The portfolio
What is the portfolio?
The portfolio is your assessment of learning and demonstration of leadership. This formal assessment and documentation of leadership growth and accomplishments are designed by each individual in consultation with the adviser and presented at the completion of the program.
What goes into the portfolio depends on the student’s choice about summarizing their experience in the program. In this program, the purpose of the portfolio is to document leadership in the field of youth development. The portfolio provides both documentation and assessment of personal and professional change – the kind of change that by its nature defines leadership. It is important to consider the philosophy of leadership embodied in the youth development leadership program in order to appreciate what goes in to a portfolio.
Leadership is a set of possibilities. We believe that leadership matters, that leadership is about making a difference for young people in the world. Leadership is demonstrated when people take risks; pursue ideas, programs, and policies that promote the healthy development of young people; make ethical and principled stands; and take informed action in the community. Youth development leadership is understood and demonstrated through the praxis of youthwork – the seeing and learning, the doing and understanding, the reflecting and documenting – that generates growth and change in the leader and in the community.
Leadership is not understood or demonstrated by all people in all places in the same way. The YDL program provides an arena for experienced youth workers to play out and define what leadership means to them through debate, discussion, study, reflection and action with others. We do believe that leadership confronts the important questions of the day. In this context, the portfolio is a highly individualized record and assessment.
The portfolio may contain works associated with courses taken during the program, but it is not a file drawer to be filled with papers along the way. Rather, the portfolio is a creation that integrates and illustrates your leadership in the field of youth development. The documentation may contain public documents like news articles or work products. It may contain private documents like journal entries and letters. It may contain proposals and plans for future action as well as records and reflections of past action. Most students produce a bound collection of documents including a current resume, a transcript, a program plan, and a selection of well-conceived writings and work products. A number of YDL students have embellished their portfolios with creative representations of their accomplishments captured on discs, in one-person plays, in a traditional Mexican paseo exhibit, or original paintings, photographs, and poetry. Most of all, it is your statement of who you are and what you stand for as a leader in your profession.
Portfolio protocol
Portfolio planning begins when you enter the program. Review your portfolio plan spring semester of your first year. Make adjustments as you see fit. The goal is to have a personal plan for your professional development that will guide your elective course choices, your field experience and your on-going seminar participation. Schedule a time with the YDL graduate assistant to come in and look though the portfolio work of other students. Develop a strategy to begin keeping "artifacts of success." The artifacts are the documentary evidence that comprise your portfolio. Think of imaginative, personal ways to collect and demonstrate your achievements in leadership. When you have completed the four core courses, your electives and field experience and participated in four credit hours of seminar, you can begin to plan and schedule your faculty portfolio presentation.
E-folios
Students in the past have typically done portfolios by presenting a bound
collection of documents of their work. Another possibility of presenting the
portfolio is an e-folio. Check out the links below to see examples of online
YDL portfolios.
http://www.jennasethi.efoliomn.com/
http://www.sarabielawski.efoliomn.com/
Preparing for your portfolio presentation
The portfolio presentation is a one-hour oral presentation for at least two faculty members.
- Design a basic plan for the presentation and get your adviser's signature on the plan.
- Schedule your presentation 2 (two) months in advance. You are responsible for:
- setting up your committee
- getting their agreement to participate
- scheduling your session.
- Send out all written materials that is to be considered and
reviewed ahead of time to each committee member two weeks in
advance of the presentation. You are responsible for getting the
materials to the faculty so they can fully prepare for the session.
As you put materials together, remember that you are giving the
committee members what they need to know to be fully engaged with
you at the presentation.
At a minimum, the following is recommended:- Updated resume
- Your program planning form [.pdf]
- Your graduate transcript (unofficial is fine)
- Personal statement of philosophy of youth development leadership
- Outline of the presentation emphasizing major areas of study and accomplishment
- Any statements that synthesize or integrate your graduate experience
- Reflections and assessment of your field experience
- Summary of seminar activities and your learning outcomes
- As you organize yourself for the presentation, think in terms of talking for no more than 20 minutes and being in conversation around questions and issues for 40 minutes. This seems to be a fairly typical scenario when the committee has had a chance to review a set of well- organized, thoughtfully selected artifacts.
- You are responsible for any handouts included in the presentation.
- Have one copy of portfolio for each faculty reviewer (usually about 3).
- Reviewers should have copies of portfolios at least 2 weeks before your presentation.
- Immediately following the presentation, the faculty will discuss your work and notify you of its decision. The choices are pass, fail, or recommend additional work.
- Submit one copy of your portfolio to the YDL Office for our permanent records.
Advice from YDL alumni and faculty
- Start by scheduling your portfolio presentation. This way, you have a definite deadline, and you don't end up procrastinating for too long. You should allow at least 3 months in advance to gather faculty. Don't forget to send the faculty who will be at the presentation copies of your portfolio or whatever handouts you want them to review at least 2 weeks before the presentation so they have time to review it. --Faculty
- I was able to come up with an idea fairly early based on a challenge given to us by Prof. Baizerman, who said, " No one has written an epic poem for their portfolio yet, but pretty much anything is possible." I didn't exactly write an epic poem, but I made a decision to not have my portfolio just be a collection of a lot of papers. But you actually do have to do a fair amount of writing. Although the presentation is a very relaxed atmosphere, the faculty can differentiate between those that have been thrown together last minute and those that have been given a lot of thought and preparation. Be creative! --Alumni
- Trust faculty when they say, "Anything you want to do is OK," because it really is. The portfolio is designed for you to show what you have learned, a culmination of all you work during the program and your reflection on the program. And you need to design what that is for yourself. --Alumni
- You will feel a little like you are left on your own, and sometimes I felt like I was bumbling through. They let you feel like you could do your own thing and in the end I realized that was true. --Alumni
- The presentation of the portfolio was a little difficult just because you are presenting in front of so many people. But if you practice a little bit or have opportunity to do lots of presentations at your job you should be fine. The faculty are there to celebrate your work, and they are very supportive. During the process of preparing the portfolio I didn't get a lot of guidance. I just let something inspire me. I chose not to use Power Point because it was too stuffy for my style. I did what I knew best and created an interactive presentation with lots of props and visuals. --Alumni
- Try not to think of it as a graduation requirement but rather as "Show and Tell" at your 20th high school reunion. What can you put together that will tell the story of your work with young people and your studies in youth development that best reflects your unique approach, passions and priorities? How might your portfolio be used to educate others about the importance of Youth Development Leadership? --Faculty/Alumni
- Whatever you create, make sure you'll want to read/look at it again and again and again. That'll be a good sign it has life in it. --Faculty/Alumni
- Start planning your portfolio early; always keep it in the back of your mind
- Draft a portfolio plan when you enter the program
- Review the plan in Spring Semester 1st year and in your 2nd year
- Look at portfolios at the YDL office
- Begin keeping artifacts now
- Portfolios can include items such as:
- Public Documents (news articles, work projects)
- Private Documents (journal entries, letters)
- Personal reflections (plans for future action, reflection on past actions)
- Multi Media components (videos, photos, art)
Revised October 2009
