Quantity of work in the teaching portfolio refers to more than a mere cataloging of published peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, courses taught, presentations given, and so forth (which should be included in the CV). Instead, it documents time spent in teaching activities, how often teaching occurs, the number and types of learners involved, and how the activity fits into a training program.
Quality of work can include how innovative methods were crafted and implemented to customize teaching in creative ways to accomplish specific learning objectives. This description renders the contents of the teaching portfolio more than merely a sketch of work activities documented by numbers, and tells a story about what occurred. When documenting evidence of quality, provide comparative measures whenever possible. Quality of teaching also can be illustrated by evaluations, pretests and posttests, and as complimentary e-mails and letters from learners and other faculty members. The description of teaching activities also shows one’s flexibility as an educator, and the greater the breadth of experiences, the better. A CE also must document within the portfolio how the teaching activity drew from existing literature and best practices and/or contributed to the medical education field and its body of knowledge. Above all else, we recommend collecting evidence on teaching to both provide evidence of one’s teaching skills and to gather data on which to improve.
The teaching portfolio templates begin with a personal statement outlining why one teaches (i.e., teaching philosophy). In a teaching portfolio, it is important to include details of how impact was defined or determined with regard to teaching endeavors, how the feedback from formal evaluative processes was used to mold one’s future activities as an educator, and what strategies will be implemented to improve teaching to meet the needs of diverse and changing groups of learners.
Both the CV and teaching portfolio should be updated continually – we recommend at least quarterly (or as articles are published, courses are taught, abstracts are presented, and so forth) – to ensure that nothing is overlooked or forgotten.
