Developing a Portfolio

According to Johnson, Mims-Cox and Doyle-Nichols (2010), the benefits to portfolio development are the concrete evidence of skills and abilities. When there is a need for evidence of student’s competency a portfolio is used to document the evidence. Johnson, Mims-Cox and Doyle-Nichols state that portfolio provides a more affluent picture of a student’s abilities and to show growth over time. The challenges of a portfolio are that developing a portfolio is time-consuming (Johnson, Mims-Cox, Doyle-Nichols, 2010).
Johnson, Mims-Cox, & Doyle-Nichols (2010) states that the main purpose of action research is to expand behaviors based on a continuing cycle of goals setting, reflection, inquires and evaluation for improvement and growth. There are six action research levels in portfolio development. Problem identification is the first level which consists of deciding what to put into the portfolio and why it should be placed in the portfolio. The second level is action planning, figuring out how to collect and organize the evidence needed. Implementation is the third level when you collect the evidence but wonder how much too collect and where. The fourth level is evaluation when the evidence that has been collected is mirrored to determine if is appropriate. The fifth level is reflection when you review what was put together for the original portfolio and determine if it fit it purpose. The final level is self evaluation when you think about how you can make the original portfolio even better to display evidence, your knowledge, skills and dispositions (Johnson, Mims-Cox, & Doyle-Nichols,