Portfolio resources

The Portfolio: Recording the progress of your learning goal

Learning Goal: Develop agency by setting a Learning Goal, exploring a topic of your choice and showcasing your output of Learning

Self regulation: Demonstrating self-regulation in time management, decision-making, and the consideration of strategies, perspectives, and feedback to achieve your Learning Goal

Below are suggestions for tools to help you organise and complete your Learning Goal.

These are just suggestions. You do not have to use all of them! .

Remember: Record everything in your Portfolio.

Student evidence should provide a running commentary of the thinking and planning of the process.

Examples of evidence includes but is not limited to: plans, designs, concept maps, prototypes, video recordings, audio recordings, journal reflections, charts, murals, articles or excerpts, annotated photos, sketches, notes etc.

Step 1. Refining your Learning Goal

E1 Exploring ideas related to an area of interest

Suggestions for refining your Learning Goal.

E1: Organises ideas and makes discerning choices about the direction of the learning

  1. Include examples from your brainstorming activities (Lotus Diagram, mind map, concept map, PMI Chart etc) showing the evolution of your project. Include annotations if relevant.

  2. List the strengths and limitations of the questions/ concepts you have considered and the changes you have made.

  3. Record examples of your prereading (articles), other media and interviews and how they helped you develop the Learning Goal and plan for your project.

  4. Write a brief introduction to your project and why you have pursued it.

Lotus Diagram

A lotus Diagram is a brainstorming and organisation tool. It helps define key concepts, parts of the broader picture and planning your next actions.

  1. Identify a topic

  2. List all current knowledge of the topic

  3. Frame a series of questions (Minimum 5) around the topic

  4. List information, data and to collect – what don’t you know?

  5. List the field techniques you will need to complete

  6. Analysis – How will you present the information

Focus Areas. (Like mind mapping only focussed)

Focus areas are a simple organisation tool.

When you plan your focus areas ask yourself the following question:

"If my Learning Project was a book, what would the chapters be?"

This list of 'chapters' would be your Focus Areas

You can use mind mapping tool like bubbl.us to lay out your focus areas.

Concept Maps or Mind Maps

A mind map is a visual diagram that organizes ideas around a central concept, using branches to show connections between related topics.

Concept Maps are similar to mind maps but often more hierarchical and detailed.

They show the relationships between main ideas, subtopics, and supporting information. 

Coggle

Mind Meister

Free Mind

Bubbl.us

PMI Chart (Plus, Minus, Interesting)

Evaluates potential directions or ideas by sorting them into pros, cons, and curiosities.

Helps clarify values, implications, or priorities behind a question.

The timeline: Planning your campaign

PA 1 Managing time and resources to progress the learning

A timeline helps you plan your intended progress over the course of the project.

Use it to highlight the weekly tasks and goals that need to be achieved.

Step 2. Select and apply strategies

What to include in your folio:

  • Photos

  • Article excerpts

  • Notes (Voice and text)

  • Observations

  • Transcripts

  • Scrap books

  • Sticky notes

  • Diagrams

  • Timelines

  • Graphs

  • Tables

Explain yourself with:

  • Annotations

  • Updates

  • Synthesis

  • Light bulb moments

  • Changing course notes

  • Extra ideas

  • Surprising findings

E2 Selecting and applying strategies

Reviewing the literature (and recording your sources)

E2: Develops, tests, and/or adapts strategies, considering their implications on the learning

Every good learning goal includes a review of the literature. The size and scope of it depends on your chosen goal.

Some basic guidelines for you to consider.

1. Record your background reading

  • Books

  • Academic articles

  • Newspaper and magazine articles

  • Blogs and opinion

  • Art, music and drama

2. Note the important points

  • Use dot points to list information and key data that helps you progress your learning goal.

For your folio

  • How has the source shaped your project and influenced your understanding? What have you discovered? Any unexpected information?

  • Annotated extracts from the source

  • An overview or summary statement outlining the key findings from your sources

  • Highlight any conflicts between the sources

  • How did this research process help you fulfil the capabilities?

Surveying a cohort

A survey helps you gather data from a large group of people quickly and efficiently. It allows you to identify trends and public perception of an issue. Surveys develop skills in question design, data analysis, and interpretation, making projects more comprehensive and statistically informed. You need to design your questions well to produce data you will actually use.

5 tips for good question design:

  1. Avoid 'double barrelled' questions (ie. two questions in one).

  2. Avoid text-box responses unless they are used to clarify other questions.

  3. Avoid leading questions (ie. ones that lead the respondent to only one answer).

  4. Consider ethical limits to what you can ask; for example, you can't include questions that ask people to admit to illegal behaviour.

  5. Give respondents the option not to answer some questions, and treat responses confidentially - these are ethical rules that must be followed.

For your folio:

  • How you decided upon your survey questions, and how you edited them

  • How you chose your survey population, and how you contacted them

  • How you designed the survey, and what it looked like (survey screenshots)

  • How you dealt with ethical concerns for certain questions, or certain respondents/interviewees

  • Did it bring expected or unexpected results?

  • How did this process help you fulfil the capabilities?

Observation survey

An observation survey involves systematically watching and recording behaviors or events as they occur. For your research, it provides firsthand, real-time data without influencing participants. This method is useful for studying actions, patterns, or routines, offering qualitative insights that complement interviews or surveys to enhance your understanding.

For your folio

  • Contextual information for this process (where, what, who, when)

  • Images of observation environment, or equipment etc.

  • Plans for recording and analysing data (what format, how much data needed, timescale)

  • Challenges or opportunities encountered during the development/planning of this process

  • Survey design

  • Notes interpreting your results, confirm or diagree with other results

  • Your own explanation of reasons for particular results

  • Photographs/images showing results, as appropriate

  • Notes about how these results have changed your understanding of your topic –and what you need to do

  • An overview or summary statement outlining the key findings from the survey

  • Was this process a good match for your project?

Conducting an experiment

Using experiments in your project allows you to test hypotheses through controlled investigation and observing outcomes. Experiments provide clear, measurable data and help you draw evidence based conclusions.

For your folio:

  • Experiment design (method, apparatus, variables etc.)

  • Images of experiment apparatus etc. where appropriate

  • Plans for recording and analysing data (what format, how much data needed, timescale)

  • How you dealt with Ethical concerns for your experiment

  • Challenges or opportunities encountered during the development/planning of this process

  • Recording observations or changes during experiment

  • Notes interpreting these results, in light of data from other processes

  • Your own explanation of reasons for particular results

  • Photographs/images showing results, as appropriate

  • Notes about how these results have changed your understanding of your topic

  • An overview or summary statement outlining the key findings from this process, Did it bring expected or unexpected results?

3. Select and use perspectives

E3 Selecting and using perspectives

Interviewing an expert (Getting another perspective)

E3: Selects and synthesises relevant perspectives to progress the learning

Interviewing an expert provides the opinions, insights and real world perspectives to give you a deeper understanding of your project. Compare perspectives and points of view helps you clarify concepts, and engage critically with knowledge beyond articles and videos..

Tips for being a great interviewer

  • Choose interviewees carefully - they will only be able to give reliable information about areas that they are experts in.

  • Design your interview questions to suit the interviewee.

    For example, an interview with a sports coach will be different from the interview questions with a player.

  • Interviewees are not fact checkers. Don’t ask questions that can be confirmed in your research. You are interested in their opinion/perspective.

  • Ask a maximum of ten (10) questions. It takes a long time to answer interview questions.

  • Don't assume interviews have to be face to face. Phone, Zoom and email are valid and often more convenient for the interviewee.

For your folio

  • How did you decide on your interview questions, and how did you edit them?

  • Why are you interviewing this expert? How will you contact them?

  • Where there ethical concerns you needed to consider?

  • How did this new perspective shape your progress?

  • What did you learn, was anything surprising?