The Learner Portfolio, what it is, and how it should look has left many perplexed. Just how much attention will the IB give this? Is there a certain format it should take? And what work should it include? Read on to find some answers.
What is it?
The latest version of the Language A: Language and Literature course has removed some key assessments from the past and slimmed down the prescribed components. Old favourites such as the (creative?) Written Task have gone, victims of their own inconsistencies in assessment. But instead the muddy concept of the Learner Portfolio has arrived. What exactly is it?
Naturally, as soon as this component - not assessed but collected and maintained by the school in case one day IB comes knocking and wants to see it - was announced, digital companies and edu-babblers began banging the drums of various educational software through which to produce and house the Learner Portfolios. Some are good; others less so. But until we know what the portfolio should be, we needn't worry about the format.
Essentially, the Learner Portfolio is a mandatory element of the course, designed to force schools to support you, the students, in maintaining your work, notes and assessments in a way that allows you to build on it, to learn from it, and to make progress accordingly. This is clearly an important skill for higher academic education, but also for professional life. It is also a chance to encourage schools to spend less time merely preparing for mandatory assessment components, and more time doing the things that teachers always say they want to - creative writing, for example - safe in the knowledge that the old argument about students not taking it seriously because it isn't a "real assessment" is solved by it being something that could and should rest in the Learner Portfolio.
For you, think of it as nothing more than the old paper and clipboard folders you were asked to keep in Middle School, with dividers and contents pages, assessments and class notes, teacher feedback and reflections, all organised chronologically or thematically by course section or unit theme.
What the Subject Guide says
The learner portfolio is a central element of the language A: language and literature course, and is mandatory for all students. It is an individual collection of student work done throughout the two years of the course.
The work carried out for the learner portfolio forms the basis of preparation for the assessment, although the portfolio itself will not be directly assessed or moderated by the IB. However, it is a fundamental element of the course, providing evidence of the student’s work and a reflection of their preparation for the assessment components. Schools may be required to submit these learner portfolios in cases in which it is necessary to determine the authenticity of student’s work in a component, to certify that the principles of academic honesty have been respected or to evaluate the implementation of the syllabus in a school.
The learner portfolio is a place for a student to explore and reflect upon literary and non-literary texts, and to establish connections among them and with the areas of exploration and the central concepts in the subject. In the learner portfolio, students will be expected to reflect on their responses to the works being studied in the corresponding area of exploration. They will also be expected to establish connections between these works and previous ones they have read, and between their perspectives and values as readers and those of their peers. As they progress through the syllabus, it is expected that these connections will be drawn between works within and across areas of exploration, and that they will provide a foundation for the construction of broader knowledge about the transactions between texts, culture and identity.
(Language A: Language & Literature Subject Guide, p.25)
What to include?
Brainstorm the sorts of tasks and "work" you would include in your Learner Portfolio.
Here are some ideas I would include:
Once you have decided what you want to include, and how you might order and organise the portfolio, now consider what format you would like to use: paper; digital (and what software); blended?
How much of The Learner Portfolio have you understood?
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