Generic knowledge and skills (Portfolio) 12 hp MEPO003

No later than 4 months before the public defense of your thesis, you should send a new assessment version of your portfolio to the assistant head of department responsible for research studies. The portfolio is to presented and shared in the same way as at the half-time review, with the difference that it is now your achievement of course goals that is assessed - rather than your progress.

The assistant head of department for research studies assesses your portfolio with the help of a matris (below), and then confirms the completion of your Generic knowledge and skills course with a certificate which he/she will send to the office for research studies.

Some tips for when you prepare your examination portfolio Page:

Mahara

• A good way to start can be to copy your half time Page and use that as a base for creating the examination Page.
• Add new entries from your learning portfolio, rather than modifying old entries. NB! Whenever an entry is edited, this entry will change in all Pages that includes that entry – for example you half time Page. Therefore, if you want/need to modify an old entry, first make a copy of the entry.

Content

• You can include everything that you presented at the half time if you like, but at the examination, a progression/expansion within all 12 categories is generally expected (in the form of new entries).
• The focus is now on showing achievement of the outcomes and development since your admission and half time. (This is different from the half time, where the main aim is to get feedback on how you can improve and develop your weaknesses.) It is still valuable to include identification of weaknesses that you displayed in the beginning of the program (ie early entries), and that you have now developed.
• Show that you now have the required competences, without over-exaggerating. Discussing some remaining weaknesses/needs for development can add to credibility.
• Meta reflections: One way to show progress and make it easier for the assessor to get an overview, is to include summary "meta" reflections within some of the categories, where you both present your total experience in an area and reflect on your development over time. You can refer to the posts you made earlier during the PhD program regarding individual activities. For example; your total experience of oral presentations and your total experience of teaching – including reflection on your development. NB! Keep the entries you made in conjunction with each individual experience! This further supports your development over time in a credible way.
• Attainment of outcomes: Another good way to make it easier for the assessor is to include posts in which you give, in a summarized and focused way, YOUR picture of how you think you have fulfilled the outcome in question (such a post can be entitled "Attainment of learning outcome"). Note! In addition to this, you are expected to substantiate the attainment of outcomes with reflection on individual experiences/activities that you have documented continuously throughout the doctoral education.

Example of an examination page (layer 1 and 2)