Discussion ForumsSyllabus for EDL-810
PROFESSIONAL PORTFOLIO DEVELOPMENT: SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS
As the capstone experience in the MAEdL program (District Leadership Area of Study), Professional Portfolio Development: School Administrators requires students to prepare an electronic portfolio that demonstrates their achievement of program and ISLLC standards. This portfolio will show how the student has developed and how he or she has applied learning. The process of portfolio development involves: (1) goal setting; (2) decision-making and analysis in the selection of artifacts that document and recognize propositional and procedural knowledge and personal and professional attributes of leadership; and (3) self-evaluation and reflection. Students will learn how professional electronic portfolios are defined, organized, and evaluated. A second goal of this course is to prepare students to retool their portfolio for continued professional and academic advancement beyond the degree program. Students will be expected to substantiate standards-based competencies, a minimum of 300 internship hours at the building leadership level, and 150 hours at the district leadership level, addressing each of the ISLLC standards through all of, but not limited to, the following: documentary evidence of site-based participation in educational leadership roles and responsibilities, letters of endorsement or support from qualified site administrators, class assignments and research papers, reflective journal entries, contact logs with mentors, and self-assessment narratives. (ISLLC 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; NJPSTSL 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
Professional portfolios have been part of the educational scene for several years. Pre-service teachers develop portfolios as evidence that they have met professional standards and as a requirement for graduation. Professional portfolios can serve the same purpose for school and district administrators. This course will focus on the use of portfolios as documentation of the wide range of knowledge and abilities contemporary leaders concerned with teaching, learning, and school improvement must possess to promote excellence in instruction and the creation of a culture that promotes improved student achievement. The course will also focus on the use of portfolios as vehicles for professional growth and for building job placement credentials. Upon successful completion of the course, the student should be able to:
The Balch and Johnson texts are required to do the work of the course. The textbooks are available from the College's textbook supplier, MBS Direct.
Required Texts
Supplemental Resources
Council of Chief State School Officers. (2008). Interstate school leaders licensure consortium standards for school leaders. Washington, DC: Author.
State of New Jersey Department of Education site. Professional development for School Leaders: www.state.nj.us/education/profdev/pd/leader/.
Supplemental Texts (Not Required)
Hartnell-Young, Elizabeth, and Morriss, Maureen (2007). Digital portfolios: Powerful tools for promoting professional growth and reflection. (2d ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Heath, Marilyn S. (2004) Electronic portfolios: A guide to professional development and assessment. Worthington, OH: Linworth Publishing, Inc.
Electronic Portfolio Registration
As a capstone experience in the Educational Leadership program, you will prepare an electronic portfolio that demonstrates your incremental achievement of the program standards. Each course in the program helps you to identify artifacts to place in your portfolio on completion of the course. To this end, you are required to purchase an electronic portfolio registration code upon your entry into the Master of Arts in Educational Leadership program. Basic directions for purchasing access to and using your electronic portfolio are posted within the Educational Leadership Students Organization (online community).
Professional Portfolio Development is a three-credit, graduate course, consisting of six (6) instructional modules:
Each module, in turn, comprises topics, learning objectives; a "read and reflect" assignment (with reflection questions to get you started, a reading assignment, and questions to consider); and, usually, one or more assignments as well as an online discussion.
For your formal work in the course, you are required to participate in five (5) online discussion forums, complete eleven (11) portfolio assignments (two drafts and nine others), and submit specified items to your portfolio as well as do a presentation. See below for more details.
Consult the course Calendar for assignment due dates.
Discussion ForumsEach module in the course (except Module 4) has an online class discussion forum (Module 6 also has an optional discussion). All discussion forums take place asynchronously on the class Discussion Board.
Online discussions provide an opportunity for you to interact with your classmates. During this aspect of the course, you respond to prompts that assist you in developing your ideas, you share those ideas with your classmates, and you comment on their posts. Discussion Board interactions promote development of a community of learners, critical thinking, and exploratory learning.
Please participate in online discussions as you would in constructive face-to-face discussions. You are expected to post well-reasoned and thoughtful reflections for each item, making reference, as appropriate, to your readings. You are also expected to reply to your classmates' posts in a respectful, professional, and courteous manner. You may, of course, post questions asking for clarification or further elucidation on a topic.
Portfolio AssignmentsYou will complete two draft portfolio assignments and then nine more assignments connected with your portfolio. Each of these assignments will allow you to incorporate feedback from your mentor before submitting items to your portfolio.
Portfolio Presentation and PaperYou will plan and perform a presentation of your professional portfolio to your present supervisor, presenting selected standards and accompanying artifacts and preparing responses to possible questions. You are required to present a paper describing your presentation, detailing your supervisor’s assessment of the presentation, and telling why you think your presentation meets appropriate criteria.
You will submit the portfolio itself electronically on the eFolio site.
Portfolio WorkThe course also directs you to perform certain organizational tasks in your portfolio and to submit particular items. You will send your mentor a message letting her or him know that the items have been uploaded so that your mentor can provide feedback.
Portfolio Artifacts and Reflective NarrativeContinue to place your artifacts in your electronic portfolio, and be certain to indicate their alignment to the applicable ISLLC standards.
Your grade in the course will be determined as follows:
All activities will receive a numerical grade of 0–100. You will receive a score of 0 for any work not submitted. Your final grade in the course will be a letter grade. Letter grade equivalents for numerical grades are as follows:
A | = | 93–100 | B– | = | 80–82 | |
A– | = | 90–92 | C+ | = | 78–79 | |
B+ | = | 88–89 | C | = | 73–77 | |
B | = | 83–87 | F | = | Below 73 |
To receive credit for the course, you must earn a letter grade of C or higher on the weighted average of all assigned course work (e.g., assignments, discussion postings, projects, etc.). Graduate students must maintain a B average overall to remain in good academic standing.
Students at Thomas Edison State College are expected to exhibit the highest level of academic citizenship. In particular, students are expected to read and follow all policies, procedures, and program information guidelines contained in publications; pursue their learning goals with honesty and integrity; demonstrate that they are progressing satisfactorily and in a timely fashion by meeting course deadlines and following outlined procedures; observe a code of mutual respect in dealing with mentors, staff, and other students; behave in a manner consistent with the standards and codes of the profession in which they are practicing; keep official records updated regarding changes in name, address, telephone number, or e-mail address; and meet financial obligations in a timely manner. Students not practicing good academic citizenship may be subject to disciplinary action including suspension, dismissal, or financial holds on records.
Academic Dishonesty
Thomas Edison State College expects all of its students to approach their education with academic integrity—the pursuit of scholarly activity free from fraud and deception. All mentors and administrative staff members at the College insist on strict standards of academic honesty in all courses. Academic dishonesty undermines this objective. Academic dishonesty takes the following forms:
Academic dishonesty will result in disciplinary action and possible dismissal from the College. Students who submit papers that are found to be plagiarized will receive an F on the plagiarized assignment, may receive a grade of F for the course, and may face dismissal from the College.
A student who is charged with academic dishonesty will be given oral or written notice of the charge. If a mentor or College official believes the infraction is serious enough to warrant referral of the case to the academic dean, or if the mentor awards a final grade of F in the course because of the infraction, the student and the mentor will be afforded formal due process.
If a student is found cheating or using unauthorized materials on an examination, he or she will automatically receive a grade of F on that examination. Students who believe they have been falsely accused of academic dishonesty should seek redress through informal discussions with the mentor, through the office of the dean, or through an executive officer of Thomas Edison State College.
Plagiarism
Using someone else's work as your own is plagiarism. Although it may seem like simple dishonesty, plagiarism is against the law. Thomas Edison State College takes a strong stance against plagiarism, and students found to be plagiarizing will be severely penalized. If you copy phrases, sentences, paragraphs, or whole documents word-for-word—or if you paraphrase by changing a word here and there—without identifying the author, then you are plagiarizing. Please keep in mind that this type of identification applies to Internet sources as well as to print-based sources. Copying and pasting from the Internet, without using quotation marks and without acknowledging sources, constitutes plagiarism. (For information about how to cite Internet sources, see the "Academic Standards" section of the Online Student Handbook and the citation links under Writing Style Guides located in the General Information area of the course Web site.)
Accidentally copying the words and ideas of another writer does not excuse the charge of plagiarism. It is easy to jot down notes and ideas from many sources and then write your own paper without knowing which words are your own and which are someone else's. It is more difficult to keep track of each and every source. However, the conscientious writer who wishes to avoid plagiarizing never fails to keep careful track of sources.
Always be aware that if you write without acknowledging the sources of your ideas, you run the risk of being charged with plagiarism.
Clearly, plagiarism, no matter the degree of intent to deceive, defeats the purpose of education. If you plagiarize deliberately, you are not educating yourself, and you are wasting your time on courses meant to improve your skills. If you plagiarize through carelessness, you are deceiving yourself.
For examples of unintentional plagiarism and advice on when to quote and when to paraphrase, click the links provided below.
Examples of Unintentional Plagiarism
When to Quote and When to Paraphrase
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