ReflectionProfessional portfolio

HLT 665 Topic 15 Benchmark Professional Portfolio

Most of this portfolio is recall. The section on how your core values guide ethical decisions is not, and it is the one a reader will test against everything else you wrote.

Editorial process

Last reviewed · August 25, 2026

Written by

Maren Caldwell

MSN, RN, CNE

Medical-surgical nursing, pharmacology and NCLEX preparation

Reviewed by

Dr. Tessa Redmond

DNP, RN, CNE

Evidence-based practice and clinical education

On this page

Interpret the task
Assignment instructions
Deliverables
Proposed outline
Research plan
Reference shortlist
Final review

Values are only credible if they cost something

Summarising the practicum and listing what you learned are recall tasks and they will largely write themselves if you kept any record. The section that distinguishes portfolios is the last one, where you articulate core values and say how they guide ethical decision making. A list of values nobody would dispute, integrity, equity, service, tells a reader nothing, because no one claims the opposite. A value becomes informative when it has cost something, so pair each one with a decision where it ruled out an easier option: where you chose to report an uncomfortable finding, where you declined to present data in a way that would have been more persuasive than it was accurate, where you spent time on the hardest-to-reach part of a population rather than the part that would improve the numbers. Each of those is a decision a reader can weigh, and a value attached to one of them stops being a slogan.

Public health ethics also differs from clinical ethics in a way worth demonstrating rather than asserting. Clinical ethics centres on an individual patient and their autonomy; public health ethics routinely trades individual liberty against population benefit, distributes finite resources between groups, and acts on communities that did not individually consent. If your values section engages one of those tensions, it will read as informed. The practicum application questions should be answered with specific examples as the brief asks, and the strongest examples are ones where course theory changed what you did rather than explaining afterwards what you had already done. Keep the leadership section honest too, since claiming every quality is less persuasive than naming two and giving the evidence. Naming two qualities with evidence is more persuasive than claiming six without any, and it leaves room for the mission and values section the benchmark actually weights.

Likely learning objectives

State values that ruled out an easier option.
Distinguish public health ethics from clinical ethics.
Give practicum examples where theory changed the action.
Claim leadership qualities with evidence rather than in a list.

Assignment instructions

Read the full question

Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.

Details: It is important for a public health professional to show evidence of professional development over time. The professional portfolio is one way to collect and showcase achievements and artifacts or evidence of accomplishments. For this assignment, you will prepare a professional portfolio that includes the following: Reflection of Your Practicum Experience In a 1,000-1,250 words, address the following: Summarize your practicum experience. Describe how you have applied theory and/or knowledge from your course work into practice during your practicum experience (provide specific examples). What are the most important things you have learned from this practicum experience and how will you apply them to your public health career? How has this experience helped develop professionalism skills, such as networking, team building, communication, and professional competencies in public health? What leadership qualities do you possess and how do you envision applying them to your public health career? Articulate a personal mission, a set of core values, and vision regarding your role in public health. How will your core values help guide your ethical decision making in public health? Include two or three scholarly sources to support your narrative. Sample Practicum Work: In a second, separate document, submit a sample of your practicum work (e.g., health education materials, reports, presentation) Cover Letter and Resume: HLT 665 Topic 15 Benchmark Professional Portfolio In a third, separate document, submit a cover letter and resume. Prepare a cover letter and resume for a potential (or actual) position in public health. APA format is required for essays only. Solid academic writing is expected for all presentation formats, and in-text citations and references should be presented using APA guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion. You are not required to submit this assignment to Turnitin.

Course-wide instructions that accompany this question

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS Discussion Questions (DQ) Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses. Weekly Participation Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. APA Format and Writing Quality Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition. Use of Direct Quotes I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source. LopesWrite Policy For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. Late Policy The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading. Communication Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

What the benchmark portfolio requires

01A 1,000-1,250 word reflection on the practicum experience.
02How theory or coursework knowledge was applied in practice, with specific examples.
03The most important things learned and how they will be applied to your public health career.
04How the experience developed professionalism skills such as networking, team building, communication and public health competencies.
05Leadership qualities you possess and how you envision applying them.
06A personal mission, core values and vision for your role in public health, and how the values guide ethical decision making.
07Two or three scholarly sources, a separate sample of practicum work, and a cover letter and resume.