THEME: Teaching portfolios - Evidence in portfolios – An example
SDUUP has invited Assistant Professor Peter Sørensen from Public Administration at the Department of Political Science and Public Management to share how he used students’ evaluations of his teaching in his teaching portfolio.
Excerpt from Peter's portfolio
”I generally receive good evaluations from students. They emphasize my lecturing skills and my ability to make difficult material accessible. It is also a consistent feature in the evaluations, that I meet the students as equals, that I recognize them, and that I seek a dialogue with them in my teaching. However, there are students - primarily at the Master level – who prefer more classical lectures rather than dialogue and exercises. It is a general challenge at the Master level, that some students want as much theoretical teaching as possible, whereas other students want a lot of exercises, group work and less theoretical teaching. This is a constant challenge, which I am very much aware of, and for which I seek to find a balance. I therefore usually change between lectures and exercises. My presentations are typically between 20 and 45 minutes long. During the presentation I invite the students to a dialogue, and I challenge their answers. The lectures/presentations are complemented with both individual and group exercises and reflections.
In the course Your Personal Leadership (FMOL) for which I am responsible and one of four co-teachers, we have for the last two years received suggestions in the course evaluations, that we reduce the syllabus and try to help students prioritize content, for example, by outlining what is core content and what is more peripheral content. We will do both starting from 2022. At the same time, we will make sure to make the connections between theories read and some of the many exercises included more explicit during the residentials, which make up the course. The reason for this is, that once the students have read a large syllabus in advance of a 2-3 days residential, and perhaps heard a short summary of several texts or theories, it can be difficult for them to recognize the theoretical foundation for a given exercise. We have taken this to heart, and we will make sure to be more explicit about it from 2022. Examples of evaluations can be seen here: https://sdu.itslearning.com/eportfolio/417499/34411/ .”
This way of using student evaluations in the teaching portfolio is notable, because it:
- Highlights significant positive teaching experiences based on evidence (first paragraph)
- Shows the teacher’s own reflections on a challenge identified based on evidence (first paragraph)
- Identifies possible development points based on evidence from the students (second paragraph)
- Outlines matching development initiatives (second paragraph). This could also include references to pedagogical literature, to support the intervention.
After implementation of the changes, reflections on the effect of the development initiatives can be made based on the evidence from the evaluations, and these reflections can be added to the portfolio.