ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 776 / C&RL News ■ Novem ber 1998 Creating the developmental teaching portfolio A great tool for self-assessment by Ann Lally and Ninfa Trejo A t the University o f Arizona (UA) Library it is known that “The new academic library will be a teaching library.”1 Therefore, w hen a doctoral candidate approached us about partici­ pating in h er research project at the UA on lan­ guage, reading, and culture— in which a portion of her research is focusing on the use of teaching portfolios by academic teaching librarians—we enthusiastically agreed. This project required a commitment to meet once a month for eight months for two hours and was designed to assist us in creating a developmental teaching portfolio, w hich w e could u se to improve our teaching. This was a unique ad­ venture that included an­ ticipation, fear o f the u n ­ known, anxiety, a n d hard work as w e progressed. The group o f ten librar­ ians discussed two types of teaching portfolios: summ ative and developm ental. A summative teaching portfolio features the teacher’s best work and is often used for assessment of job perfor­ mance by the teacher w hen applying for a job. A developmental teaching portfolio features com­ ponents that help a teacher assess his or her own performance and identify areas for improvement. With the researcher’s guidance and facilitation, w e w orked on exercises that included: the sam­ pling o f literature o n portfolio creation, small group discussion, observation, learning classroom assessment techniques, reflection, etc. Each of us was able to begin developing a unique, personal­ ized portfolio for growth and reflection. In devel­ oping a teaching portfolio, “The first organizing principle calls for a deep, thorough assessment on both a teacher’s belief system and practices to see how well they match, the second for an assess­ ment of past practice that can be used to improve the future.”2 We had to examine our motives for teaching, what w e brought to the students’ learn­ ing experience, and how w e wanted the students to experience learning. As part of this process, we asked our­ selves the following questions: W hat d o I w ant to achieve w ith this portfolio? Which com ponents do I w ant to in­ clude to reflect my growth? Illus. by K. W augh H ow should it be structured in order to achieve my goals? We h ad to reflect on w hat w as pertinent to us, what best illustrated our philosophy of teaching, and what would lead us toward areas for improve­ ment. As w e asked ourselves these questions, it be­ came clear that we needed to include certain com­ ponents in order to achieve our goals. Our inten­ tion was to use this portfolio to assess our growth, provide us with a mechanism for reflection, and point us tow ard areas for improvement. To fa­ cilitate this process, w e decided to include the following items: a curriculum vitae, a teaching philosophy, a statement of teaching responsibili- A b o u t th e authors A n n Lally is fine arts & hum anities librarian a t the University o f A rizona, e-mail: alally@ bird.library.arizona.edu; Ninfa Trejo is social sciences lib ra ria n a t th e U niversity o f A rizona , e -m ail: ntrejo@ bird. libra ry, arizona. edu mailto:alally@bird.library.arizona.edu C&RL N ew s ■ N ovem b er 1998 / 777 ties, several teaching artifacts/indices, and writ­ ten reflection. These items were selected in order to provide us with opportunities for docum ent­ ing and reflecting u pon the quality of our teach­ ing. We will examine each item separately and in detail. Portfolio contents We included a curriculum vitae to provide a frame­ work for reflecting on our current duties as teach­ ing librarians. The discipline of updating a vitae once a year will help us reflect on our accomplish­ ments as teachers throughout our career. Updat­ ing the curriculum vitae will also help formulate the direction w e w ant to take in the future. Un­ like a resume, a vitae provides the opportunity to express how proficient w e are at our job, rather than simply being a summary of experiences. Our teaching p hilosophy reflects our beliefs about education and its connection with librarianship. As w e wrote our philosophies, w e reflected upon the importance o f being a librarian and teacher and w hat that means to us and the learners’ fu­ ture. We also reflected u p o n how w e teach and how it intersects with student learning. This was an excellent way to acknowledge and explore the issues and complexities surrounding the unique variety o f situations in w hich w e find ourselves teaching. It also provided us with a philosophical foundation as w e prepare for a class or help some­ one at the reference desk. We also included a statement o f teaching responsi­ bilities, which describes the disciplines for which w e are responsible, sessions w e currently teach, the number of students in each session, and if the faculty member was present. This information was useful as w e began to assess and reflect upon our teaching strengths and weaknesses. It was also useful for beginning to identify trends and needs. Another component of the teaching portfolio is the teaching artifacts or indices. These can be lesson plans, assignments, observation reports from a colleague, evaluations from faculty and students, presentations from conferences, or articles you have written about teaching. We chose those arti­ facts that would help inform us as w e reflected on and assessed our teaching. Once again, because one of the goals was to improve teaching, w e reflected on recent teaching experiences and identified areas that needed im­ provement and chose the artifacts accordingly. The important questions are: What does this artifact help demonstrate about my teaching? and What can I learn from it? It is not important to include lllus. by K. Waugh the entire universe o f materials or even every­ thing generated from one class, but simply those items that helped us reflect on, evaluate, and im­ prove our teaching. Written reflection is w hat ties everything in a developmental portfolio together and helps us as­ sess our abilities and experiences as teachers. As w e analyzed the teaching artifacts w e had chosen to include, w e reflected upon the experience of teaching: How did I perform as a teacher? What w ere the students like? W hat w en t great? What was not so great and why? What do these teaching artifacts say about the experience? Is my philoso­ phy o f teaching reflected in how I teach? As w e reflected on what w e had learned from past mis­ takes and successes and what changes w e would make w hen asked to teach in the future, w e also charted our next steps and considered w hat w e needed to do to implement the changes w e identi­ fied. Those w ho teach know that “the experience of teaching is complex, uncertain and problem­ atic,”3 and is more so for teaching librarians, since w e teach a class only once, perhaps twice, if the subject matter permits. We have to achieve learning in classes with students w hose skills and abilities are often un­ known to us. Because a teaching portfolio helps us prepare and focus on our teaching, w e can bet­ ter communicate with faculty members. We need to ask for as much information as possible from faculty in order to structure our classes appropri­ ately. We n e e d to find ou t the current level of students’ skills before the class starts to accom­ modate all the students in this group, approach individual learning styles, and make the class a meaningful experience. It is a challenge and a learning experience to reflect o n each teaching experience. The process can provide feedback for growth. A developmental teaching portfolio is n o t m eant to be a static, unchanging d o cu ­ ment, but a mechanism for continually assessing and improving teaching. Summary Why did w e w an t to go through this exciting experience? Although the motivation for each of 7 7 8 1 C&RL News ■ N ovem ber 1998 The conscientious use of teaching portfolios w ill help us become partners w ith faculty for the benefit of the students. us in the group varied, our purpose was to learn teaching techniques and improve our teaching skills. Librarians w ant students to find value in the time they spend with us. W e w ant students to find w hat they learn meaningful and interest­ ing; and w e w ant them to be able to apply their learning to future information-seeking endeav­ ors. We know that w e will never be perfect teach­ ers, that there will always be room for improve­ m ent, an d that o u r portfolios are tools for continuous improvement. The conscientious use of teaching portfolios will help us become part­ ners with faculty for the benefit of the students. This was a time-consuming and deeply reflec­ tive process through which w e w ere able to de­ velop a more holistic approach to the continuous improvement of teaching. This research project left us with a basic framework from w hich w e can approach the variety of teaching experiences in which w e engage for self-assessment; the abil­ ity to document and acknowledge the principles and values w e possess as teaching librarians; the ability to use reflection as a mechanism to iden­ tify areas for im provem ent; an d a structure in w hich w e can anticipate the results o f our im­ proved efforts. Personal development and proactive partici­ pation to increase awareness of the library’s role as the center of the academic community is cer­ tainly an incentive to design, build, use, and im­ prove a developmental teaching portfolio. How­ ever, teaching is still only one of many jobs that librarians perform today; therefore, this is an ex­ cellent tool for self-assessment. Notes 1. Stoffle, Carla J. and Karen A. Williams. “The Instructional Program and Responsibilities of the Teaching Library,” New Directions for Higher Educa- tion 90, (summer 1995): 64. 2. Murray, John P. “Successful faculty devel­ opm ent and evaluation: the complete teaching portfolio.” Higher Education Report 8:21 3. Brookfield, Stephen D. The Skillful Teacher. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1990. ■