What is a portfolio?
|
vPurposeful
collection of student work that tells the story of student achievement
or growth over time
vDiverse
in content
vOften collaborative: encourages dialogue between students and between student and instructor vEncourages students to experiment, take risks vFocus is on learning process more than the final product vCan be used in a variety of disciplines and media: written work, visual work, 2- or 3-dimensional, electronic, etc. |
Types
of portfolios
|
vWorking
portfolio: an archive that includes almost all of the student’s work
oPossible
arrangements: by type of writing, chronology, writer’s satisfaction with
work, etc.
oOne
goal may be to help students become more organized oMay
be collected regularly and include self-assessment: a glow (achievement)
anda grow (goal) vFinal
or presentational portfolio (culled from working portfolio) oMore
formal, defined, focused than working portfolio oIn
addition to selected work, includes entries about the
work; some possibilities are: §Table
of Contents: explains the pieces and
their arrangement §Letter
of Acknowledgement: discusses what
kinds of assistance were beneficial to writer §Grade
Justification entry: argues for a particular
grade §Writer’s
Reflections: metacognitive ? created
throughout the project §Writer’s
Profile: describes and summarizes writer’s
composing process, strengths and weaknesses oPresentational
portfolios may be used by students for broader purposes (application to
a school or program, presentation to potential employers)Exs.:
Digital Media, College of Education |
|
vShould
be threaded through course or project, not just grafted on at end
vIncludes
projection, retrospection (review), and revision
vShould
be social, not just individual: sharing sessions or portfolio partners vSome
uses for reflection: oOn
individual assignments oAcross
assignments oAcross
classes or disciplines oOn
processes oBeyond
school oAt
specific times: daily, weekly, midsemester vStudents
use reflection to “articulate their own learning within a teacher’s curriculum”
(Sunstein 1996) |
Portfolios contribute
to students’ intellectual and personal development in several areas
|
vself-reflection
vcritical
thinking
ostudents
help to set assessment criteria oselect
work to include owrite
reflections vcreativity vtake
responsibility for learning vcontent
area skills and knowledge |
|
vGlobal,
impressionistic: grade based on portfolio as a whole
vAnalytical:
assess each piece and average the scores to decide grade
vGroup scoring by instructors: holistic scoring, two ratings per portfolio |
|
vStudents’
work is compared with other work by same student, rather than with other,
possibly stronger students; focus is on individual progress and growth
v“Institutional
response” of grading can be deferred as long as possible (some instructors
choose not to assign grades to pieces until conclusion of project)
v“Framing”
created by seeing student work in its own context may enable instructor
to see students’ work and assignments in new ways (e.g., observe which
assignments are most successful) (Yancey) |
|
vContent
and arrangement of portfolios are key elements
vStudent
involvement is essential
vPortfolio
selections should balance student choice and curricular requirements vClear
criteria provide students with goals and vocabulary for discussing portfolio
work vInstructor who chooses to use portfolios should design assignments that fit the objectives of his or her class (there’s no one “right way” to do it) vCan be labor-intensive for students and instructor, so start small: try a project portfolio for one unit, rather than making the entire course portfolio-based |
Sunstein, Bonnie S.“Assessing Portfolio Assessment: Three Encounters of a Close Kind.”Voices from the Middle.Volume 3, Number 4.November 1996.
Yancey, Kathleen Blake.“Portfolios in the writing classroom: a final reflection.” Portfolios in the Writing Classroom: An Introduction.Ed. Kathleen BlakeYancey. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 1992.
Yancey, Kathleen Blake and Joy Seybold.Portfolios: Real Challenges, Real Solutions.NCTE Teleconference, 1996.