In educational leadership at Luther we use a learning portfolio process to help you document your learning about educational leadership, and to provide us with a concrete way to coach you in your learning journey. The primary substance of the portfolio is an engagement with the educational leadership competencies. We ask you to assess, in a structured and specific way in the portfolio, where your experience has given you capacity, and where your  growing edges are.

Your final portfolio (a requirement in all EL courses, so start now and build something you can use over and over again!) should include five sections.

The first section is usually specific to the course you are taking. In EL1515, for instance, this is the section that include a brief summary of what you have learned from your integrative writing, and all of your public writings for the class as well as any handouts or other materials you have prepared for small group exercises. Refer to the syllabus of the course for details on this section.

The second, third and fourth sections of your portfolio should be structured around the three areas of competency (knowledge, attitudes and skills) outlined for educational leadership at Luther Seminary. Here your objective will be to assess where you are in terms of achieving these competencies, and propose ways to meet the rest during the remainder of your degree work. This is a great place to store up examples of your best performances in a given area, things such as specific learning designs you’ve created, papers demonstrating theological prowess, letters of reference from contextual sites, and so on.

The fifth and final section will be devoted to an evaluation of the class you are taking at whatever point you hand in the portfolio. Again, refer to the syllabus of the class for specific instructions.

Much of the information on portfolios that we use is based on the work of Stephen Brookfield, and his book Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995). You may find Chapter Five, pages 92-113 of his book (which is on reserve in the library), particularly useful as you work on your portfolio.

Additional useful resources:

Educational Leadership competencies list (.doc format)

Educational Leadership competencies self assessment (.doc format)