The Teaching Portfolio and the University Teacher’s Professional Knowledge

Abstract

The use of portfolios in training for university teachers has had no research devoted to it until recently. In this study, carried out by members of the FODIP research group at the University of Barcelona, we analyze the potential of the portfolio as a strategy for reflecting on, analyzing and developing teaching practice. For this purpose we have taken a qualitative research approach, more specifically a multiple case study. The participants in the study were ten novice teachers who, when the data was gathered, had already completed an initial training course at the University of Barcelona. This was a blended learning course which included mentoring from experienced teachers, and one of the essential features of the course was the completion of a portfolio, shared with and supervised by the mentor. Likewise, to proceed to select the ten key informants, we set off from an initial sample comprising 30 university teachers who completed postgraduate studies in 2006/07. Besides, we count on the opinion of the coordinator of this course on other possible participants to be chosen among beginners from previous editions.