This page is designed to facilitate the rubric evaluation conducted by members of my doctoral committee. The 6 areas of evaluation are listed below and are followed by brief explanations of how each area was fulfilled. Many projects encompassed multiple areas. For example: participation in a conference with a faculty member involved collaboration, communication, and research. Accordingly, committee members are encouraged to consider the portfolio as a whole when rendering a score on the rubric. Links to corresponding artifacts are also provided for each category.
Collaboration
All of my portfolio projects were completed with extensive collaboration with faculty members. I attended several conferences, co-authored a number of manuscripts, co-taught a course, participated in a multi-university paleontology research cohort, and published a book chapter in collaboration with a doctoral student at U.C. Berkeley.
· https://sites.google.com/site/michaeladkinsportfolio/home/portfolio-projects
Depth of Understanding
The successful completion of the challenging doctoral coursework represents my depth of understanding and is manifested by my writing projects associated with qualitative research methods, argument development, and content knowledge.
· https://sites.google.com/site/michaeladkinsportfolio/home/selected-coursework-challenging-coursework
Reflection
My portfolio paper is the best example of reflection. It was the culminating exercise marking the end of coursework and the beginning of the dissertation writing phase. It articulates my thoughts and experiences through the metaphor of a labyrinth.
· https://sites.google.com/site/michaeladkinsportfolio/home/reflective-paper
Scholarship
I coauthored a proposal for submission and co-presented research projects at the 23rd and 24th Annual Ethnographic and Qualitative Research Conferences in Cedarville, Ohio with Dr. Spatig.
I coauthored and submitted a manuscript to a peer reviewed journal with Dr. Spatig. The submission went to the Journal of Ethnographic and Qualitative Research on June 3, 2011. The title of the manuscript was “Getting It Together: A Learning Model of Community Collaboration.”
I coauthored a manuscript with Dr. Spatig, Paula Flaherty, and Tracy Bradley during the fall semester of 2010. The manuscript was prepared for the West Virginia Partnership to Promote Community Wellbeing and served as an internal document. The title of our manuscript was “Getting It Together: A Learning Model of Community Collaboration.”
· https://sites.google.com/site/michaeladkinsportfolio/home/portfolio-projects
Communication
I have used a range of multimedia options to effectively communicate with target audiences. I have given lecture-style presentations at conferences, created posters, written manuscripts, and produced a brochure. Additionally, I selected writing as an area of emphasis and completed nine hours of coursework to sharpen my communication skills.
· https://sites.google.com/site/michaeladkinsportfolio/home/portfolio-projects
· https://sites.google.com/site/michaeladkinsportfolio/home/selected-coursework-area-of-emphasis
Research
Every doctoral course involved some degree of research and my success in that area is evidenced by my grades. I have maintained a 4.0 grade point average since my admission to the doctoral program. Moreover, I have been involved in a number of research projects outside of the classroom environment. They tended to be labor intensive with a focus on co-authoring manuscripts and giving presentations at professional conferences.
· https://sites.google.com/site/michaeladkinsportfolio/home/portfolio-projects