Portfolios

Every degree student is asked to build and maintain an online portfolio throughout their time at YDS, posting both a selection of academic work and some personal reflection on that work, as well as a professional resume. Additionally, each student should build a small group of trusted advisors, mentors really, who can serve as resource people and support system. Sharing the e-portfolio with these mentors is an important way to seek their input and encouragement, and to find focus for one’s own vocational discernment process.
 
The M.Div. portfolio recognizes that successful completion of this terminal, professional degree requires a thoughtful process of reflection within a communal structure of support. M.Div. students post academic work for each semester of study, and compose semester-end essays addressing specific issues of vocational formation. The M.Div. portfolio then becomes the centerpoint for the required Mid-degree Consultation, a gathering to which each student invites a team of mentors and advisors for an in depth conversation about their studies, their faith, and the professional direction that is being sought and found.
 
MAR portfolios are a collection of academic and creative work that reflects the focus for each student’s intellectual exploration while at Yale. Most MAR concentrations have faculty learning goals, and the portfolio is often in dialogue with those goals. Comprehensive MAR students compose their own learning goals, making sense of the extensive learning options open to them. MAR students are encouraged to invite a small group of readers who will follow the development of their portfolio, and engage in conversation with them about vocational direction.
 
STM portfolios, like the MAR portfolios, are unique to each student. For STM degree students, the portfolio is used to set forth the STM project, academic work that builds toward that finished essay, and finally, the project itself. STM students have often found it helpful to invite a group of advisors to be readers of their work in progress.