Saturday 29 November 2014

CILIP Portfolio Building workshop, City Library, 27 November

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here but as I’ve decided to have another go at Chartership, I thought this seemed like a good time to resurrect this blog.

                Originally I registered for Chartership about 2 years ago, but for various reasons (lack of motivation, not feeling settled in my job), I didn’t get very far. When I saw that there was going to be a Portfolio Building workshop at the City Library I thought this might give me the kick start I needed to get going again.

                On the day there were presentations from Matthew Wheeler (CILIP Development Officer) and Patricia Crosier (Candidate Support Officer). Matthew’s presentation on the whole process was very clear and informative. I think I had been a bit daunted by the whole process, and he made everything seem clearer, especially the PKSB.  Matthew explained that you can identify 8-12 key areas, which makes this part of the process seem a lot easier than I thought.  He was reassuring and told us not to over worry it. Another key thing I found helpful is that it doesn’t matter if by the end you haven’t improved on the rating you’ve given yourself, as long as you can reflect and evaluate on how your skills have changed.

                The overview of the VLE was useful as prior to the day I’d only had a quick look at it. Matthew took us through all the relevant sections, so hopefully it will be easier to upload and manage documents now that I know where everything is!
  
              Matthew also explained how to organise evidence. It’s not just a case of compiling as much as possible; the key is to be selective and reflective about what you’re including. And evidence can be almost anything – even a conversation can be included as long as you write it up reflectively.            
  
              After the break, Patricia talked about where to get help. I won’t go into great detail about this as the list is endless, but it’s reassuring to know that there are so many avenues of support out there.

                Finally she talked about reflective writing. I’ve always worried that my writing can tend to be more descriptive than reflective. Patricia gave us a good overview on reflective writing which hope I can put into practice once I really get started building my portfolio. A good piece of advice was to keep a log or diary of activities and use some of the exercises mentioned in the presentation each time you take part in a learning activity.  I’m going to try to keep this blog more up to date with recent activities as I think this will help with my reflective writing skills.


                All in all it was a very good afternoon. It has made Chartership seem less daunting than I thought and has definitely motivated me to restart the process.  

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