Developing a professional personal portfolio: COP Promotions
Introduction
In the changing landscape of higher education in South Africa (and globally), community engagement has increasingly become an important part of the professional portfolio for an academic when submitting an application for a post, tenure or promotion. Given the need to present a clear and well constructed section of your application around community engagement, this brief guide aims to provide some clear guidelines for documenting and reflecting on your community engagement practice as an academic. The process of developing this section of your professional portfolio will also provide space for you to reflect on your own personal development as a community engagement practitioner, which will hopefully allow you to grow and develop new ideas for the way you go about doing your community engagement work within your discipline.
Community Engagement Practice:
An explanation of what community engagement activities you do and how you do them
This section should include:
- A description of your community engagement activities
- A discussion of the strategies employed to relate your community engagement activities to your discipline
- A discussion of the mutually beneficial nature of your community engagement activities
- Evidence of a reciprocal relationship with a community partner
- Evidence of the transformative nature of your community engagement practice
- Evidence where appropriate that community engagement activities have been used to enhance the learning outcomes of your students
2.3. Scholarship of Engagement:
Why you do community engagement in the way you do it Monitoring and Evaluation
This section should include:
- A clearly articulated philosophy of community engagement
- Evidence of understanding how your view of community engagement impacts on your community engagement practice particularly in relation to teaching and research within your discipline
- Evidence that community engagement activities have contributed to the production and dissemination of knowledge
- Evidence of an understanding of the community engagement principles and Rhodes University Ethical Standards Guidelines
Monitoring and Evaluation
This section should include:
- A clearly articulated discussion of your monitoring and evaluation strategies
- A discussion of the extent to which your community partners have -participated in the monitoring and evaluation processes
- A discussion of the extent to which the monitoring and evaluation process has informed the way your community engagement practice has been transformed and\or has progressed or developed
- A discussion of whether students have been involved in the monitoring and evaluation process (if appropriate) and to what extent their feedback has shaped or informed your community engagement practice
- Evidence of review of community engagement practice in response to monitoring and evaluation data
Leadership
If appropriate to your context, this section should include:
- Discussion of the relevant leadership roles you have occupied
- Discussion of feedback you have received on those roles and how you have responded to that feedback
Providing Evidence: How others experience your community engagement activities
If appropriate to your context, this section should include:
- Discussion of the relevant leadership roles you have occupied
- Discussion of feedback you have received on those roles and how you have responded to that feedback
This section should include:
- Evidence of reflection on communication with community partners
- Evidence of reflection on feedback from peers and students
- Evidence of reflection on community engagement practice
Resources and Support:
The Community Engagement Division offers support for all stages of development of any community engagement project and portfolio or application preparation. Please contact the Director of the Community Engagement Division Ms. Diana Hornby at d.hornby@ru.ac.za or the Engaged Research Coordinator Dr. Rene Oosthuizen ar r.oosthuizen@ru.ac.za for further information or assistance.
** Download PDF of this document here: Developing_the_Community_Engagement_Section_of_your_Professional_Portfolio_or_Tenure
Last Modified: Thu, 13 Jan 2022 10:11:37 SAST