CMALT Advice

For those looking at CMALT I would be happy to run a webinar to assist anyone who needs help. Also I here are my top 5 tips as someone who has been assessing CMALT portfolios for the past 5 years.

1. Reflection, reflection reflection. One of the common reason for a portfolio to go back to the author is they have not included enough reflection. Try not to get caught up in the description and focus on what you have learnt from the experience, what went well/what didn’t, what you would do differently next time and what was the impact for learners.
2. Me me me. Reviewers want to hear about what you have done. Try and focus on saying ‘I’ in relation to what you have done. Even when working with other people it is important to focus on your part within the work.
3. Focus on one project. Other than for part 1b, where you need to provide detail of a range of technologies, try and think of a different  example which could support each area. Rather than writing about everything you have done which could fit the theme, concentrating on one will help to focus your mind and think deeply about your experiences of this. For example for 1a on ‘understanding the constraints and benefits’, you might look at a technology you helped an academic use/implement and how you considered what the benefits and constraints of using this technology might be for them and their students. Make sure you have evidence which supports what you have done.
4. Guidelines. Use the guidelines provided by ALT. They are very detailed and also provide excellent questions to ask yourself which can aid reflection.
5. Look at others portfolios. There is a list available of other CMALT holders who have shared their portfolio for you to view. Take a look at these to get some inspiration and ideas of how you could complete yours. I admit mine is not the best example as I wrote it a number of years ago but there are some more recent CMALT holders who have excellent examples of how they approached theirs.