Managing in a multicultural world:
Assessment 2: Critical reflective portfolio (30%)
» About your critical reflective portfolio
This assessment requires you to undertake extended reflection and analysis on the subject’s core learning
materials and to present a written portfolio documenting these. By ‘extended reflection and analysis’, we
mean doing more than just reporting your opinions and feelings or writing answers to cases/activities in
the Briefing Notes that make up the subject's main leaning materials. Rather, you are expected to
demonstrate that you can apply the concepts we learn in an appropriate way to your work and life.
You can choose which content areas you focus on with some boundaries (see below).
Underpinning this assessment is the goal to encourage you to take the concepts that we are studying in
this subject – many of which probably seem quite abstract and psychological when presented in Briefing
Notes or discussed in class – and consider how you can use these to understand or improve your
management confidence and skills.
Your written portfolio will encompass the evidence of your efforts to do this across the 12 weeks of the
semester. Focus on submitting evidence of quality analysis rather than description - that is, aim to
demonstrate that you can apply subject concepts appropriately and accurately to help you understand
relevant parts of your life in multicultural settings.
» Example starting points for reflection and analysis
Below are five examples that you could use as a foundation for one or more of the activities you choose
to include in your portfolio:
•
Analysing contemporary situations or events through a cultural lens: Identify media reports of
contemporary events (print, online, television) that come to your attention during the semester and that you
think can be understood using concepts from this subject. Describe the event (briefly) and explain how
your understanding of the subject content has helped you make sense of the situation differently. Consider
the implications of this for other events or situations, or for your cultural intelligence.
•
Applying concepts to your workplace (or life): Identify a relevant workplace issue that you think would
benefit from what you are learning. Use concepts we study to explain the situation from a cultural
perspective and/or to propose ways to improve its outcome/s. Identify any concerns or cautions you would
have in applying these concepts. If needed, research the topic further for more ideas that might help you
understand or improve the situation - for example, to find studies that may be more pertinent to your
industry, context or circumstances.
•
Analysing pre-post changes in your perceptions or understanding: Reflect on any tangible changes
in your perception or understanding that come from the learning materials, activities, or in-class discussions
with peers. This might include comparing your pre-class responses to some questions or activities in the
Briefing Notes with your post-class awareness and understanding (e.g. after discussing these with
classmates from different cultural backgrounds). Explain these shifts and consider how the new perspective
informs your work or life.
•
Considering the relevance of reading articles: Choose one of the optional ‘recommended reading’
articles identified in the Briefing Notes that you find interesting. Identify the parts that are most relevant to
you (work or life) and consider how you might use/apply these. If time and circumstances allow, try using
these ideas for a few weeks and comment on any outcome/s or changes that arise.
•
Analysing one or more of the ‘Applying theory to practice’ activities in the Briefing Notes: Try one
or more of the ‘Applying theory to practice’ activities described in the Briefing Notes. Be sure to do this after
we have studied the content for that week. Present evidence and a brief analysis of your efforts to do this
(e.g. how you succeeded or failed and your analysis of why, how you might adapt your use of this activity
in future situations, what you learned from doing this).
Managing in a multicultural world: Dr Anthony Fee
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» Receiving guidance and formative feedback on the assessment
You will have several opportunities in class to share ideas and experiences with peers and receive
feedback on your draft reflections and analysis. This will include some structured in-class activities that
will help you plan your reflections and that will allow you to evaluate your draft work. To take advantage
of these opportunities, it is suggested you start collating ideas and preparing your (draft) portfolio early
rather than leaving this until the final weeks of the semester.
» Seven suggestions for doing well in assessment 2
(1) Focus on what is pertinent to you: Choose and report analysis/reflection that is genuinely relevant
and that you find interesting. Workplace issues you face, recent intercultural encounters that have
confused you, in-class interactions that lead to new insights, or theories/concepts that you find intriguing
are all good starting points. In short, while you are expected to prepare for class every week, your written
portfolio need not include reflection/analysis of every week’s learning materials.
(2) Include a variety of reflections and analytical tasks in your portfolio: Aim to demonstrate a
breadth of application by choosing a variety of different types of analysis and reflection. Some examples
are provided on the previous page. Others will be shared in class.
(3) Connect ideas from different topics/modules: In general, each lecture will cover a different topic.
The subject is designed so that the topics that we cover will build on ideas introduced in earlier weeks.
You should therefore be able to see clear connections to earlier content as we progress through the
subject. Aim to present evidence that you can do similarly in your portfolio by, for example, drawing on
content of multiple modules when analysing certain experiences.
(4) Overtly link your reflection and analysis to subject content: Be disciplined in justifying your
reflection and analysis based on concepts that we are learning in this subject. Make your justification clear
in your written analysis by explaining and citing your interpretation (in class we’ll discuss ways you can
do this appropriately). This does not mean agreeing with everything we learn; feel free to critique and
point out limitations in ideas that we cover in class. However, try to use the theories, concepts and ideas
we study as analytical ‘tools’. Ideas for doing this will be modelled in class, and many activities we use in
tutorials and in the Briefing Notes will offer opportunity to practice this. Importantly, don't waste space
defining concepts that we learn in class; your job is to apply these concepts in your reflection and analysis.
(5) Choose a structure and tone that suits the types of activities that you undertake: There is no
firm structure that you must use for presenting your portfolio. It is probably wise to use section headings
to break your portfolio into discrete activities, but please be creative in how you approach your
reflections/analysis and how you present these. For example, consider how diagrams, images,
photographs, tables or other non-verbal formats might support your written text to demonstrate your
understanding or application of the subject's content.
(6) Explore and use good quality reference materials: You are encouraged to explore additional
academic reference materials as part of your analysis and reflection. On this, be guided by both need and
interest. Choose good quality sources and report your use of these appropriately. Include with the portfolio
a full list of reference materials – but only those that you read and that are relevant to your reflection and
analysis. Please avoid listing sources that you have not read – it is very clear when this is the case. We
would rather you include a short list of very good quality references that you have applied logically to your
analysis.
(7) Speak with teaching staff: It may be difficult for some students to imagine what reflection and
analysis activities involve or how these can be presented in a persuasive or coherent way. Teaching staff
can give guidance to help ensure your analysis/reflection is appropriate and is sufficiently detailed to
demonstrate you meet the marking criteria.
The marking guide for assessment 2 is on the next page.
Managing in a multicultural world: Dr Anthony Fee
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Assessment 2: Critical reflective portfolio (30%)
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1. Ability to identify and appropriately apply relevant learning concepts (12 marks)
• Analysis draws on learning materials to demonstrate a clear relationship between
the subject concepts and examples/reflections provided.
• Analysis demonstrates sound understanding of key concepts from Briefing Notes
(e.g. applies theoretical concepts to the identified tasks in appropriate ways).
• Examples provided are appropriate and varied, demonstrating the ability to apply
concepts to a variety of situations or observations.
• Where appropriate, analysis effectively integrates different concepts from within a
module (e.g., drawing on different sections of one module’s Briefing Notes) and
across modules (e.g., applying contents of multiple modules).
• Responses provide clear and specific examples as evidence of analysis.
2. Depth and quality of analysis (12 marks)
• Analysis goes beyond broad generalisations (e.g., clear explanation of relevance or
application of particular concepts).
• Analysis extends beyond rudimentary application of concepts (e.g. engages with
contradictions, nuances and/or uncertainties; extends analysis through sourcing
additional reference materials relevant to the situation).
• Analysis and examples demonstrate practical relevance to the student’s real-world
experiences (e.g., effectively relating content to work situations or past experiences).
• Analysis includes insights or questions arising from the activities that are original and
thoughtful (rather than being repetitive or unrelated to this subject).
3. Professionalism of the written work (6 marks)
• Portfolio follows instructions in terms of presentation (e.g., word count, format, content,
choice of activity) and addresses all aspects of the task.
• Conclusions are clear, relevant to the topic and relate directly to the
descriptions/evidence presented; a clear link exists between the conclusions drawn
and the examples and analysis presented.
• The analysis uses good quality reference materials effectively and these are
presented in the portfolio appropriately.
• The portfolio has an effective overall structure; good use of section headings, sub
headings, and paragraphs in making the case.
TOTAL /30
