For promotion and recruitment at Chalmers University of Technology, pedagogical qualifications and pedagogical expertise should be demonstrated and verified separately in a pedagogical portfolio. The contents should be both qualitative and quantitative in nature, in order that a pedagogical expert may be able to make an assessment regarding the applicant's pedagogical expertise.
We recommend all applicants to read through chapter 4 of the University appointment regulations for teaching and research faculty at Chalmers where the meaning of the concept of pedagogical expertise and the assessment criteria and indicators used by Chalmers are set out:
University appoinment regulations for teaching and research faculty at Chalmers
Qualifications should be documented with course documents, publications, grades, testimonials and certifications from employers, colleagues or other people with appropriate knowledge of your work. For qualifications which cannot be supported by references or certifications, the names and current contact details of references should be provided.
We recommend that you complete a pedagogical portfolio (approx. 8-10 pages not including attachments), in line with the description below. Under each heading you should clearly document WHAT you did, and HOW you worked, plus WHY and what RESULTS were achieved. It is important that you in your portfolio clearly demonstrate how your pedagogical expertise is proven, for example by referring to your attachments. Bear in mind that the pedagogical expert normally is not an expert in your scientific field.
1. Teaching expertise and experience
1.1 Teaching at undergraduate and graduate level and within continuing professional development
a) Scope and variety of your teaching experience.
Document those courses that you have participated in within undergraduate and graduate education and within continuing professional development. If you have extensive experience, documentation may be limited to, say, the last five years, or to those courses for which you had a major responsibility. For each course you should give: year, univerity, course title, level, number of academic credits, participant numbers, type and method of teaching, type of examination, type of course evaluation. In addition, indicate how the course related to comtemporary research. Indicate also what your role was and your degree of involvement in terms of hours.
b) Verify the quality of your teaching.
This is one of the most important parts of the pedagogical portfolio.
Choose the two or three courses that you, with reference to the pedagogical evaluation criteria, consider to be the most beneficial. For each course provide a more detailed description of: your role as a teacher, content and objectives of the course, student's background, structure and format, types and methods of teaching, examinations and summary of course evaluations. It is a good idea to enclose teaching materials such as course descriptions, course plans, lesson plans, examination questions, laboratory lessons plus any other material you have developed. Give your own interpretation of what came to light in the course evaluations, for example, what worked well and what worked less well. Document whether, and if so how, you used the results of course evaluations to change and develop subsequent courses. Student evaluations and the teaching team evaluations should also be attached. As far as possible support your teaching and the quality of your contribution by means of testimonials from the teaching team leader, director of studies, head of Department or equivalent.
1.2 Prepartion of teaching materials
Here you document your contribution to the preparation of textbooks, compendia and lab work manuals and so forth. Indicate the target group for the materials, and the extent and nature of your contribution. Clearly describe the pedagogical considerations you used in the preparation of the materials. Also document teaching materials you have produced which have been used by others. As far as possible attach a representative sample of documents which support the quality of your work, for example in the form of comments from students and other teachers.
1.3 Administration and pedagogical leadership
Document your administrative work in a teaching environment, such as head of Department, programme director, director of master's programme, director of studies, teaching team leader, educational director or study advisor. Work on the faculty senate or other committees connected to educational issues can also count in your favor. Detail the nature, the time-span, and the extent of your duties in each position, and document how you worked and describe what results your work has had for continued development of education and teaching. It is to your advantage if you attach testimonials and provide references that are able to validate the quality of your contributions.
1.4 Supervision at undergraduate and graduate level or equivalent
a) Document the undergraduate level work and examinations or equivalent where you have acted as supervisor. For each instance give the year, the name of the university, the job designation, the level, the number of academic credits and student name(s). Indicate also your role and degree of involvement in terms of hours of supervision. It is valuable that you provide references that are able to support the quality of your work.
b) Document the Master and Doctorate level work where you have acted as supervisor. For each instance give the year, the name of the university, the job designation, the level, the number of academic credits and student name(s). Indicate also your role and degree of involvement in terms of hours of supervision. You should also document details of the principal supervisor(s), assistant supervisor(s) and examiner(s). If you were the de facto but not the official principal supervisor, this should be verified by a document/certificate. It is valuable that you provide references that are able to verify the quality of your work.
1.5 Non-university teaching
Document any non-university teaching activities carried out, e.g. further education, or conference presentations. The pedagogical value of this should be evident from the activities that you report under this heading. If you have worked in non-university environments and have experience of activities such as project managment, staff training or similar, include it under this heading. Work on the dissemination of information and knowledge about research and education to society at large, outreach and other "third stream activities", should also be documented here. As far as possible support your work with testimonials/certificates from the employer/line manager. Please give references that are able to verify the quality of your work.
1.6 Other pedagogical achievements and experience
Here you document other pedagogical achievements and experince such as pedagogical awards, study trips with a pedagogical objective, pedagogical mentoring, national and/or international pedagogical publications and collaborations, contact/collaboration with study groups related to pedagogical issues and participation in pedagogical networks.You should also document any presentations or other contributions to pedagogical conferences. As far as possible, support your work with testimonials/certificate. It is valuable that you provide references that are able to verify the quality of your work.
2. Theoretical knowledge
2.1 Knowledge of the subject area
Document how you use your knowledge of your subject area and to what extent your teaching is connected to contemporary research.
2.2 Knowledge of teaching and student learning.
Document your knowledge of teaching and student learning and desctribe how you acquired this. Also describe how your knowledge of pedagogy for higher education has contributed to your development as teacher. List any courses in pedagogy for higher education you have successfully completed. For each course give: year, university, course designation, number of academic credits, plus the aims and objectives of the course. Attach certificates with pass grades for each course. If you have acquired certain knowledge which is the equivalent of a course in pedagogy for higher education, describe this knowledge and how you acquired it, and as far as possible support your work with testimonials/certificates or equivalent.
3. Approach
a) Here you should provide a written reflection on your pedagogical activities and give a clear account of your basic approach to pedagogical matters. Your account should give evidence of a reflective manner through, for example, an active questioning of and review of assumptions, values, methods and results in your pedagogical activities. It is important that you show, through concrete examples, how your basic approach to pedagogical matters is manifested in your pedagogical activities. If you have training in pedagogy for higher education or equivalent you should document how the theory of and research in pedagogy for higher education influence and permeate your approach, your activities and your values. There is extensive research and good examples to get inspired by in, for example, journals of subject didactics and pedagogy for higher education.
b) Give an account of how you work as a supervisor, your role, and your approach to the work. It is a good idea to give concrete examples of this, referring to the work you documented in section 1.4.
4. Willingness and capacity to grow and develop
Here you should clearly describe and detail how, over time, you have developed as a teacher by, for example, highlighting factors which have been central to your development. You may also give an account of your vision for the future and describe how you plan to develop your future teaching and pedagogical expertise.
Under this heading you should also document work in development and renewal. Give details of the course, level, scope and any sponsors for pedagogical projects, plus the motivation for and objectives of the renewal work. Describe how the work was carried out and what results it led to. Attach materials from the development work, project reports etc. Feedback from course evaluations which may have influenced course development should be attached and commented upon. In such cases, where you refer to the same course evaluations as you used in section 1b, you should comment on them here, from the point of view of your own development.
5. Attachments
Include here all the documents that you are referring to in your pedagogical portfolio. Begin with a numbered list of contents with a clear heading for each attachment. All attached documents should be referred to in the main text of your portfolio.