The capstone portfolio project is one that you will not complete until one of your last semesters in school. I think of a capstone as being the top and when I completed my portfolio, I truly was at a high point because my portfolio helped me see what I had accomplished. It gave me a chance to evaluate where I was at that point, as well as to look back at where I had been and to look forward to where I want to go. I don't think I would have taken a comprehensive look at my graduate education if I had not completed my portfolio.
Goals of the ACE Capstone Portfolio Course
- To provide the opportunity for students to create a portfolio documenting the quality of their work in courses
- To provide the opportunity for students to create a portfolio documenting the quality of their progress in understanding and applying adult and continuing education principles, theory and best practices as they progressed through the degree program
- To provide the opportunity for students to reflect on their growth and development in the professional practice of adult and continuing education as they complete the program
- To provide the opportunity for students to reflect on their growth and development in the professional practice of adult and continuing education and plan the next steps in their journey as self-directed learners
- To provide the opportunity for students to create a portfolio to showcase examples of their best work to internal and external stakeholders and professional audiences.
Components of the Portfolio
The portfolio consists of these parts:
- Introductory Framing Statement
- Statement of Professional Development and Goals (submitted as part of your Application to the ACE degree)
- ACE Professional Development Planning Guide
- Artifacts (papers, final projects, independent studies, etc.) with caption statements
- Plan for Future Learning
- Concluding Framing Statement
- Your current resume
Although you won't be working on your portfolio until you are nearly through the program, we wanted the capstone project to be a part of orientation so you know about it and save anything that you might want to include as an artifact. Your portfolio will contain at least 8 artifacts of significant works of 1000 words or more. But, additionally, you may want to include smaller artifacts. Anything that gives you that "ah-ha" experience might be included as an artifact. For example, I really enjoyed a book I read for D505. I completed the report and went on to other assignments and other classes. But I found myself referring to this book in other classes and this book helped me select some of the elective classes I took. When I was working on my portfolio, I realized how this book influenced my thinking and I made this book report the anchor piece. I did not realize how important this book would be to me when I completed the book report and I was glad to find a copy of the book report to use as an artifact.
Saving artifacts
Save, save, save. This is the most important advice I can give you right now. It would be much better to have way too many things saved than to search for an artifact that would fit perfectly into your portfolio and not have it. I believe your portfolios will be fuller and richer than those of us who took the bulk of our classes before the portfolio project was established because as you progress through the program you will be looking for those "ah-ha" experiences and will save more than just the larger projects or book reports.
There are several ways to save your potential artifacts. The "My Workspace" Resources function in Oncourse is probably the most convenient and the safest. It's backed up every day and is accessible from anywhere. You can also store them in a special folder on your computer or burn them onto a rewritable CD or have a special flash drive just for this purpose. If you are storing these files on your hard drive or flash drive make sure you back up regularly to a CD or other storage device.
Theme
When you are enrolled in D640 and actually completing your portfolio, you will want to look through your possible artifacts to see if there is a thread that seems to run through them. For me, it seemed as if many artifacts were connected to something else in my life: another class, past employment, present employment, or plans for the future. I saw that thread and chose "Bridges" as my theme. After I chose the theme, I could see which artifacts helped tell my story and those were the ones I used.
You don't need to worry about a theme now; in fact, you shouldn't be thinking about a theme at this point. It is better to look at your artifacts to discover a theme than to think of a theme and try to make the artifacts fit.
Writing Captions
The most important thing to remember when writing a caption is that you are not summarizing the artifact, but rather are writing a reflection on it. You might want to think of the 3 questions that Barrett suggests: "What?" "So What?" and "Now What?" (Barrett, 2003).
- What? Identify the artifact. What is it and what class did you retrieve it from?
- So what? Why is this artifact important to you? Why did you select it? How did it help you grow?
- Now what? Where do you go from here? Are there other things you want to learn as a result of this artifact? Are there things you would do differently the next time around?
When you are working on your portfolio, you will work with a small group of 3 or 4 people. One thing the small group does is provide constructive criticism to each individual in order to make the captions stronger. Those people in your group will give you helpful hints, honest opinions, and a little nudge if you get stuck. When you are working on your portfolio, it will be a "work in progress" and you may make changes in you work as you desire throughout the semester.
Suggested Readings
Visit Helen Barrett's website at http://electronicportfolios.com/ There's lots of information on this website, but I especially like the section on portfolio metaphors.
Imel, S. (1992). Reflective Practice in Adult Education. Columbus, OH: ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult career and Vocational Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service Number ED346319). Retrieved 8/24/2005 from http://www.ericdigests.org/1992-3/adult.htm
This Module was developed by Janet Johnson who also is co-facilitating the Capstone Portfolio class this fall and helped develop the portfolio process as part of an independent study project.
