LEARNING MODULE 4:

MODULE OVERVIEW ~

• Reviewing the principles of portfolio assessment

• Creating a personal profile

• Collecting examples of learning

• Learning with others

• Slowing the pace

• Experimenting with inquiry

• Investigating portfolio development

• Preparing your baseline portfolio

~ Consolidate your personal profile

~ Review your collection of materials

~ Reflect on emerging learnings

~ Synthesize statements of learning

~ Organize representations of learning

• Preparing a self-evaluation summary

REVIEWING THE PRINCIPLES OF PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT ~

Your portfolio provides a record of your journey through the Diploma program. It represents what is most significant to you. A portfolio at any stage of the journey is most effective when it…

• is owned by the learner;

• is shared with others;

• contains a record of what has been learned or is “under construction;”

• presents specific examples that illustrate learning in action;

• has a format that suits the learner’s style;

• speaks with a clear, personal voice;

• contains reflective pieces that explain the most significant learnings;

• includes personal reflections on the learning journey;

• indicates future directions and possible questions for further inquiry.

As you begin the Diploma program, the main purpose of your portfolio is to locate and describe your starting place. Your first portfolio snapshot is called your baseline portfolio. It establishes a reference point for tracking progress and noting changes over time.

CREATING A PERSONAL PROFILE ~

This is not the beginning of your life’s journey—only a new phase in an ongoing saga. You already know a lot about how to learn, and you have a rich bank of life experience and knowledge on which to draw. Part of your baseline portfolio will be a personal profile that represents you at this time. One purpose of reflecting on your past is to reaffirm your strengths. As you look back on what you have learned in earlier life stages, you will be reminded of resources you bring to self-directed learning and learning through inquiry.

Another purpose of reviewing where you are now is to help the instructional team and others in the group understand how you learn best, what you need for support, and how you can contribute to the learning of others. You and your colleagues might use this learning tool to compare your past experiences and learn more about one another’s strengths and resources.

Recalling past experiences [PDF]

COLLECTING EXAMPLES OF LEARNING ~

This is a time to consolidate what you bring to the learning journey, to survey the landscape, and to make connections with fellow travelers. The instructional team will guide you through the early stages of portfolio assessment and help you practice basic skills of reflection and inquiry. They can help you become familiar with the learning process and program expectations, in preparation for more self-directed activities.

The core learning activities you do during this period are potential artifacts for your baseline portfolio. We encourage you to keep track of what you learn, perhaps in a reflective journal or in notes attached to your written work. We also suggest that you date and save your work for future reference.

LEARNING WITH OTHERS ~

Our task is to create enough safe spaces and trusting relationships within the academic workplace—hedged about by appropriate structural protections—that more of us will be able to tell the truth about our own struggles and joys as teachers in ways that befriend the soul and give it room to grow. —Parker Palmer

You will probably be invited to talk with others about your background, your current work, and why you have decided to join the program. You may also be asked to discuss what you find exciting and challenging in your educational work.

These conversations have many purposes:

• to build supportive and trusting relationships;

• to create comfortable spaces for thoughtful interaction;

• to acquaint people with one another’s interests and needs;

• to explore beliefs and values guiding educational decisions; and

• to establish habits of dialogue that are central to reflective practice and learning through inquiry.

As you talk with colleagues, some topics will arouse dissent. Education is rife with dilemmas—situations in which limited resources and competing values cause tension and conflict. Thoughtful dialogue inevitably uncovers differences in what we think and value, and how we act on our beliefs. Uncomfortable as this may be, these differences open avenues to new learning.

Through dialogue we can examine the complexities of education, view the world through others’ eyes, and come to greater clarity about our own commitments. Note topics that cause tension or generate enthusiasm. Record ideas you might want to revisit or dwell on. Let these situations teach you about the possibilities and challenges of shared learning.

One part of your baseline portfolio might focus on what you learn about your personal interactions and their place in your learning. Pay attention to your own and others’ conversational styles. Here is a tool to monitor your participation in group conversations.

Communications profile [PDF]

SLOWING THE PACE ~

You will probably experience a change of pace in these activities. The tempo will most certainly be different from the pace of your workplace. It may feel strange to slow down and focus—to think aloud, to listen carefully to others, to respond constructively and to monitor your interactions. At first you may not appreciate these opportunities when so many other issues need your attention. However, slowing down and focusing are essential to the practice of thoughtful reflection. When you start to feel impatient, take note of what triggers this response. Think about ways to make the reflective process more effective for you.

EXPERIMENTING WITH INQUIRY ~

Your first semester is a time to practice learning strategies you will use throughout the program. Participating in a mini-inquiry is one way to investigate a topic that interests you. Your instructional team can help you make a mini-inquiry plan, implement your plan, and represent and summarize what you learn. You may complete one or more mini-inquiries during your first semester.

Planning a mini-inquiry [PDF]

Representations of learning from these mini-inquiries can be incorporated into your baseline portfolio. They will illustrate your capacity as an inquirer in the early stages of the program.

INVESTIGATING PORTFOLIO DEVELOPMENT ~

Developing your baseline portfolio may be your first experience in portfolio assessment. If you think of this experience as a form of self-inquiry, it will prepare you for the ongoing portfolio assessment process. Try to resist the idea that you must create an “end product” to meet someone else’s expectations. Instead, use your baseline portfolio as another “learning-to-learn” opportunity.

To be a learner in this process, you might start by thinking about some questions on which to focus as you create your baseline portfolio. For example, you might ask:

• What could I show about myself as a learner?

• What would I like to represent about myself as an educator?

• How could I summarize my history and present situation?

• What have I learned so far in this program?

• How can I represent what I have learned with effective examples?

• What format best suits my personal style?

• How could I explain where I want to go next in my learning journey?

If you take this approach, you can expect a period of messiness and confusion before you arrive at something that pleases you. This is difficult for people who prefer to have a clear format in mind before they start . Give yourself permission to “mess around” in the stuff you have collected over the semester. Look for learning themes and significant examples before deciding on a specific format. Creating your first portfolio snapshot can be one of the most powerful learning experiences of the entire program.

PREPARING YOUR BASELINE PORTFOLIO ~

There are many ways you could go about shaping your baseline portfolio. However, if you need some steps to get you started, here is one process that has been useful to others. Remember that you are trying to show where you began this phase of your journey, as well as your learnings so far.

Consolidate your personal profile

•	Think back to where you were when you began the program. Prepare a brief profile that describes you as a teacher-learner at the beginning of your learning journey. Choose a style that suits you. You might use examples from learning tools you have tried during the first semester (e.g., Self-directed learning inventory, Getting ready for the learning journey, etc.).
•	Summarize what you think is relevant about your background, current educational context, and your beliefs about teaching and learning.

Review your collection of materials

•	Gather together all the “raw materials of learning” collected during the first semester, including things like notes, readings, reflections, personal writing, journal entries, core learning activities, your beginning questions, mini-inquiry activities, examples from your work, etc.
•	As you go through the materials, look for big ideas in your learning. Identify themes from notes you have written, reflections in your journal, responses to readings or other sources.
•	Mark the important items in some way—e.g, use post-it notes, coloured dots, highlighters, etc. As you mark the items, think about why you selected them.

Reflect on emerging learnings

•	Using the frame, “I am learning to…I am learning that…I am learning about…” to record all the big ideas you noted as you reviewed your collection. Note that these learnings do not have to be complete or well-developed. They may still be under construction. Jot down examples from your collection that illustrate each learning statement. Emerging learnings [PDF]
•	Go beyond what is in your collection. Think about themes or issues you have become aware of, feelings you have had, ideas you have tried with students, questions you have been pondering, and conversations with children or colleagues. Add any emerging learnings that come to mind.

Synthesize statements of learning

•	Using what you have recorded as emerging learnings, shape several statements of learning that are especially significant to you. Use the same stems: “I am learning to…I am learning that…I am learning about….”
•	For each statement, select one or two effective examples from your collection, or prepare a representation that shows the learning in a powerful way (e.g., a Venn diagram, a thinking frame, a web of ideas, a flow diagram, an anecdote or “vignette,” a fiew pieces of student work that demonstrate learning, a photo, a video clip, etc.).

Organize representations of learning

•	Compile your statements of learning and supporting evidence in a format that speaks for you. Keep in mind that you are both the creator and the primary audience.
•	Try to limit the number of learnings you include to no more than eight. Be selective and choose the big ideas.
•	Consider your secondary audience—the colleagues and instructional team for your Diploma. Be selective in how many examples you include for each learning. One well-chosen example can speak volumes.

PREPARING A SELF-EVALUATION SUMMARY ~

Once you have compiled your baseline portfolio, it is important to return to the program capacities. This is the time to review how your learning relates to these overall categories for your Diploma program. As you connect each of your learning statements to the program capacities, note those areas where learning has been most evident in the first semester, and those you have not yet explored. Then make a brief summary that you can discuss with a mentor.

Self-evaluation summary [PDF]

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