Written Portfolio Guidelines

Written Portfolio Tone, Format, and Length

Organize your written portfolio in a way that expresses your experiences with your community partners and this program, authentically and effectively. In the past, written portfolios have taken the form of academic papers, electronic portfolios, notebook binders, or reflective essays (most common). It is acceptable to write in the first person (i.e., I, we); you are not required to write in the third person (i.e., the researcher, the university partner), but may if you would like to.

All written portfolios include two main sections—your original reflective writing and supporting documents in the appendices which provide examples and supportive evidence of your community-engaged scholarship and practice. There is no preferred bibliographic/citation style (e.g., APA, Chicago); we expect you to follow the norms of your discipline. Written portfolios should be between 15-20 pages plus references and appendices (if included).

The program coordinator strongly recommends a meeting about the portfolio prior to submission, so that all requirements can be thoroughly explained and discussed. While optional, the program coordinator also highly recommends an informal review of outlines or drafts in advance of your final submission.

Your written portfolio is due to the program coordinator one week before your presentation. This allows the advisory committee to review your written portfolio in advance, become familiar with your community-engaged scholarship or practice, and prepare thoughtful questions for your presentation. This is a hard, fast rule. If your written portfolio is not available one week in advance of your scheduled presentation, the program coordinator will cancel your presentation and reschedule it for a future date.

Requirements

1. Introduce yourself, your community, and your context. Be sure to include a personal introduction, including a reflection on your positionality, if appropriate. Share why community engagement is important to you. Note how community engagement is practiced in your discipline and field. Describe your own community engagement values and principles and explain why they are important to your own practice. Discuss the community and partners you have chosen to work with and why that choice was important to you.
2. Community Partnerships. Be sure to explain how you met your partners and worked to establish trust and rapport. (If your major professor established the partnership in advance, be sure to ask them and the partners about the origin story of the partnership even if you were not a part of it at the time). Provide examples and evidence of how you listened to your partners including the use of specific collaboration techniques. Clearly state what you learned from your partners and how that community partner knowledge shaped your shared project. Describe how and to what degree community partners were involved in different steps of the project. Note how the project materials were given back to the community partners in ways that were valuable to them. Describe if/how the partnership is continuing or whether it will wrap up and any steps you have taken to conclude the partnership.
3. Foundational Scholarship. Clearly state the theory, conceptual frameworks, or best practices you have used for this project. Note throughout the portfolio how the foundational scholarship shaped what happened. Describe how and where you have/would have disseminated this project to both academic and public/practitioner audiences. Include citations from community engagement literature (10 or more). Include citations from your disciplinary literature (10 or more).
4. Critical Reflection, Thinking, and Ethics. Reflects on what happened and what you would have done differently in three main areas: a) how who you are influenced the experience with your community partners (critical reflection, focus on identity, positionality, power, privilege); b) how the ideas you put into practice worked/didn’t work (critical thinking, ideas, substance), and c) how your chosen collaboration techniques shaped your experience (process). Discuss ethical issues you encountered and how you addressed them. (Note, this is above and beyond what is required by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for research). Reflect on what else you would continue/do differently in future to proactively identify and address ethical issues in your future community engagement work.
5. Personal Growth and Learning. Address changes in your understanding of community-engaged scholarship and practice. Note any lessons learned for moving forward as a community-engaged scholar or practitioner. Explain how community engagement fits into your vision of what comes next in your career. Include a copy of your resume or c.v., listing the Graduate Certification in Community Engagement where it is appropriate.

Overall, the advisory committee will be looking for how your written portfolio and presentation embody your commitments to respect, reciprocity, relevance, humility, and co-learning. They are interested in how you demonstrate the links between theory and practice and how you share your own reflections, growth and learning. While you are encouraged to be innovative and creative in your portfolio and presentation, the advisory committee does expect a polished piece free from typos, punctuation and grammar mistakes. It should include a title page and page numbers.