Portfolios have two main uses, both of which involve evaluation.
Summative Evaluation: Portfolios can be used to demonstrate the quality of a person's work for hiring and promotion purposes or for purposes of passing a course of study. Portfolios for hiring and tenure are of this type.
Formative Evaluation: Portfolios can be used as a means of assembling and examining one's work for the purposes of professional improvement. The portfolio for the Certificate in College and University Teaching is an example of this type of portfolio.
The same portfolio should not be used for both purposes. The summative evaluation judges the outcome of one's work, while formative evaluation seeks to identify areas to be improved and to suggest possible ways to make those improvements. There is risk-taking involved in the latter as it takes a much more vulnerable perspective on one's work.
In general, the Teaching Portfolio is most often used for summative evaluation,
that is, for hiring and promotion. As such, it can be described as " a factual
description of a professor's [
instructor's,
or TA's] teaching strengths and accomplishments. It includes documents and materials
that collectively suggest the scope and quality of a faculty member's teaching
performance. It is to teaching what lists of publications, grants, and honors
are to research and scholarship."
"The portfolio is not an exhaustive compilation of all the documents and materials that bear on teaching performance. Instead, it presents selected information on teaching activities and solid evidence of their effectiveness. Just as statements in a curriculum vitae should be supported by convincing evidence (such as published articles or invitations to present a paper at an academic conference), so claims in the teaching portfolio should be supported by firm empirical evidence."
Peter Seldin. 1997. The Teaching Portfolio: A Practical Guide to Improved Performance and Promotion/Tenure Decisions.( 2nd edition). Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing. p.2.