Number 1: Maintain a current curriculum vitae and teaching portfolio
All CEs must have two critical instruments to document their accomplishments to their institutions and to the field: a curriculum vitae (CV) and a teaching portfolio. These items also are very important when the time comes for promotion because they validate one’s accomplishments, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Knowing the criteria for promotion as a CE is critical for shaping one’s career, and we recommend checking with an individual’s institution for its specific requirements regarding formats for both the CV and the teaching portfolio, which typically are available from the academic promotion committee. Because most fellows and faculty are familiar with the format of a CV, we will focus on the teaching portfolio.
For most fellows and many faculty, the teaching portfolio is a new and/or less well understood entity. Unlike a CV, the teaching portfolio presents teaching activities not only as a collection or list, but also provides evidence of the influence the work has had on others, in a much more personal way. A few tips are listed on putting together a teaching portfolio. However, the most important advice we can offer is this: one should save all evidence of teaching including unsolicited letters and e-mails from learners and colleagues.
If your institution does not have a teaching portfolio template, we recommend using a pre-existing format. Several examples from academic medicine can be found on the Internet or on MedEdPORTAL, an open-access repository of educational content provided by the Association of American Medical Colleges. One such tool is the Educator Portfolio Template of the Academic Pediatric Association’s Educational Scholars Program (available: https://www.academicpeds.org/education/educator_portfolio_template.cfm). The Association of American Medical Colleges Group on Education Affairs held a consensus conference in 2006, from which five educational categories were defined: teaching, learner assessment, curriculum development, mentoring and advising, and educational leadership and administration.2 These categories can serve as an arrangement for a teaching portfolio. We also recommend that you include both educational research/scholarship and web-based educational materials such as online learning modules, YouTube videos, blogs, and wikis as a part of a teaching portfolio. For each project highlighted in the teaching portfolio, we recommend reflecting on and writing down how the project shows the quantity and quality of the work.
