How to organize and structure a teaching dossier

• One to two pages describing what you believe about teaching and student learning, why you hold these beliefs, and brief highlights of how you put them into practice.

• List of roles and responsibilities (e.g. title, description, and responsibilities related to teaching and learning). An overview of courses taught including course code, title, enrollment, graduate/undergraduate course, required/elective. This may also include undergraduate/graduate supervisory, practicums, clinical teaching, and educational leadership roles.
• Brief reflection on your primary roles and responsibilities related to teaching and learning.

• A detailed description of selected strategies and supporting materials (e.g. assignment description, representative excerpts from syllabuses, example learning material and assignments [e.g. lab workbooks and reports, projects, creative work, field work], photos that document student learning experiences, screenshots that capture learning materials and resources). Full syllabuses or sample course assignments and learning materials may be included in the Appendix.
• Brief reflection on how these strategies and supporting materials link back to your teaching philosophy, what these strategies say about your strengths and accomplishments, what you have learned through these strategies and activities, and how will you continue to grow and improve.

• A list and description of engagement in initiatives implemented, and/or service contributions that help strengthen teaching and learning or enable other’s growth and development as educators (e.g. teaching and learning committees, working groups, task forces or curriculum committees, informal or formal mentorship).
• Brief reflection on how you have contributed to these activities, how this work relates back to your beliefs or approaches to teaching and student learning, what this work says about your strengths, what you have learned through these experiences, and how you hope to further grow and develop.

• A list and description of professional learning and development activities related to teaching and learning (e.g. programs, certificates, courses, workshops, conferences).
• Brief reflection on why you engaged in these activities, what you learned from them, how you have incorporated these learnings into your practice, how these learnings have influenced your beliefs or approaches to teaching and student learning, and where you hope to further grow and develop.

Engagement in discipline-based educational research (DBER) or the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL)

• Description of engagement in DBER and SoTL, including a list of projects and outcomes (e.g. project reports, results, conference presentations, publications).
• Brief reflection on why you engaged in these activities, how they link back to your teaching practice, what you have learned from these activities, how you have incorporated these learnings into your practice, how these learnings have influenced your beliefs or approaches to teaching and student learning, and where you hope to further grow and develop (including future scholarly engagement related to teaching and student learning).

• Short and long-term goals related to teaching and student learning to provide evidence of continuous growth and development.

• Summary of course evaluation data (e.g. student ratings of instruction or other course evaluation data presented in a table over multiple learning contexts, years, and courses). It is recognized that this data may not be available or appropriate in all contexts.
• Brief reflection on what you have learned from this data, how this data and related comments connect to your philosophy and practices, what this data says about your strengths and areas for improvement, and what actions you will take to grow and improve.

Examples of unedited student comments from multiple courses or learning experiences, where they are available. Full sets are most often presented in an appendix.

• In large courses, a representative selection of comments or full sets of comments answering one or two questions may be provided with an explanation of how the comments were prepared.

• Summary of formative feedback received from students (e.g. mid-semester feedback).
• Testimonials that speak directly to areas highlighted in your philosophy or strategies.
• Brief reflection on what you have learned from these comments, how these comments connect to your philosophy and practices, what this data says about your strengths, and what actions you will take to grow and improve.

• Examples of student work that support your teaching beliefs, strategies, strengths and accomplishments. This may include exemplars, successive drafts of student work, and evidence of success (e.g. career placement and progression, graduate school admission, student publications and conference presentations that were prepared under your supervision or as a result of your teaching and learning activities).
• Brief reflection to put these examples in context, on how these connect to your philosophy and practices, what they say about your strengths, and what actions you will take to grow and improve.

• A title and description of nominations and recognition regarding your contributions to teaching and learning. Many readers may be unfamiliar with these awards, so it is helpful to provide context (e.g. Is this a faculty-level, institutional, professional, national or international level award? Why did you receive this/these awards? Who nominated you?).
• A list of external invitations to speak or teach based on your contributions to teaching and student learning.
• Example statements or testimonials from colleagues regarding your teaching and learning practices.
• A summary of peer evaluations and reviews of your teaching or course learning materials.
• Brief reflection on what these awards, nominations and peer feedback pieces have meant to your growth and development, how they demonstrate your strengths, what you have learned, how they relate back to your beliefs or approaches to teaching and student learning, and how you hope to further grow and develop.

• A brief reflection to summarize and highlight the information presented in the dossier, how this information best demonstrates your beliefs, strengths and accomplishments, what you have learned through this process, what it has meant to your growth and development as a teacher, and how you hope to further grow and develop.

• Documentation to support statements of accomplishment throughout the dossier as indicated above (e.g. course outlines, assignments, course materials, examples of student work, course evaluation results, peer observation reports, SoTL publications).

• Signed letters from former students and peers that complement or elaborate on your teaching beliefs, strategies and accomplishments. Quotations from these letters may be integrated throughout the dossier to provide further evidence of effectiveness.