PEER REVIEW of TEACHINGSpring 2003 • Volume 2: Number 1

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Indiana University Course Portfolio Initiative

“Care Webs” Show StudentLearning in Health CareCourse PortfolioAssistant Professor Deanna Reising’s course portfolio for Alterations in Health II pro-vides an evidence-based example of using portfolios to document and showcase teach-ing innovation and to analyze teaching and learning effectiveness through studentwork. In addition to traditional assignments, students construct 10 “care webs”throughout the semester on selected health alterations. In addition to completing thewebs, students must determine the priority problem presented by the alteration inhealth, write patient outcomes, and specify the interventions they would use to meetthe outcomes.

“These care webs are samples from the same student over the course of a semester,”Reising explains in her portfolio. “What is particularly interesting with these two websis that the first (Cushing’s), is a web of a more complex patho-physiological problemthan the second web (Mastectomy). Care of the patient with Cushing’s disease is cov-

ered right after midtermand care of the patient witha mastectomy is covered atthe end of the course. WhileCushing’s is more complex,this student demonstratesgains in understanding thefull picture of a health al-teration as the semesterprogresses, with more con-nections being made in lesscomplex care situations.”

Reising observes, “I wasvery satisfied with the qual-ity of care webs and thenumber of connections stu-dents were able to makeamong the problems eachhealth alteration caused.Near the beginning of thissemester, students tend tomuddy interventions acrossdifferent outcomes. As thesemester progressed, stu-dents developed more intri-cate webs with more con-nections, and were betterable to pinpoint the priorityproblem with specific out-comes, and appropriateinterventions.”

Upcoming EventsJanuary 2003Spring Symposium Course PortfolioPoster Planning MeetingFriday, January 313:00–5:00 pmBallantine Hall 004

February 2003Course Portfolio Exposition: MakingVisible the Intellectual Work of Teaching,Andrew Feig–Chemistry & IUB CoursePortfolio AuthorsFriday, February 14Poster Session: 11:00–2:00 pmKeynote Speaker: Noon–1:30 pmIMU Frangipani Room

April 2003Symposium: SOTL Papers & PostersWednesday, April 9Indiana Memorial Union

April 2004National Peer Review ConferenceUniversity of Nebraska, Lincoln

In addition to these events, smallerdiscussions and working groups willfacilitate the process of writing acourse portfolio. The Course PortfolioInitiative is an integral component ofthe Scholarship of Teaching & Learning(SOTL) Program.

For More InformationPlease contact Simon Brassell,simon@indiana.edu, or JenniferRobinson, jenmetar@indiana.edu.

Visit the Course Portfolio Websitewww.indiana.edu/~deanfac/portfolio/

Office of Academic Affairs& Dean of the Faculties

Making Progress toward Complex Understanding throughCare Webs.

PEER REVIEW OF TEACHING2 Spring 2003

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What Can a Course Portfolio Document?Perhaps the best way to ensure that we recognize, value, and reward teaching is todemonstrate its effectiveness and excellence in a format easily reviewed by peers. Acourse portfolio can make a nuanced yet efficient means for a faculty member to docu-ment both the intellectual work of teaching a particular course and the student out-comes it generates. As in Professor Reising’s portfolio, the author can present the de-sign and implementation of one course and reflect on the effectiveness of his or herteaching strategies by including evidence of student learning. In this way, colleagueswho may never have the opportunity to observe a class or speak with students can un-derstand and comment on the quality of the teaching involved and the level of studentachievement.

Course Portfolios: A Vehicle for Faculty Voice,a Study of Student LearningAs a genre, course portfolios provide a vehicle for a faculty member’s voice as he orshe reflects on experience with and questions about teaching and learning in a particu-lar course. They prompt the author to situate teaching practices, learning objectives,and course outcomes in a rich context. From that foundation, the individual professorcan articulate the learning goals for students and examine the evidence of studentprogress toward those goals. Feeding these discoveries back into the course can con-tribute to better, more meaningful student learning and greater faculty satisfaction withteaching. A course portfolio also provides a concise, effective way to demonstrate in-structional strategies and course quality for promotion and teaching dossiers. For thelarger scholarly community, course portfolios contribute to what we know about therelationship between teaching and learning, strengthening practice within disciplinesand sharing across disciplines.

How Can Course Portfolios Help EvaluateTeaching?Course portfolios have the potential to generate momentum for changing the way weevaluate teaching. A course portfolio can provide a comprehensive account of ap-proaches to teaching from classroom pedagogy to learning outcomes and provide ac-cess for independent review. Thus, course portfolios can contribute to:• Shifting the primary basis for assessment of teaching from student questionnaires

to evidence of student work• Maintaining rigorous standards for teaching and learning• Raising expectations for documentation of teaching effectiveness

Why Construct a Course Portfolio?Faculty members and graduate students can use course portfolios to exhibit teachingeffectiveness, cultivate scholarship, and convey efforts and accomplishments in teach-ing. This form of documentation can help them:• Reflect on pedagogy and teaching activities in a specific class• Recognize elements critical to student success• Explain and document learning outcomes• Showcase teaching excellence and innovation for employment and award opportu-

nities• Study the effectiveness of changes in teaching methods and practices• Assess teaching via the peer review process

IUB Course PortfolioLeaders for 2002Simon BrassellProfessor of Geological SciencesCollege of Arts and Sciencessimon@indiana.edu

Susan BrownAssistant Professor of InformationSystemsKelley School of Businesssuebrown@indiana.edu

Paulette DilworthAssistant Professor of EducationSchool of Educationpdilwort@indiana.edu

Heather ReynoldsAssistant Professor of BiologyCollege of Arts and Scienceshlreynol@indiana.edu

Jeanne SeptProfessor of AnthropologyCollege of Arts and Sciences& Associate Dean of the Facultiessept@indiana.edu

Jennifer Meta RobinsonCampus Instructional Consultingjenmetar@indiana.edu

Tonia EdwardsSOTL Graduate AssistantCommunication & Culturetedwards@indiana.edu

Peer Review ofTeaching InitiativeThis newsletter describes IndianaUniversity Bloomington’s participationin the Peer Review of Teaching CoursePortfolio Initiative. IUB is a member ofa consortium of five research universi-ties supported by the Pew CharitableTrusts and locally by the Office ofAcademic Affairs & Dean of theFaculties. Participants test the practiceof using portfolios to document andpeer review teaching.

Daniel BernsteinUniversity of KansasInstitutional Coordinationwww.unl.edu/peerrev/

3Spring 2003 PEER REVIEW OF TEACHING

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The Appeal of Reviewing Course Portfoliosand Scholarship of TeachingAs Ernest Boyer explains in Scholarship Reconsidered, the peer review process offers away to more accurately evaluate and recognize a full range of scholarship. Peer reviewassumes that more traditional research questions as well as scholarship of teaching canbe best evaluated by people working with similar questions and constraints. The peerreview of teaching as it is facilitated through course portfolios, in particular, lets usmore fully recognize the wide range of intellectual activity in our teaching and learningcommunity. It also allows faculty members to begin to bridge the teaching–researchdivide in many innovative and productive ways.

While reviewers of manuscripts and grant proposals for disciplinary research typical-ly suggest revisions intended to enhance the final product, little opportunity exists for

formative feedback onteaching. Course portfoliosoffer us the chance to de-scribe teaching practicesand learning objectives in away that makes this vital,reflective activity availablefor critical review and for-mative discussion by peers.

By submitting their workto peer review, facultymembers can ask focusedquestions about teachingand learning and then ex-tend their discussion to abroader community. Thecritique and rigor involved

in peer review will alsohelp to establish scholar-ship of teaching as seriousscholarly activity. Ultimate-ly, peer review of courseportfolios extends the po-tential of the course portfo-lio beyond private reflec-tion, however useful, to thewider realm of scholarlyinvestigation made public.

Both a SOTL scholar anda course portfolio reviewer,Valerie Dean O’Loughlin, assistant professor of Medical Sciences at IUB, finds a genera-tive relationship between producing her own and reviewing others’ scholarship ofteaching. Speaking specifically about her role as a course portfolio reviewer, she ex-plains, “In a traditional research environment, an individual becomes a better research-er by reviewing other research. [Reviewing others’ portfolios] helped me better focusmy course portfolio to answer specific pedagogical research questions, and it helped mebetter document my methods of assessment.”

O’Loughlin notes that scholarship of teaching and research in a lab are not as differ-ent as might be expected: “Even though one is based on teaching and one is based on atraditional research project, the format of both is similar. You have to make sure thatyou speak concisely. You have to make sure your data supports your hypothesis. So Ifeel that [both kinds of scholarship] provide a nice complement” to each other.

Examples of IUBCourse Portfolioswww.indiana/~deanfac/portfolio

Sue BrownKelley School of BusinessS307 Data Management

Deanna ReisingSchool of NursingH362 Alterations in Health II

Valerie Dean O’LoughlinMedical Sciences ProgramA215 Basic Human Anatomy

Eric MetzlerLiberal Arts and Management ProgramL216 Business & Management

Other CoursePortfolioswww.unl.edu/peerrrev

John AndersonUniversity of Nebraska, LincolnEcon 371 Principles of Economics

Daniel BernsteinUniversity of Nebraska, LincolnPsych 440 Perspectives in Psychology

Chris GallagherUniversity of Nebraska, LincolnEng 200 Introduction to English Studies

Dennis JacobsUniversity of Notre DameChem 113 General Chemistry

T. Mills KellyTexas Tech UniversityHist 1301 Western Civilization

Steve KieferKansas State UniversityPsych 470 Psychobiology

Lex NewmanUniversity of UtahPhil 101 Introduction to Philosophy

Judy Provo-KlimekKansas State UniversityA&P 710 Microscopic Anatomy

Nancy StaraUniversity of Nebraska, LincolnAccount 412 Federal Tax Accounting I

Bloomington faculty members collaborate on their courseportfolios at the Course Portfolio Workshop held in May2002.

PEER REVIEW OF TEACHING 4Spring 2003

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Peer Review ofTeaching & CoursePortfolio Outreach “Assessing Teaching and Learningthrough the Use of Course Portfolios.”S. Brassell, Simon, V. O’Loughlin, J.Robinson, and W. Schlegel. AAHEAssessment Conference.

“Course Portfolios in the Broad Contextof Peer Review of Teaching: Goals forImproving the Evaluation of TeachingEffectiveness.” J. Sept. IndianaUniversity SOTL Speaker Series.

“Facilitating the Scholarship ofTeaching and Learning with CoursePortfolios.” V. O’Loughlin, J. Robinson,and W. Schlegel. FASEB.

“Supporting the Development and ExternalReview of Course Portfolios.” D. Bernstein,J. Comer, P. Savory, and J. Robinson.AAHE Conference on Higher Education.

“Using Course Portfolios as a Vehicle forExternal Peer Review of the IntellectualWork in Teaching.” D. Bernstein, J.Robinson, A. Goodburn. AAHE Confer-ence on Faculty Roles and Rewards.

PublicationsBuilding a Scholarship of Assessment.T. Banta, 2002.

The Course Portfolio: How Faculty canExamine their Teaching to AdvancePractice and Student Learning. P.Hutchings, ed., 1998.

Disciplinary Styles in the Scholarship ofTeaching and Learning: ExploringCommon Ground. M.T. Huber and S.P.Morreale, eds., 2002.

Electronic Portfolios: Emerging Practicesin Student, Faculty, and InstitutionalLearning. B.L. Cambridge, ed., 2002.

Peer Review of Teaching: A Sourcebook.N. Van Note Chism, 1999.

Scholarship Assessed: Evaluation of theProfessoriate. C. Glassick, M.T. Huber,G. Maeroff, 1997.

Scholarship Reconsidered. E. Boyer,1990.

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OFFICE OF ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

& DEAN OF THE FACULTIES

Indiana UniversityBloomington IN 47405

Campus Mail

Course Portfolio Exposition: Making Visiblethe Intellectual Work of Teaching

Friday, February 14, 2003, Frangipani Room, Indiana Memorial UnionPoster Session: 11:00–2:00; Keynote: Noon–1:30 pm*Refreshments provided from 11:00 am*

On February 14, the SOTL program will feature a poster session representing many ofthe course portfolios now underway by IU Bloomington faculty and graduate students.The posters may feature a central question, discovery, achievement, or challenge inteaching a particular course. Presenters and their posters will be available for conversa-tion 11:00–12:00 and 1:30–2:00 pm. Course portfolio authors are still being encouragedto develop posters for participation in this event. Those who wish to participate shouldcontact Jennifer Robinson (855-9023, jenmetar@indiana.edu). An optional poster plan-ning meeting will be held Friday, January 31, 3:00–5:00 pm, in Ballantine Hall 004.

Following this hour-long poster session, Professors Leah Shopkow (History) and An-drew Feig (Chemistry) will provide in-depth views of their course portfolios. Shop-kow’s portfolio documents the teaching and learning in her freshman Medieval Heroescourse. She is especially interested in studying how well students develop the skills ofhistorians and how extensive writing and re-writing can improve student performance.The portfolio process led Shopkow to revise not only her Medieval Heroes course butalso others. She finds a course portfolio can be a powerful tool of course analysis forindividual faculty members. Feig used his course portfolio as a means of assessingwhether the fundamental curricular changes he made to C484 Biomolecules and Catab-olism enhanced student learning and engagement. The teaching analysis achievedthrough his course portfolio helped him to clarify how to approach the problem ofteaching assessment, an essential prerequisite for the preparation of any document forexternal review of the scholarship of teaching and learning. Feig will describe howplanning and implementing his course portfolio helped to shape his preparation of adossier for a national teaching award, a pedagogical publication, and participation in agrant to support experimental curricula at IU.

E-Portfolios: Expanding Portfolio PotentialScholars can continue to share their teaching and learning findings and extend the potentialof course portfolios through a new electronic site. EDUCAUSE National Learning Infrastruc-ture Initiative (NLII), the American Association of Higher Education, and the ElectronicPortfolios Action Committee (EPAC) have launched a new website dedicated to creating acommunity of faculty, administrators, instructional designers, and software developers to“work together to advance the higher education community’s understanding and use ofelectronic portfolios to promote learning and teaching.” For additional information or tobecome involved, visit aahe.ital.utexas.edu/electronicportfolios/cop.html