Teaching Dossier
It is recommended that you obtain some teaching experience, including receiving student and/or CUT evaluations of your teaching, prior to beginning this project.

Prerequisites: Before submitting your teaching dossier, you must attend the CUT Teaching Dossiers workshop and a Teaching Dossier consultation session.

Objectives of the teaching dossier are to have you:
  • Collect, analyze, and reflect on materials from your teaching experiences
  • Create a document and choose materials for appendices that clearly demonstrate your ability to teach effectively
  • Prepare for academic job and future tenure and promotion applications

Audience: Potential hiring committees outside of the University of Waterloo

Length: A maximum of 20 pages, single-spaced (12-point font). Up to 10 single-spaced pages for the main narrative part of the dossier, including a cover page and table of contents, and a maximum of 10 pages for appendix materials.

Teaching Dossier Workshop: At the workshop you will receive an introduction to the dossier, and guidelines on both the process of creating a dossier and the desired end product. Although your attendance is mandatory, there is no response paper required for this workshop. Instead, participants are expected to apply workshop concepts to the preparation of their dossier.

Teaching Dossier consultation session: The consultation session is designed to assist you in the final preparation of the dossier by leading you through several exercises with a partner to establish a solid teaching philosophy statement which carries through your entire dossier. Participants are asked to: mark a sample philosophy statement prior to the session, and bring a copy of their own completed philosophy statement as well as a copy of any supporting materials they wish to include in their dossier.

The Teaching Dossiers

The teaching dossier is a document about your teaching philosophy and experience. A dossier does not highlight your research experiences or interests; these are outlined on your curriculum vitae. You may organize your dossier in a variety of ways. However, a dossier will normally include the following kinds of information: your teaching philosophy, past teaching responsibilities, teaching methods and strategies used, data and comments from teaching evaluations, your preparation for teaching, and future goals. The main body of the dossier should be able to stand alone and make sense without the supporting appendix materials; however, the appendix materials should be mentioned at the appropriate places throughout the narrative, and lettered according to their order of mention (i.e., first document mentioned is Appendix A). Be thorough in your explanations and provide examples in the main narrative whenever possible to support your claims. Statements of teaching philosophy are often general, but evidence for your views needs to appear throughout your dossier.

Sample dossiers are available in the CTE Library for you to review. Be sure to leave ample time to produce this document. Two to three weeks is a minimum guideline once you have collected all of your supporting materials.

Dossiers must be submitted to the CTE Office in person or by on-campus mail. Electronic submissions will not be accepted. You should include your name, department, building code, and student ID number.

Evaluation of Teaching Dossiers

CUT staff will use the following heuristic when assessing your dossier. For your dossier to be accepted, the marker should be able to respond positively to all of the questions posed.  To decrease the need for a revision, ask yourself these questions before submitting your dossier:


  • Has the writer chosen the right amount, depth, and breadth of material (maximum: 10-page narrative, with up to 10 pages of appendices)?
  • Does the dossier (e.g., its vocabulary, document titles, and explanations) indicate that the writer has prepared it for an appropriate audience, i.e., potential hiring committees outside of the University of Waterloo?
  • Does the writer present a focused teaching philosophy that is clearly explained and well supported by the remaining contents of the dossier?
  • Does the dossier include a succinct yet reflective narrative that could stand alone without the Appendices and that is supported by materials from the writer's teaching?
  • Does the dossier include a variety of supporting materials (from the writer; from his or her students; and from an observer or teaching supervisor) that demonstrate the writer's ability to teach effectively?
  • Does the writer use a clear, logical structure and sentences that are well formed and appropriately varied in length and style?

You can submit up to one revision of a dossier.  If you choose to submit a dossier for initial feedback, that will count as your first submission. All revisions must be received in CTE by the last working day of the last month of the term in which the original dossier was submitted. Revisions must be accompanied by the original work.




Course Details:
          Research Project
              Research Project Topics and Process
              Option 1: Research Presentation and Paper                   
              Option 2: Mini-Workshop and Supporting Documentation
              Option 3: Research Poster and Supporting Documentation
              Scheduling and Format of Oral Components