Teaching Responsibilities

The teaching responsibilities section of your dossier serves both to outline your teaching history and to demonstrate your teaching effectiveness within your specific teaching context. It should therefore:

  1. Provide an overview of the depth and breadth of your teaching experience, both in terms of courses taught and in terms of other types of teaching relevant to your academic position (for example, supervisory work, public lectures, etc.); and,
  2. Highlight examples of any pedagogical or curricular adaptations, innovations, or successes that you believe demonstrate your teaching effectiveness or your contributions to pedagogy in your discipline.

DEFINITELY INCLUDE:

A list of all courses taught, arranged if possible in table form by:

  • Course (this is the most useful organization if you have taught the same set of courses multiple times), date, or role.

In your list of courses taught, include:

  • The course code and the full course title. Make sure the level of the course is clear. If you are listing courses from another institution or where the level of the course is not clear, include this information in an additional column;
  • A clear indication of your role in the course (e.g., instructor, co-instructor, guest lecturer, teaching assistant);
  • Enrollment numbers. If you taught one section of a larger course (e.g. in a tutorial or laboratory), including enrollment numbers both for the course as a whole and for your tutorial or laboratory section;
  • A description of the course. You can include the calendar descriptions or a brief summary from the syllabus; and
  • Details about Teaching Assistants and your involvement with tutorials or laboratories, if relevant.

 

Sample List of Courses Taught

WHERE RELEVANT, ALSO INCLUDE:

Details about your teaching appointment. Take the opportunity to describe the role of teaching within your broader professional responsibilities and to explain any gaps in your teaching history so that those reviewing your dossier understand the scope and scale of your teaching role:

  • How many courses do you teach in a typical year?
  • Have you ever had a teaching or course release?
  • What kinds of courses (introductory, seminar, graduate) do you most frequently teach?
  • What kinds of students (majors or specialists, first-year students) do you typically teach?

Some instructors address these questions briefly in their statement of teaching philosophy or statement of teaching.

Descriptions of successful or innovative teaching, course development, or assessment strategies, with relevant examples of materials. Many people find that the most effective way to present this information is to include a paragraph or half-page description of innovations in each course that they have developed or substantially redesigned. Alternatively, you might outline some of your most successful practices and identify the courses in which you apply them.

This information might include, for example, particularly successful assignments or in-class activities, assessment schemes (e.g. rubrics or feedback forms), or details of curricular innovations (for example, incorporating service learning into an existing course). Include a description of how you know this particular activity or initiative has been successful pointing to, for example, results from student or peer evaluations or by including examples of student work (with an introduction or annotations that highlight evidence of success) in an appendix.

Additionally, as you describe your innovative teaching practices and course development efforts, you might include:

  • Example course syllabi. If you have successfully designed or substantially revised a course, include a copy of the syllabus in an appendix with an introduction that outlines the changes you introduced and any evidence you have of their success. It is not necessary to include copies of multiple versions of syllabi from a single course, unless this is a) specifically requested, or b) you wish to provide comparative samples from a particular course (for example, to demonstrate how you have revised the course over a period of time).
  • Course websites. If you use a course website or LMS site to communicate with students, include a link or a printout of the site in an appendix, with an introduction that describes how you and students use the website in the course, and any evidence (e.g. usage statistics) of its contribution to student learning.

Graduate supervision (NB: In some fields, this is included in your research dossier. Clarify with your unit head where your description of graduate supervision strategies, if applicable, should go. In many cases, this is included in the teaching dossier).

  • Definitely include: Number of advisees, their thesis or dissertation titles, and any professional accomplishments (e.g. publications, teaching awards, job placements).
  • You might also include a description of your supervisory strategies. For example, how do you select or recruit advisees? How often do you meet with them? What kind of feedback do you think is most useful for graduate students? What evidence (for example, success on the job market, feedback from your students) do you have that this approach is successful? Some instructors include a description of their supervisory strategies in their statement of teaching philosophy if graduate teaching is a central component of their appointment or a priority to their own teaching.

Undergraduate research, co-curricular teaching, and support. Include descriptions of any curricular or co-curricular developments or innovations related to undergraduate research, advising, or co-curricular involvement. This might include, for example:

  • The development of undergraduate research opportunities, including field courses, guided research courses, or the supervision and support of students’ independent research projects. You might include examples of student research or co-publications in an appendix.
  • Involvement in clubs and extra- and co-curricular projects. For example, advising a club for majors or specialists in your department, supporting or organizing volunteer or supplementary lecture activities related to your field, or working with students on a project or activity.
  • Support and advising for particular populations. You may, for example, provide advising and support for first-year students, for students in a particular demographic group, or for students with particular academic interests.

Non-university teaching/lectures and presentations. Include, if applicable, brief descriptions of public lectures, work with secondary schools, or interviews and publications in the popular press, provided these activities have a clear instructional focus in addition to the dissemination of your research.