Author Description

This publication reports on a national American Association for Higher Education project to create ways to treat teaching as a scholarly activity that can be shared, documented, studied, reviewed, rewarded, and improved. The focus is not only on teacher practice but on its effect on student learning. Following an Introduction by Pat Hutchings, Chapter 1 presents "Course Anatomy: The Dissection and Analysis of Knowledge through Teaching" (Lee S. Shulman). Chapter 2, "Defining Features and Significant Functions of the Course Portfolio" (Pat Hutchings), includes two case studies: "Writing a Course Portfolio for an Introductory Survey Course in American History" (William W. Cutler) and "A Course Portfolio for a Graduate Nursing Course" (Donna Martsolf); Chapter 3, "Why Now? Course Portfolios in Context" (Mary Taylor Huber), includes two case studies: "A Course Portfolio for a Colloquium in 20th-Century American Foreign Relations" (Mary Ann Heiss) and "A Course Portfolio in Mathematics" (Orin Chein); and Chapter 4, "How To Develop a Course Portfolio" (Pat Hutchings), is followed by three case studies: "A Course Portfolio for Midcareer Reflection" (Deborah M. Langsam); "Post-Tenure Review: A Case Study of a Course Portfolio within a Personnel File" (Charles W. Mignon); and "A Portfolio That Makes a Point" (Eli Passow). Chapter 5, "Putting the Focus on Student Learning" (Daniel Bernstein), is followed by two case studies: "A Course Portfolio for a Creative Writing Course" (Pat Hutchings) and "A Hypertext Portfolio for an Experimental American Literature Course" (Randy Bass). Chapter 6 is titled "Audiences and Occasions: Using Course Portfolios for Peer Collaboration and Review of Teaching" (Pat Hutchings with a report by Kathleen Quinlan). An annotated bibliography of additional print and electronic resources is appended. (Contains 28 references.) (SM)