At the end of the quarter, you will present a portfolio (see contents below) to the core stakeholders with whom you have collaborated. The due date for portfolios in the course schedule is the copy that you will submit to the instructors for their evaluation and comments. Your portfolio should be typed, proofread, and assembled in a professional, excellent manner. Based on those comments, you will need to make revisions before you create the final version of the portfolio for the core stakeholders. Please note that the portfolio that you give to the stakeholders will not include Sections V, VI, or VII so you will need two versions of a Table of Contents (one that is submitted with the portfolio to instructors and, later, a shorter Table of Contents for the core stakeholders).
To make portfolio assembly easier, it is a good idea to start placing copies of different parts of the contents in a notebook from the beginning of the quarter. As you construct the portfolio, it should become apparent what needs to be filled in, what needs to be transcribed, what needs to be reworked. Also, plan to make a copy of the completed portfolio for yourself as a documentation of your PAR project. It (or parts of it) may be useful in job interviews, graduate school applications, and other professional venues.
It is important to bear in mind that you should check with anyone whose information you wish to use as to whether s/he wishes to be anonymous or named. Written permission to use a person's name in conjunction with transcriptions of interviews, testimonials, etc. should be placed in the portfolio. It is a good idea to invite a person to look over a typed transcript or expanded account of an interview to see if s/he agrees that the ideas presented are fairly represented and/or to have the opportunity to delete anything the person does not want included.
You are encouraged to use photographs of visualized knowledge, maps, and other diagrams, charts, etc. Use a format for the portfolio that is "user friendly." It should be concise, easily read and understood --avoiding academic jargon-- and in a format that is "to the point" with bulleted points, etc. Expand on discussions that could be misconstrued or unhelpful if presented in too abbreviated a manner. Consult with the instructors if you have questions about the format.
What follows are the parts of the portfolio:
Descriptive Title Create a title that centers on the project (not the
course!)
Beneath the title, include your name(s) as authors of the document and include
a month, day, and year of completion.
Table of Contents
Section I
Brief Project Overview Much like an abstract, this half page to page long overview should briefly describe the PAR project, the objectives, who was involved as core stakeholders and other stakeholders (in this statement, stakeholders can be generalized at the level of their affiliations, e.g. staff of the O Organization, clientele served by O Organization, etc.), outcomes of the project, and planned future directions for the stakeholders. One paragraph should be devoted to what your participation within the project involved.
Please note that some of you may be entering into a PAR project that is already ongoing, in which initial research questions may have already been identified or in which research has already been ongoing and actions taken. The project may have entered an assessment phase, etc. Please provide enough information of the history of an ongoing project to clearly situate the phase of the PAR project in which you participated.
Section II
Written Report
Detailed Description of PAR Project
"Core stakeholder" group described
Questions identified as important to answer
(Depending on the history of the project, the questions may be evaluative kinds of questions for actions already taken. They may be the second set of questions of the initial investigative phase of the project, etc. There may be two or three networking groups who are at various stages of identifying questions, researching questions and acting on information gathered). Be clear as to where one or more sets of questions fit into the PAR process.Identified stakeholders who collaborated in generating knowledge and the roles they played (see below for detailing the stakeholders who did specific things).
Actions Taken: Methods and Tools Used to Research/Assess/Act
Describe the actions of investigative groups (include summary of participants by number in relevant demographic terms such as gender, age, ethnicity, etc.) in terms of the tools they used (focus groups, matrices, graffiti walls, transect maps, etc.) AND outcomes of their work.
Photographs of "products,"—pictures of completed visual tools, people engaged in the research, flow charts created, etc. (if you take photos of people, get signed permission to use the pictures in your documents and those of the agency or group; also offer to make copies for participants)
Key Findings of PAR project at this point (this is where analysis will be summarized)
Conclusions
Summary of stakeholders involved, research questions investigated, findings, decisions, actions taken
Accomplishments and Outcomes Have new alliances been forged? Is there a greater sense of purpose? Has a long-term goal been met? Have initial approaches been rethought? What are the outcomes at this time?
Recommendations and Future Tasks (that stakeholders have identified)
Section III
Appendices (expanded notes on interviews, testimonials, field notes, etc. that can be helpful to stakeholders) This is the raw data that everyone involved in the ongoing PAR project can access.
Written permission forms for using interview information, photos, etc.
Section IV
Supplementary Materials (e.g. map of organizational site if relevant to questions, etc.)
Timetable of the PAR project during your participation
Possible inclusion of timetable of group's ongoing project
Meeting Notes
Section V
Annotated Bibliography (if pursued)
Relevant Research Articles to your PAR project (again if pursued)
Section VI
Self- Evaluation
Lessons Learned by you as a PARticipant
Section VII
Presentation Summary to the PAR Class (print out a copy of your Power Point presentation or include a copy of an outline or written summary of your PAR work as presented to the class)
Presentation Summary to Core Stakeholders - If your presentation differed somewhat from what you presented to the class, explain why you changed some parts of your presentation (please note, it is unnecessary to include remarks about deleting information corresponding to Section VI of the portfolio). Explain your role in the presentation, who attended, when and where, questions asked, etc.
Celebration Summary - What transpired and what was your role?
Please note that all visual materials generated (e.g. matrices, Venn diagrams, flow charts, etc.) should accompany your portfolio and be left with the core stakeholders.
2003-04 Innovative Teaching Showcase Home | Center for Instructional Innovation Home | Western Washington University Home