Merry Christmas and many happy dossiers? It is almost that time! That time for leaving behind your daily teaching commitments and stressors. That time for lazy mornings and a bit slower pace. That time for going into decorating and hyper-baking mode. That time for getting together with family and friends, playing board games, attending services, giving gifts and binging on Christmas specials or watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” just one more time. Or is it? Covid is looking to dampen this Christmas, just a little bit. Instead of going up to the mountains or frequenting the mall, you might find yourself spending more time at home than usual. However, I have a solution! You shouldn’t feel bored, there’s something you can do! Maybe this is the year when you finally pull together your teaching dossier! What is a teaching dossier? Well, it is not the dossier like the Canadian Security Intelligence Service keeps on all of us…. A teaching dossier is a document or an online webpage that contains an instructor’s philosophy, goals, accomplishments, reflections and feedback on teaching. It is a little like a hybrid between your professional growth plan (PGP; remember Halogen?) and your curriculum vitae. Many teaching colleges require their faculty to keep a dossier as part of their growth, supervision and evaluation process. It gives academic leaders (chairs, managers and deans) a muse for ongoing discussions with instructors and professors. At first, teaching dossiers (back in the 1990’s) were 10 to 15 page Word or PDF documents organized much like a report, with headings and appendixes. In 2020, many professional dossiers exist as online webpages, which can be re-visited and updated at any time (which sure helps with version control!). What’s in a teaching dossier? The contents of a teaching dossier depend upon your purpose and your institutional requirements. In colleges and universities that require faculty to maintain dossiers, there are very specific requirements in terms of content and format. NorQuest College does not have any firm requirements but suggests the following:
Of course, depending on who you are and your role and experience, some sections might be a little easier to complete than other sections. Initially, you may not be able to speak to each of these sections. A beginning instructor would be wise to include only the 1) biography, 2) responsibilities, 3) philosophy, 4) teaching approach and examples, 5) service work, and 6) feedback. It takes time to develop enough experience and examples for the other sections (curricula work, scholarship, leadership and awards). Why make a dossier? Well it seems like a lot of work, and it certainly can be. However, making a dossier can be some of the best professional learning you can do. It forces a person to step back and consider why they teach, how they teach and whether the two align (Does your philosophy match with the kinds of activities and assessments you give? Do you practice what you preach?). It also helps in identifying strengths and growth areas by looking at all the evidence (feedback, resources developed, course data). Dossiers can be important touchpoints when:
Where would I start? I will be running the dossier workshop again next week. If you are curious, just sign up and see what it is all about. Alternatively, if you do not have time, just shoot me an email and I will send you more information or we can set up a one-on-one teams chat. Merry Christmas! This will be my last musing before the Christmas break. I hope to resume the musings on January 4.
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AuthorJeff Kuntz Ph.D. ImagesExcept where indicated, images used in the blog posts are personal photos, images from NorQuest College or images from Pixabay. Pixabay is a vibrant community of creatives, sharing copyright free images, videos and music. https://pixabay.com/ Archives
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