Pedagogical competence for engineering educators: Re-conceptualizing teaching portfolios

Abstract

The demand for engineering graduates is increasing globally. National governments understand the importance of the sector for economic growth, while students are becoming more aware of the greater life opportunities open to them as a result of an engineering education. The role of effective teaching in the attainment of student outcomes is increasingly recognized and many engineering departments require faculty to meet standards of pedagogical competence. Our aim in this research was to investigate the role of teaching portfolios in the enhancement of engineering educators’ pedagogical competence, in particular engineering faculty’s changing understanding of key aspects of pedagogical competence over the process of developing teaching portfolios. We found several shifts in participants’ understandings and attitudes over a short course intended to support engineering academics in the construction of teaching portfolios for the purposes of tenure, promotion or awards. For example, participants shifted from describing or ‘showcasing’ their teaching and learning achievements towards a greater appreciation of the role of reflective practice, and from a focus on course content and ‘coverage’ towards an understanding of concept-building, sequencing and curricular coherence. This paper argues that a short course in the development of teaching portfolios for the purposes of tenure, promotion or teaching awards can contribute to the development of pedagogical competence amongst engineering faculty, but that considerable attention should be given to the complex issue of reflection on practice and that trustworthy assessment of teaching portfolios requires clear criteria for pedagogical competence at different levels of practice.