Solved! Post an explanation of at least two strategies for including academic activities and accomplishments into your professional development goals

Post an explanation of at least two strategies for including academic activities and accomplishments into your professional development goals

Post an explanation of at least two strategies for including academic activities and accomplishments into your professional development goals. Then, explain how those goals may align with the University’s emphasis on social change. Be specific and provide examples.

• Reflect on strategies that you can pursue in developing portfolios or portfolio elements that focus on academic achievements.
• Review one or more samples from your own research of resources focused on portfolio development.

Sample Expert Answer

Inclusion of Academic Activities and Accomplishments into Professional Development Goals

Creating a professional portfolio serves a purpose beyond showcasing academic achievements. This is also crucial in the sense that it presents a portfolio that is consistent with their career targets that they seek to meet. Preparing a solid portfolio that provide an overview of the academic accomplishments necessitates requires the adoption of certain key strategies part of which include connecting academic achievements and social change through the integration of the reflective narratives (Zaccagnini & Miller, 2021).

Strategies for Including Academic Activities

Strategy 1

Creating a comprehensive and meaningful portfolio requires the integration of the reflective narrative within it, which is as important as acquisition of academic knowledge. Adopting this strategy is crucial in the sense that it helps broaden understanding of one’s academic efforts including the significance of these efforts. In addition, it highlights the link between the acquired knowledge and professional growth. Notably, adopting this strategy provides a nurse-scholar with the option of articulating the significance of the academic accomplishments especially when it comes to driving Walden University’s social change agenda (Jones, Cobb, & England, 2024).

The importance of this strategy comes to play in a scenario in which nurse scholar introduces into their portfolio the the details related to the research work they completed about bridging the gap in access to care due to social determinants of health. To create connection between this work and their professional goals, they may explain how the lessons drawn from the academic work informs their focus on advancing the interest of the socially and economically disadvantaged persons.

Strategy 2

The second strategy involves embedding into the portfolio digitized details of one’s accomplishments like the projects they contributed to creating, the research they helped conduct, and the coursework they completed. To add credibility to the portfolio, they may consider including the aspects of their coursework such as the actual research papers, the sample of the group projects, and any coursework that demonstrates their academic experience.

This curated digital academic content provide proof of the progress made in terms of comprehension of the academic concepts, and attainment of the needed academic milestones (Domene-Martos et al., 2021). One way in which one can practically use this strategy is to include a PowerPoint presentation work that one did as part of their academic assignments. This presentation can be useful in validating one’s ability to communicate effectively or their organizational skills.

Alignment of the Goals with Walden University’s Emphasis on Social Change

The identified strategies are consistent with Walden University’s commitment to social change. With a reflective narrative that includes actual academic work that one managed to complete, and in which they applied academically acquired skills to address social problem like disparity in access to care, one can build a potent portfolio that aligns with the institution’s mission of promoting social change (Flynn, 2022).

Conversely, a digital portfolio with information related to one’s research work or the academic goals they accomplished can be useful in demonstrating one’s abilities including their ability to use their knowledge to create positive social change. Thus, the two strategies are consistent with Walden’s university emphasis on the advancement of the social change objectives.

Conclusion

In overview, a nurse-scholar can draw immense benefits from creating a portfolio that captures their accomplishments, and which aligns with their goals of growing professionally. The two strategies that can help communicate one’s commitment to achieve these goals include including digitized details of their academic work, and incorporating reflective narratives into their portfolio.

References

Domene-Martos, S., Rodríguez-Gallego, M., Caldevilla-Domínguez, D., & Barrientos-Báez, A. (2021). The Use of Digital Portfolio in Higher Education before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(20), 10904. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010904.

Flynn C. O. (2022). Reflections on an E-Portfolio Assessment in a First-Year Physiology Course. Biomedical Engineering Education, 2(1), 61–67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43683-021-00058-9.

Jones, A., Cobb, K., & England, G. (2024). A Scoping Review on the use of Reflection and Reflective Portfolio Learning in Veterinary Education. Veterinary Record Open, 11(1), e279. https://doi.org/10.1002/vro2.79.

Zaccagnini, M., & Miller, P. A. (2021). Portfolios with Evidence of Reflective Practice Required by Regulatory Bodies: An Integrative Review. Physiotherapy Canada. Physiotherapie Canada, 74(4), 330–339. https://doi.org/10.3138/ptc-2021-0029.