"Substantiated by deliberation and conversation"

The title of this posting is from Lee Shulman's definition of teaching portfolios.

This week I've been in Chicago for the Fall AECT International Conference. I did a roundtable session on the key considerations for decision makers considering an electronic portfolio implementation. It was well received and one woman in particular was very excited about the model I've been developing. The other outcome was that the topic of my presentation - and the sustained interaction time available at a conference - has opened up some dialogue about portfolios. Because I have the files for the template, I was able to show my conference roommates something visually appealing. That led to more discussion about portfolios and I shared Shulman's definition. Then we started talking about my portfolio and some of the things I've been thinking about.

This morning, 2c and I had a nice long chat about the portfolio project, too. We talked about the standards (I have to get them to him), types of evidence to include, and some of the more challenging things to document. We also discussed the overall structure of the portfolio. One of the more interesting things he brought up was something I hadn't considered. (I guess that's what made it interesting to me!) I'm trying to compile my portfolio here at the end of the program. I've saved many of my work products "just in case" but have discarded a lot of my emails. Had I been engaged in the portfolio process from the beginning, I would have better evidence. He has suggested I make that, and other, recommendations to the committee of reviewers. I thought I'd only be defending my work. I didn't realize I could also suggest improvements! I guess it shouldn't have surprised me, but it did. Now I'm going to try to keep track of things I want to recommend.

On the one hand, it's nice to have generated interest in the project. On the other hand, there's a little more pressure to do it well. I guess that just goes with the territory of any high-stakes assessment.