Strategies for Developing an Academic Portfolio Academic portfolios help nursing students at all educational levels. It allows them to be set apart from others in the job market after graduation. Portfolios provide guidelines for an individual throughout the student’s educational journey, after graduation, and in their career. According to Mollahadi et al. (2018), portfolios provide the best work and show the trajectory of a learner’s educational growth. Utilization of my portfolio will provide understanding, and show advancement, and progress that has been made.  It will also aid in providing further guidance on the key areas where improvement is needed and allow for self-evaluations. I will incorporate two strategies to develop my portfolio—using technology and having a social change initiative because both align with my personal goals and those of Walden University (Walden University, n.d.).   One of the strategies, I will use in the development of my academic portfolio is the utilization of information technology tools. I will make the document easily shareable and accessible to receive more feedback from peers and instructors. To attain this goal, I will use digital tools to create an e-Portfolio for my accomplishments. Collins and O'Brien (2018) explain that e-portfolios that feature multimedia artifacts and hyperlinks foster interaction and encourage instructors to give positive feedback. Instructor feedback provides well-informed responses that are grounded in experience and competence; hence, it is essential for my growth as a nurse. Thus, my e-Portfolio should be interactive and accessible. In combination with coursework, I plan to initiate a social change initiative which will be part of my final school project. Having a social change will demonstrate my clinical competence and ability to apply the concepts we have learned in class and receive feedback from the society. Nurses have a social responsibility for the communities that they serve which can be linked to one of their main roles as a patient advocates. According to Phillips et al. (2020), nurses are expected to apply a holistic approach to patient care by seeking deeper insights into the root causes of illnesses, such as poverty and other social issues. I am passionate about mental health and its relationship with low socioeconomic status. Also, I would like to initiate a social initiative within the community that will focus on mental health among ethnic minorities in rural areas. This patient population with mental health issues is more likely to lack the resources and ability to access treatment, medications, and quality healthcare. I will develop a program that reaches out to them to create awareness of the importance of mental health wellness and reduce the stigma related to how society views patients with mental health issues and provide unbiased psychiatric care. An approach of this magnitude will strengthen my portfolio. It will also provide an opportunity to app.

1. Strategies for Developing an Academic Portfolio
Academic portfolios help nursing students at all educational
levels. It allows them to be set apart from others in the job
market after graduation. Portfolios provide guidelines for an
individual throughout the student’s educational journey, after
graduation, and in their career. According to Mollahadi et al.
(2018), portfolios provide the best work and show the trajectory
of a learner’s educational growth. Utilization of my portfolio
will provide understanding, and show advancement, and
progress that has been made. It will also aid in providing
further guidance on the key areas where improvement is needed
and allow for self-evaluations. I will incorporate two strategies
to develop my portfolio—using technology and having a social
change initiative because both align with my personal goals and
those of Walden University (Walden University, n.d.).
One of the strategies, I will use in the development of my
academic portfolio is the utilization of information technology
tools. I will make the document easily shareable and accessible
to receive more feedback from peers and instructors. To attain
this goal, I will use digital tools to create an e-Portfolio for my
accomplishments. Collins and O'Brien (2018) explain that e-
portfolios that feature multimedia artifacts and hyperlinks foster
interaction and encourage instructors to give positive feedback.
Instructor feedback provides well-informed responses that are
grounded in experience and competence; hence, it is essential
for my growth as a nurse. Thus, my e-Portfolio should be
interactive and accessible.
In combination with coursework, I plan to initiate a social
change initiative which will be part of my final school project.
Having a social change will demonstrate my clinical
competence and ability to apply the concepts we have learned in
class and receive feedback from the society. Nurses have a

2. social responsibility for the communities that they serve which
can be linked to one of their main roles as a patient advocates.
According to Phillips et al. (2020), nurses are expected to apply
a holistic approach to patient care by seeking deeper insights
into the root causes of illnesses, such as poverty and other
social issues. I am passionate about mental health and its
relationship with low socioeconomic status. Also, I would like
to initiate a social initiative within the community that will
focus on mental health among ethnic minorities in rural areas.
This patient population with mental health issues is more likely
to lack the resources and ability to access treatment,
medications, and quality healthcare. I will develop a program
that reaches out to them to create awareness of the importance
of mental health wellness and reduce the stigma related to how
society views patients with mental health issues and provide
unbiased psychiatric care. An approach of this magnitude will
strengthen my portfolio. It will also provide an opportunity to
apply the skills learned in the classroom to improve awareness
and provide knowledge to the community.
My decision to initiate the program aligns with Walden
University’s commitment to social change. Walden University
prides itself as an institution for connecting people, resources,
and opportunities for positive social change (Walden
University, n.d.). To attain these goals, it seeks to empower
change makers, build the community, and elevate social change
outcomes. As an aspiring nurse, I resonate with these goals as I
will work with my peers and faculty to build communities
through which we can support each other’s programs. I hope to
see not only our professional growth but also improve the well-
being of the communities. As we work together in these
initiatives, we will develop our teamwork and diversity skills,
which are essential competencies for nurses.
References

3. Collins, E., & O'Brien, R. (2018). Highly structured ePortfolio
platform for Bachelor of Nursing
students: Lessons learned in implementation.
International Journal of ePortfolio
,
8
(1), 43-55.
Mollahadi, M., Khademolhoseini, S. M., Mokhtari-Nouri, J., &
Khaghanizadeh, M. (2018). The
portfolio as a tool for mentoring in nursing students: A scoping
review.
Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research
,
23
(4), 241-247.
Phillips, J., Richard, A., Mayer, K. M., Shilkaitis, M., Fogg, L.
F., & Vondracek, H. (2020).
Integrating the social determinants of health into nursing
practice: Nurses' perspectives.
Journal of Nursing Scholarship
,
52
(5), 497-505.
Walden University. (n.d.).
Field experience: College of nursing: College of nursing
.
https://academicguides.
waldenu
.edu/fieldexperience/son