Creating a Teaching Dossier
Creating a Teaching Dossier
Teaching dossiers are evidence-based documents designed to showcase beliefs, values, experiences, and accomplishments in teaching. The teaching dossier if often requested when you apply to teaching-related positions, but also serves as a valuable tool to track your development as an educator. A good dossier can take time to assemble, so it is best to start compiling your document when you begin your teaching career. There are multiple sections of a teaching dossier, though, depending on your experiences, not all sections of the dossier may be relevant to you.
- A teaching philosophy
- Teaching practices
- Teaching experience
- Course (re)design
- Evidence of teaching effectiveness
- Teaching-related service
- Teaching Awards
- Research on teaching and learning
- Teaching development
- Appendices which may include sample teaching-related artefacts (e.g., course outline, sample assessment, lesson plan, Powerpoint slides)
The CTL has a series of self-paced guides designed to help GA/TAs create a teaching dossier.
Sections of a Teaching Dossier
Teaching Philosophy
All teaching dossiers begin with a teaching philosophy. This is a one-to-two page self-reflective statement that articulates your values and beliefs about teaching and learning. A strong philosophy is authentic, offering an accurate representation of yourself as a teacher, and should provide context for the entire dossier. For guidance on developing your teaching philosophy, visit module 2 of the Developing Your Teaching Dossier Series.
Teaching Practices
This section provides a space to explain your approach to teaching, including the methods you use (e.g., discussion, lecturing, active learning), how you communicate with students, your approach to evaluation, how you promote equity, diversity, inclusivity, and accessibility, and more. Here you can share what you do both inside and outside of the classroom and the benefits you see from using these practices.
Teaching Experience
This section outlines your teaching experience, including though not limited to GA/TA work, guest lectures, workshop facilitations and more. It should include the course name, semester, number of students, and major responsibilities (e.g., assessment, office hours). If you have taught at more than one institution or school, be sure to include institution names.
Course (Re)design
In this section you can highlight any work you have done to assist with the creation and/or redesign of a course, lab, or tutorial.
Effectiveness of Teaching
In this section you can include evaluations and feedback on your teaching. This may include solicited and unsolicited feedback from students, course instructor(s), and/or colleagues. It’s important to present this feedback in an organized way. For example, sorting feedback based on common themes such as organization and teaching methods, etc. If you have GA/TA evaluation forms that include numerical values, including this information in a table can be an effective way to show common trends.
Teaching-Related Service
In this section you can highlight any involvement you have had in activities that provide support for teaching, even if they happen outside of the classroom. For example, coordinating a student event, serving on a teaching-related committee are all examples of service related to teaching.
Teaching Awards
If you have been nominated or won any teaching-related awards you can describe these in your dossier.
Research on Teaching and Learning
In this section highlight any teaching-related research activities such as publications, presentations, or grants.
Teaching Development
This section will delve into how you improve upon your skills as a teacher and any continuing education you have done. You can give the specific names of any teaching-related courses or workshops you have completed or teaching certificates you have received. As an added tip, you may want to include what you learned from each course, workshop, or certificate and how it helped you grow. This is also a good time to explain your teaching goals and where you want to be as an educator in the future.
Appendices
In the appendices include examples to support the claims you have made in your dossier. For example, you may want to sample teaching-related artefacts (e.g., course outline, sample assessment, lesson plan, Powerpoint slides, student feedback).
Something to Remember
Keep in mind, that depending on your experiences, not all sections of the dossier may be relevant to you and there may be new sections to be added to best represent your experiences.
Putting your Teaching Dossier Together
Most dossiers are compiled in a word processing program (I.e., Word) and then exported as a PDF. However, some dossiers are electronic and presented as e-portfolios. Whichever style you choose, be sure that it looks professional.
Additional Resources
A sample teaching dossier template, along with other guides, can be found on the CTL website.