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Portfolio Development for Learning
A portfolio is a purposeful collection of student work done over time. The collected work provides evidence that students have learned the pre-determined objectives. Residents also learn in portfolio development when they plan, create, review, and update their portfolios. The exact content of a portfolio depends upon the kind of learning it is designed to address. For example, a portfolio designed to aid self-monitoring of mistakes and critical self-reflection might include a log of near misses and short narratives about what was learned from the near misses. Portfolios may be paper-based or electronic, and contain a range of tangible entries from journals to videotapes of residents’ clinical performance. The following key characteristics of Portfolio Development for Learning are consistent with the characteristics of Teaching for Competency.
- Together with their teachers or mentors, residents determine what they need to learn and what products will provide sufficient evidence of learning (Explicit and Accountable).
- Specific portfolio entries or contents are planned, created, reviewed, and maintained by the resident; thus portfolio content is unique to each resident and requires the resident to be responsible for learning (Individualized).
- Portfolio entries are based on residents’ actual experiences. For residents, these experiences may be captured by morning report notes, a learning plan, or a journal of challenging encounters (Real-Life).
- Reflection and self-assessment can occur during at least three phases of portfolio development. The first opportunity to reflect on and assess one’s work occurs during the process of planning portfolio entries. The second opportunity occurs when residents create entries; and there is a third opportunity when residents review their portfolios by themselves or with their mentors (Self Assessment).
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