (one to two pages);
  • Description of contributions to teaching, for example, course design, publications and research on teaching and learning, presentations on teaching and learning, professional development, educational leadership, reports on issues pertaining to teaching and learning (about one page);
  • Complete details of responses to the summative question in the student feedback on all courses taught over the past five years. The information should be set in the context of all the teaching done in the department. It is the responsibility of the Department Chair to provide all instructors with contextual data for all the courses given in each term.
• Part B – Supporting Documentation
  • This section is optional and may contain additional material compiled by the faculty member in support of Part A.

For more information on developing a teaching portfolio that aligns with the McMaster SPS B2 policy, see the MacPherson Institute guidebook on Preparing a Teaching Portfolio or feel free to reach out to the MacPherson Institute.

Once you have a complete draft of your teaching portfolio you can also request a teaching portfolio consultation (to receive feedback).