Hello Reader,

Do you have an evidence-based curriculum?

I bet you spent years learning a ton of things and acquiring experience in whatever it is you chose to work with (or deeply engage as a hobby).

But if I ask you to send me RIGHT NOW a curated collection of works that demonstrates you have the knowledge you claim you have, what would you send?

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Please, stop for a second to answer this question: What would YOU send?

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Most people would answer with a curriculum with a list of claims:

• claims that they worked in certain places
• claims that they performed certain activities in those jobs
• claims they have attended certain educational institutions
• claims they know certain topics

Claims, claims and more claims.

On the other side, an employer intending to hire someone is faced with a pile of curriculums all stating the same: claims.

But the biggest question is: Where is the evidence?

I mean... how do we know that you know what you claim to know?*

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The answer is in what I call a “Knowledge Portfolio”.

A Knowledge Portfolio is a collection of works that demonstrate you have the knowledge (or the cognitive ability) you claim you have.

It is an evidence-based curriculum.

A photographer knows it is not enough to tell someone: “Hey, I am a good photographer. Hire me!”

Instead, they show their portfolio and say “Look, here are some of the pictures I took at the 5 last weddings I worked on” or “Here is a sample of my landscape pictures”. They show the evidence for their claim of being a good wedding or landscape photographer.

For knowledge workers, you can run ahead of the competition by doing the same.

You can:

• Write an article (or research paper) for each topic you want to have in your curriculum.
• Record a presentation where you share (and teach) lessons learned at your previous job
• Write a weekly newsletter or blog where you share part of your knowledge
• Create a course where you teach others a skill you claim you have. If you can (properly) teach then we can infer you know.
• and more.

You can do that even if you are not looking for a job.

Knowledge portfolios can be used to connect with collaborators, students, customers, or employers or for the satisfaction of having built your own "body of work".

The knowledge portfolio exists to expand (and replace) the curriculum and professional profile. It becomes your business card. When you see people nowadays using a book they authored as a business card, that book is, in fact, their knowledge portfolio.

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So the remaining question is: How can you build your Knowledge Portfolio?

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How to Build Your Knowledge Portfolio?

From and with your notes.

There is a close relationship between PKM for Research and the Knowledge Portfolio.

PKM for Research is the practice of creating and organising your notes to support learning and knowledge creation.

(Or, more formally, it is the optimised coordination and administration of your knowledge processes towards knowledge creation.)

The result is a representation of your knowledge in a way that YOU can understand.

The Knowledge Portfolio is a collection of works that communicate that same knowledge, but in a way that OTHERS can understand.

So you can build your Knowledge Portfolio in one of two ways:

1. From your notes. So your PKM for Research practice can provide all the material you need to build your Knowledge Portfolio. Or
2. Just go for it. So as you write an item for your Knowledge Portfolio (from your mind), it can feedback on what is currently represented by your PKM for Research.

In practice though, if you have a PKM for Research practice, you will notice that you will grow knowledge in both ways. You may start with a note, write from what is in that note, and then expand your notes as you try to translate that knowledge to a specific audience.

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The bridge between your PKM for Research and Knowledge Portfolio is what I call an “output note”.

An output note is a simple note with links to all ideas that (will) appear in an item in your knowledge portfolio.

It can be used in two ways:

• If you write your notes first, the output note serves as the outline of ideas for what you will write/record/teach. So you can have all the background information ready when you need to craft your paragraphs, slides, or lessons.
• If you write your portfolio first, the output note represents the ideas you have already added to your knowledge portfolio. That means that rather than writing the report for a project and throwing your notes away, you now add all ideas you included in that report back into your system as idea notes. The ideas then can go further, beyond that single project, and may appear again in future projects and items in your knowledge portfolio.

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But here is the main advantage of output notes.

After a couple of years of working on multiple reports, papers, blog posts, social media articles, presentations, etc. you will have a collection of items you could send as a sample of your Knowledge Portfolio.

So, in 2 minutes, how can you choose among them all? Should you look at each piece of work 1 by 1?

No 😊

Find the idea you want to demonstrate (that is super quick with a PKM for Research practice), then find all outputs that are linked to it (most apps will give you that in 1 or 2 clicks).

That’s it!

In 2 minutes or less, you have a short list of items you can add to your sample Knowledge Portfolio.

Also, you have clarity when you have no portfolio item related to a given idea, in which case, it is time to create one!

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Want a refresher on the PKM for Research course? Renew your membership before Monday, April 29th and participate in a live refresher course on the Foundations of Idea Management. Renew My Membership

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So if someone asks for your Knowledge Portfolio, what would you send?

Talk to you again next week. Meanwhile, I am here if you have any questions. Don’t feel shy and just send me a reply to this email. I take some time to answer but I read and answer all emails.

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Talk to you soon.

Until then, take care.

Bianca

* You could try reading this as a tongue twister 😅 "how do we know that you know what you claim to know?"