Completing my CMALT portfolio

So I have now completed my CMALT portfolio. But how did I do this?

I had a little bit of motivation as a co-worker had recently completed theirs and by looking at it I had a much clearer idea of how I could put mine together. I started by looking over some further information documents I had recently put together for job applications. I was able to pick out which parts of these could be replicated within the sections of the portfolio. I also brainstormed the various evidence I had for the sections picking out examples which best exemplified the section names.

I created my Google site as described in my previous post and I began with converting some of my evidence to be available online using SlideShare and Google Docs. I then considered whether it might be better to try and focus my ideas for the sections on one topic rather than trying to use every example that I could think of. This helped to direct my thoughts and reflection so they flowed from one area to another. After completing sections 1-3 I came a bit unstuck on section 4.

In this section you are only required to complete one area (a or b). I chose to look at section 4a Working with Others. I found it difficult to focus my ideas on this area as throughout my career I have worked with others in teams or on specific projects. I decided to try and group some of the things that I have done into subheadings, give a general overview couple of sentences and then describe a couple of examples.

I then moved on to section 5. This was the section that I struggled with the most. I found it difficult to identify a specialist area. I am a trainer but what is special about the training I deliver. What is unique about it? Well the only thing that I could come up with was that I train on the Desire2Learn VLE here in the UK. Not many people can say that they do that especially at a University. I do hope to change my specialism in the future but for now this one will do. I used text and examples from the other parts of the portfolio but I focused them around the topic that I had chosen.

After completing all the sections I re-read all of them to make sure that they made sense and there were no glaring spelling errors. I also reviewed the sections for the amount of reflection I had included. I am not reflective by nature so I wanted to make sure that the sections included areas where I had considered what I had gained from the work and examples I described.

So what now?

Well I need to find out what the status is with my registration and how I go about sending in the portfolio itself.