APL PORTFOLIO MODULE TO DEMONSTRATE GRADUATES READINESS FOR POST GRADUATE ADMISSION INTO NURSING

APL Portfolio Module to demonstrate graduateness for Post Graduate Admission into Nursing

Guide to Portfolio Completion

• Introduction to Developing Your Portfolio
Why a Portfolio?
The portfolio is the mechanism whereby the candidate can be given credit for previous learning. This means that the course can be completed in 2 years instead of the usual 3 years.

APL (Previous Academic Learning)
APL is being used to demonstrate graduateness. The University has robust APL processes in place which have been approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council for accreditation onto pre-registration nursing.

The Portfolio
The aim is to allow prospective candidates to evidence how their graduate skills are transferable to health care. A successful portfolio is an essential pre-requisite for entry to the course. Once the CV has been submitted (within a specified time framework) electronically to the admissions tutor it will then be assessed by course team who will then decide whether the candidate has met criteria for APL.

Successful portfolios will then be presented to the APL Board and then to an Assessment Board for ratification, after which candidates will be informed whether they have gained a place on the course

What are we looking for?
Within the portfolio the candidate should demonstrate what graduate skills they have, how their graduate skills have been used within last 5 years and how these graduate skills are transferable to health care. We are looking for candidates who are analytical, thoughtful and self-reflective and can demonstrate a potential and aptitude for Masters level study.

What are we NOT looking for?
• Descriptions or scenarios
• Statements of intentions
• Narratives
• Brief, superficial information

• The Portfolio
This assessment requires you to compile a portfolio of evidence including reflections on previous learning and the development of graduate skills. The portfolio must comprise 5 elements:

• Introduction (300 words)

• Current CV (Done and attached)

• Extended CV (400 words for each Learning Outcome × 5 LO = 2000 words)

• Conclusion/ Summary (200 words)

• Scanned Copies of Transcripts and Qualifications
Introduction

• Introducing Your Portfolio
Your introduction needs to highlight what is contained in your portfolio. Ensure that you guide the reader to the important points you wish to highlight (such as your previous achievements and knowledge). It is also useful to have a table of contents

Discuss each item in your portfolio individually.

Your introduction should take no more than 300 words.

Your Current CV

Please see attached CV
The Extended CV

• The Extended CV

In completing your extended CV, you should demonstrate how your existing skills and knowledge base meet the following learning outcomes:

1. Critically reflects on appropriate, sensitive, compassionate and effective interpersonal and communication skills with a variety of people and settings
2. Critically analyses the role of lifelong learning and personal development as an essential precursor to developing honesty, integrity and competent professional practice
3. Critically evaluates and reflects on own ability to demonstrate a professional image in behaviour and appearance
4. Critically evaluates previous learning experiences which have sought to provide solutions to problems or questions
5. Construct a developmental plan to address identified learning needs, reflecting on limitations of own knowledge

You should use a maximum of 400 words for each learning outcome and you should demonstrate evidence of coherence, good grammar, punctuation and spelling within the CV.Below are some suggestions about how to complete each of the learning outcomes:

1. Critically reflects on appropriate, sensitive, compassionate and effective interpersonal and communication skills with a variety of people and settings
What do you consider appropriate, sensitive, compassionate and effective interpersonal and communication skills? Why do you consider these to be appropriate, sensitive, compassionate and effective?

Reflect on your own interpersonal and communication skills which you consider to be appropriate, sensitive, compassionate and effective.
If have worked in health care then you could identify patient care/ handovers/case conferences (remember confidentiality!) or in retail / or office work where you may have had to deal with customer complaints and or deal with conflict.
You may wish to identify examples of when problems have arisen in your personal experience, such as conflict, and how you managed and/or resolved such issues.
2. Critically analyses the role of lifelong learning and personal development as an essential precursor to developing honesty, integrity and competent professional practice

You may wish to consider the essential requirements for professional practice in healthcare. How are honesty, integrity and respect for diversity important?
You are likely to make reference to a variety of methods of self-evaluation you may have used either within university setting or work setting or both. Examples may be use of feedback from lecturers/personal tutors/customers/ clients, use of reflection, PDPs, appraisals, training, teaching sessions, supervision sessions and so on. How did these methods help you to identify your own strengths and weaknesses? Give an example and illustrate how this lead to personal development, self-awareness and critical analysis of self.

You should supply evidence of key skills you have developed from your academic studies and from work experiences where applicable. You may wish to address the following areas and give specific examples of when you have used them:

• Numeracy and Literacy

• Analytical skills

• Planning, organisational and time management skills

• IT

• Problem solving

• Team working
3. Critically evaluate and reflects on own ability to demonstrate a professional image in behaviour and appearance
What do you consider to be a professional image? Give examples of occasions when you feel you demonstrated a professional image. What was it about this image that made you think it was professional? What else could you do? What are the challenges with portraying professional image and behaviours? How might these be overcome?
4. Critically evaluates previous learning experiences which have sought to provide solutions to problems or questions
Here, you may want to make reference to research projects, dissertations, long essays, literature reviews or dissertations where you have had to critically analyse literature and or engage in research projects.
For example:
• if you have taken psychology degree you may wish to discuss psychological experiments they you have been involved in and would have had to consider issues concerning the design of the investigations together with appropriate techniques for describing and analysing data collected
• if you have taken history degree, for example, you wish to discuss how you could analyse incomplete historical sources and make judgements about the assumptions contained within them and use them critically to address a set question
How has your previous study/studies helped you to understand, frame/reframe questions and develop solutions to problems? It would be helpful to think of applying this to a health related issue, such as obesity, an ageing population and so on.

You could also refer to projects undertaken during work experiences – you should be able to demonstrate not just what projects were but the methods and techniques used to plan and implement the projects, and provide solutions to problems or questions. What have you learned from this? How might this help you in nursing/healthcare? What challenges are there for applying knowledge in practice? How can you address or overcome such challenges?
5. Construct a developmental plan to address identified learning needs, reflecting on limitations of own knowledge
What do you consider to be the limits of your current knowledge? What do you feel you would like/ need to learn more about? How might you go about this? Who could help you? How would you know if/ when you have obtained this knowledge?

Conclusion/ Summary

• Conclusion/ Summary

A conclusion summarises your portfolio and reflects on what you learned.

So:
1. What were the issues you want to highlight/ re-iterate for the reader?
2. What did you learn from the process of completing your portfolio?
3. How might you compile your portfolio differently in the future?
4. What plans do you now have to build on your portfolio on the course?

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