Pathfinder

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Pathfinder is a graduate degree planning portfolio that will enable you (and your supervisory committee) to record your accomplishments and plan towards the completion of your graduate degree.  

The Pathfinder project was conceived initially as a method to digitize reporting tools that graduate programs use to document your progress over time.  The Pathfinder service has evolved to include documenting the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.   The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (SGPS) and your Faculty are focused on ensuring that you have a platform to record the impact that the pandemic has had on your degree plans and progress. In addition to the other supports already available, Pathfinder will begin to lay the groundwork for how this impact will be addressed for you by asking four basic questions: 

  • Describe the impact that the pandemic is having on your research and scholarly progress.
  • In light of the current circumstances, describe how you plan to advance your academic and professional development in the short term (e.g., over the next three to four months).
  • Recognizing the difficulty of making plans in a fluid situation, describe how you plan to advance your academic and professional development in the long term (e.g., over the next year).
  • Describe any particular support(s) needed to achieve these plans. 

The remaining elements of a Pathfinder Portfolio consist of the common attributes of the many distinct graduate programs at Western.  Elements such as coursework, milestones, and financial support are retrieved automatically from existing databases on campus.  Remaining elements such as scholarly activities (e.g. publications, artistic contributions or intellectual property), conference participation, travel, and thesis progress are left to you to document.  

 

Submitting Your Portfolio for Review

At designated times during the year, your program will determine it is appropriate for you to submit your Portfolio for review.  An email from your program sent to your Western email account will inform you that your Portfolio can now be submitted for review and an option to submit your Portfolio will be present within the Portfolio itself.

How to Submit Your Portfolio

After receiving a request to submit your Portfolio for review, an option to submit your Portfolio will now be present in the menu.  Once you are ready to submit your Portfolio, follow these steps to ensure it is submitted:

  1. Select "SUBMIT PORTFOLIO" from the main Pathfinder menu
  2. Review the inventory of items you are about to submit in the Pre-submission Summary
  3. Once you confirm the inventory of your submission, select "Advance to Confirmation Page"
  4. Review the content of your submission on the Confirmation page
  5. If you have completed your review and are ready to submit the Portfolio for review, select "Submit Portfolio for Review"
Once this action is complete, your submission has been received and your Supervisory Committee will receive an email shortly alerting them to review your submission.

Supervisory Committee Review

Once you submit your Portfolio, your Supervisory Committee will be informed that your Portfolio has been submitted and can be evaluated.  Your Supervisor(s) and Committee Members will have an opportunity to review your plans and progress and comment.  If your Committee determines something is amiss in your Portfolio, they may return it to you with comments on what needs adjustment.  Once your Committee is finished their review, a designated member of the committee (normally your Supervisor) will close the review period and pass your Portfolio over to your Graduate Chair for evaluation.



How the Supervisory Committee Reviews your Portfolio

After submitting your Portfolio for review, your Supervisory Committee Members will receive an email requesting that they review your Portfolio.  This email includes an individual link for each of your Committee Members to access a listing of Portfolios requiring their attention.  Committee Members can follow these directions to view and comment on your Portfolio:

  1. Select the link included in the email connecting each Committee Member with their unique view of their supervisory responsibilities
  2. Review the students who have submitted a Portfolio for review
  3. Select a student's Portfolio of the Provide Feedback option to view their submission
Each committee member has the opportunity to provide feedback to you.  Once the review is submitted, the information you have provided, alongside the feedback collected from your committee is provided to your Graduate Chair for review.

Graduate Chair (or equivalent) Evaluation

A Portfolio that has been reviewed by your Supervisory Committee will be passed along to your Graduate Chair (or equivalent) for evaluation.  Your Graduate Chair (or equivalent) will evaluate the feedback that your Committee has provided to ensure it is sufficient and appropriate.  They will have the capacity to provide you feedback as well if they choose.  Once your Graduate Chair (or equivalent) has completed their evaluation of your Portfolio, the content of your Supervisory Committee review and Graduate Chair evaluation will be passed back to you for acknowledgment.



How the Graduate Chair (or equivalent) Evaluates your Portfolio

After your Supervisory Committee submits their feedback for your portfolio, your Graduate Chair (or equivalent) will receive an email requesting that they review your Portfolio.  The Graduate Chair is asked to review your portfolio and ensure that the feedback provided to you by the Supervisory Committee is sufficient and appropriate.  This email includes a link that connects them with a listing of Portfolios requiring their attention.  The Graduate Chair (or equivalent) can follow these directions to view and comment on your Portfolio:

  1. Select the link included in the email connecting the Graduate Chair (or equivalent) with their unique view of students that require their attention
  2. Review the students who have submitted a Portfolio for review
  3. Select a student's Portfolio of the Provide Feedback option to view their submission
  4. Review the content provided by both the student and supervisory committee
  5. Provide feedback 
  6. Submit their evaluation
Once the evaluation is submitted, the information you have provided, alongside the feedback collected from your committee are provided to you for your review and feedback.

Submitting your Acknowledgement

An email will alert you that your Portfolio has progressed through both the Supervisory Committee review and Graduate Chair evaluation and is now available for your acknowledgment.  Any feedback these groups provided will now be available to you.  Pathfinder will ask you to acknowledge the content of the report, whether you have met with your Supervisor(s) to discuss the report and if you believe the report is an accurate reflection of your progress and plans for the next phase of your studies.  If you disagree with the feedback you have received you will have the opportunity to share this feedback if you so choose.  After your acknowledgment is received, the content of the review will be archived for you and the submission process is complete.

Reference

Senate Academic Policy, Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, Assessing Student Progress in Multi-Year Research-Based Programs: