Lesson 4: Identify the components of your dossier

You have made a great start to developing your dossier and you will continue to add your reflections, narrative, and content into a workable draft. Hint − use the dossier template in Lesson 3.

Introduced in Lesson 2 and 3 were the dossier components, teaching responsibilities, teaching philosophy, and teaching strategies and approaches. Building on the work you have done drafting your dossier and your decisions on which sections to include, you’ll want to add more content related to your teaching. You may want to refer to your CV for content and include in your dossier in the following components (reminder – select the components that fit your purpose and revise and adapt for your dossier).

• professional learning and development
• teaching and learning research (SoTL)
• service and educational leadership
• student feedback and course evaluations
• evidence of student learning and success
• peer feedback
• teaching awards and recognition
• summary and goals
• appendices

For each section, include a reflective introduction, a summary of what is to follow, how this aligns with your teaching philosophy and any other comments you want to make to emphasize your contribution to teaching and what you have learned. This lesson also introduces the notion of evidence that supports your dossier.

Example

In the professional learning and development section, include any courses, workshops, micro-credentials, and/or certificates that you’ve completed for your teaching development. Add specific details (as appropriate) about the number of hours, content, the institution, your motivation, what you learned and how this has influenced your teaching and development.

As you add to your dossier, keep in mind for each component you will provide evidence of your claims.  To begin thinking about the types of evidence to include, consider the following:

• “Evidence” refers to the documents and artefacts that can be used to illustrate the impact or effectiveness of your teaching.
• Evidence sources are from self, students, and/or colleagues. You can also link evidence of scholarly literature to further highlight how your teaching and learning approaches are informed by the research on teaching and learning.
• It is important to think about evidence early, because you may need to gather more.

Begin to list as many pieces of evidence as you can for each component in your dossier, include everything you can think of and edit as needed. Use the worksheet linked below: “Checklist: Identifying and Gathering Evidence for a Teaching Dossier." Consider the pieces of evidence you can use, what you still need to collect and how and when you plan to do that.

For further details on types of evidence refer to the comprehensive list in the Teaching Philosophies and Teaching Dossiers Guide.

Kenny, N., Berenson, C., Jeffs, C., Nowell, L., & Grant, K. (2018). Teaching philosophies and teaching dossiers guide. Calgary, AB: Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning. https://taylorinstitute.ucalgary.ca/sites/default/files/Teaching%20Philosophies%20and%20Teaching%20Dossiers%20Guide.pdf

• Decide what components to include in your teaching dossier
• Identify the material you have and what you want to gather
• Begin to consider what type of evidence you can include supporting your dossier