Exploring the Potential of Educational Developer Portfolios

Abstract

There is growing interest in portfolios within the context of higher education, especially related to the use and integration of student learning portfolios, teaching portfolios, and eportfolios. Although little scholarly discourse has focused on educational developer portfolios, these have the potential to promote reflection on practice, showcase accomplishments, make explicit our approaches to practice, demonstrate impact, and support workplace personnel decisions. Despite these benefits, our community has not uniformly adopted the educational developer portfolio. Drawing from scholarly literature and based on findings from research gathered through World Cafés, this study explores the possibilities and potential for the educational developer portfolio. Findings demonstrate that these portfolios can be an authentic tool to communicate and substantiate the depth, breadth, and richness of our work. However, there is a need for a cultural shift throughout our community to further integrate and normalize educational developer portfolios in our practice.

A World Café Discussion on Well-Being: Considerations for Life in the University

“…Our constructivist approach recognized the complexity of the issues explored; it was designed to accept multiple realities, perceptions, and nuances related to exploring educator mental health and well-being in a postsecondary context and to engage in collaborative and social meaning-making in order to increase our depth of understanding (Berenson, 2018). The number of participants in attendance aligned with past SoTL studies which used World Café approaches to explore teaching and learning issues (Kenny, Iqbal, et al, 2017;Dawson, et al, 2010). There was a balance of academic staff and staff supporting instruction in attendance at our World Café session, with a few individuals identifying with dual roles as graduate students who teach sessionally.…”

“…Following each of the three rotating rounds of discussion, the whole group comes together to share, reflect on and add to the themes generated in the smaller table discussions. Typically ranging from 90 to 180 minutes in length, World-Cafés are particularly suitable to SoTL where complex issues are explored from multiple perspectives and points of view (Kenny, Iqbal, et al, 2017;Dawson, et al, 2010).…”

Seven Voices, Seven Developers, Seven One Things that Guide Our Practice

“…Also, at the micro level, this activity provided us with an opportunity to reflect on and revisit the work that we do. This process of metareflection is seen as a core benefit of critically reflecting upon one's philosophy and approach to educational development practice (Kenny, Iqbal et al, ; Wright & Miller, ). At a macro level, as is argued by the editors of this edition, our “one things” come together to say something about the current state of affairs in the field of educational development more broadly.…”