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MLAB 2360: Clinical I Portfolio Grading Rubric
MLAB 2360: Serology Instructions for Fall Portfolio
A portfolio is a purposeful collection of student work, accumulated over time, that reveals the extent of student learning, achievement, and development. Emphasis is on the condition of “purposeful,” because without a clearly identifiable purpose a portfolio will be a mere accumulation of products, equivalent to storing your work in a file cabinet.
Students are expected to collect, select, and reflect. In building a portfolio of selected pieces and explaining the basis for your choices, you generate criteria for good work, with professor and peer input.
Student portfolios serve as valuable tools for assessment of learning outcomes. They are designed to serve purposes such as to:
1. showcase your best work
2. showcase your growth
3. provide evidence of your capacity for self-assessment
4. provide a complete collection of work for documentation and archiving
Type of learning outcomes for which portfolios are used:
1. Metacognitive processing skills
2. Critical thinking
3. Problem-solving
4. Writing and communication
5. Self assessment
Materials Needed:
1. Two inch binder
2. Package of eight (8) dividers
3. Eight sheet protectors
4. Optional: color paper
Since you will develop a portfolio each semester, setting up the portfolio
helps facilitate the process each time a new portfolio is begun.
Start by assembling your model portfolio. The following instructions will guide you through the process.
1. Design a portfolio cover sheet labeled “Clinical Portfolio ” and your name. The cover should be original, creative and colorful, and should represent some aspect of clinical laboratory medicine.
2. Create a spine label. The label should include your name, “Medical Laboratory Technology”, and “Clinical Portolio.” . You should be creative so far as font and colors used.
3. Label the tabs of the eight dividers as follows: Resume, Hematology, Coagulation, Urinalysis/Body Fluids, Serology, Clinical Chemistry, Immunohematology and Clinical Microbiology.
4. Insert dividers in the portfolio along with sheet protectors for each section. Ideally, the tabs should be visible. One suggestion is to slip each divider into a sheet protector making a slit in the protector were the tab is located to allow the tab to protrude from the plastic. Do this for each divider until all eight are completed. Another suggestion is to purchase self-adhesive tabs and adhere them to the sheet protectors or use pocket dividers with a tab.
5. Make cover sheets for each of the eight dividers made in step 4. These cover sheets should be well designed, show creativity, match the tabs on each divider and include an illustration of the course. For example, in Hematology place pictures of RBCs and WBCs on the cover sheet. Slip each cover sheet into the appropriate divider/protector.
6. Separate each area into three sections IN THE FOLLOWING ORDER: results, automation and self-reflection. This can quickly be done on a computer. Make a cover sheet for each of sections. Print eight copies of each sheet, one set for each clinical section in the portfolio. Slip each cover sheet into a sheet protector. Use index tabs or neatly printed sticky notes to label each of the three sections. Place one of each into each of the outcome sections.
Congratulations! You have now completed your “model” portfolio. With this, and the six steps just outlined, you are now ready to assemble your own portfolios.
Throughout the portfolio process you will have the opportunity to learn about yourself in relation to the student outcomes. You will assess your skills, interests, and abilities and reflect on their growth and progress in all facets of the courses taken. Self-reflection is an integral part of the portfolio process and an essential skill for problem solving and life planning.
The results you provide will be dependent upon the Clinical course.
When you create your results sections you may wish to pick the "worst" of your first attempts and the "best" of your final attempts.If you wish you can copy the first skills on one color sheet of paper and select paper of a different color to copy your final attempt. The goal of having your results in your portfolio is to demonstrate to all who view it how far you have come since your first attempt at performing a skill.
The heart of the portfolio process is reflection. Reflection is taking the time to give careful consideration to work and self, to look at the evidence and honestly assess learning and growth. Reflection is a skill that must be developed, practiced and nurtured. It is truly an integration of developing the body of knowledge necessary for understanding self and the world, the communication skills to express thoughts and observations with clarity, the metacognitive skills to examine one’s own thinking, the emotional intelligence to be personally honest, and the life skills of taking responsibility and control of one’s own life.
Self-reflection may have different meanings to different people depending on what they value as important and the intended use of the reflection. However, for those who believe the goal of assessment is to educate and not to audit, self-reflection is not an option but a necessary component of a portfolio.
The primary goal of the reflection is to have you think critically of your own work; not just the products, but the processes involved in the creation of the products. Reflections give you an opportunity to learn about how you learn. For example, you need to justify the selections in your portfolio, describe how they demonstrate achievement of the learning outcomes. You need to write about what you have learned and experienced in the course and how your work has changed over time .
An important part of working in the clinical laboratory involves self reflection. For example, for instrumentation, if calibration or quality control results do not give expected values what must be done? You must know how a piece of equipment operates in order to be able to problem solve it. You must know the type of samples that can be utilized so you will not test an unacceptable sample which will negatively affect the results. What are the limitations of the equipment, ie, what is the linearity? Extremely high or low results may not be valid. Reflecting on performance of procedures is very enlightening, for example, when performing a procedure in the work place you make an error, when it is brought to your attention you must reflect on how the error occurred and develop a plan of action to prevent this error from occurring again in the future. All employees are evaluated on an annual basis. You are asked to self reflect on your strengths and weaknesses as they relate to your work. The portfolio process will teach you to gain the necessary skills which will be applied to the work place.
1. For each skill performed describe what you found most difficult when you FIRST performed the skill? There may be more than one item to list, ie , focusing the microscope, finding the grid, etc.
2. Reflect on the first time you performed the skill and the last time you performed the skill. Compare your results (first and last) and describe how you feel now, ie, your level of comfort performing the skill. If you are still not comfortable with the skill describe why and what you must do to gain confidence in performing this skill.
3. After reflecting on each skill state which one you had the MOST difficulty with. What efforts will you make to feel proficient and confident.
4. After reflecting on each skill state the skill you feel most proud and confident of achieving. Describe why you selected this skill.
5. What was the most (satisfying, frustrating, etc.) experience reflected in your portfolio?
In the self- reflection section use your journal and BlackBoard postings as your guide and answer the following:
When creating your reflection the top of the page should have "Reflection for (clinical section) " then "Name" then "Date". The self-reflection MUST be neatly word processed and demonstrate thoughtful analysis of the progress in gaining knowledge and skills.
From now until the end of the semester you will have scheduled days to work on this project. These days are clinical days. You may choose to work at home although it is HIGHLY recommended that you go to an ACC campus computer center or library. You must have a place that will be quiet and peaceful so you can focus, concentrate and reflect on your experiences so far. Time will be built in to the clinical schedule so that you can have time to document daily reflection in your journal at the end of each day and work on your portfolio as the semester progresses. Journal entries will be used to create your final self-reflection document.
Ample time through out the semester is allotted for the creation of your portfolio. Students who submit a substandard portfolio may be required to come to campus each clinical day of following semesters to work on the project in future semesters.
Recommended time:
Clinical I |
Clinical II |
Clinical III |
|
| Document assembled according to stated criteria | 25.5 |
5 all or nothing |
5 all or nothing |
| Automation report addresses stated criteria and has a picture | 10 |
20 |
20 |
| Results- selected according to stated criteria | 15 |
10 |
15 |
| Reflection - thoughtful reflection based on stated criteria | 19.5 |
40 |
40 |
| Spelling/grammar/punctuation | 10 |
10 |
5 |
| Submitted by due date at instructor assigned time, -10 points if submitted same day, -20 points if submitted after due date | 20 |
15 |
15 |
100 |
100 |
100 |
NOTE: The portfolio must be submitted by the due date stated in your course syllabus. ALSO, for rotations which do not have automation, ie Immunohematology and Serology, the automation points will be split between results, reflection and submission of paperwork.