FRINQ Portfolio Assignment

E-PORTFOLIO ASSIGNMENT: THE STUDENT HANDOUT

Introduction

A portfolio is a compilation of your work that demonstrates skills, knowledge, and other qualities important to a particular field or course of study. To demonstrate your learning in Freshman Inquiry, you will create a portfolio to showcase and reflect on your achievements, your progress in the University Studies (UNST) goals, and how both of these connect to your larger educational goals and aspirations.

Your portfolio should include a written reflection on each of the four UNST goals, at least ten different assignments completed during the entire year, and an essay discussing how you see your work in FRINQ connecting on your broader experience and aspirations in your major or career goals, as a member of your community (as you define it), as a citizen, or other important role.

Part 1: Goal interpretation

For this section, write your interpretation and understanding of each of the four University goals and discuss how your work reflects progress in these goals:

• Communication

• Critical Thinking and Inquiry

• The Diversity of Human Experience

• Ethics and Social Responsibility

Below are several questions for you to consider in your reflection, but please do not simply list these questions and answer them. Include these answers in the natural flow of the overall commentary. See your instructor for details on length and format.

• In your own words, what does this goal mean? How does your interpretation differ from the UNST definition? [For a description of the UNST goals, go to www.pdx.edu/unst/university-studies-goals.] Have you changed or added to the UNST goal? If so, why?

• Are there concepts, ideas, and language that your FRINQ course used that you think fit this goal, but aren’t reflected in the UNST definition? (In other words, if you were to write a definition of this goal for your class, what would it look like?)

• What role has this goal played in your learning this year?

• How is this goal relevant to your education in general? Have other classes and other experiences shaped your goal definition? How so?

• How is this goal relevant to life as a whole?

Part 2: Evidence of learning and growth

For each goal, choose at least two of your own work samples from your FRINQ course that best demonstrate your progress. Include the original assignment sheet for each example, and discuss why you chose this work product to illustrate growth toward this particular goal:

• What specifically in the work product is the evidence? (Think in terms of passages, themes, insights, processes, experiences, etc.)

• What insights did you gain from doing this assignment? What part did you do particularly well/are most proud? Of which parts dissatisfied? If you were to do the assignment again, how would you do it differently?

• How might this assignment connect to other goals? Discuss how your this example of work could fit in other goals and why you ultimately chose to include it as evidence in this particular one.

• How does progress on this goal support your work in your major, your career aspirations, and your role as citizen in our society?

In addition to providing and commenting upon specific work samples, concern yourself with how you grew over the course of the term or year with respect to this goal. This can be done in a number of ways. For example, you might include multiple drafts of a single work (it would probably have to be a substantial one) and an accompanying discussion of insights that led to the revisions. Or, you could adduce multiple kinds of activities (assignments, in-class discussions, conversations with peers or the professor, mentor sessions) that all touch upon the same idea or theme and helped you develop ever greater appreciation for it.

Part 3: Reflection on inquiry and your future

Write a two page (750-1000 word) essay reflecting on your broader learning experience and goals. Questions to consider:

• What have been the most useful insights and highlights over the year in this class?

• What have you learned about your own academic goals and values over the year (in this and other classes)?

• As this class is titled Freshman Inquiry, how have you demonstrated inquiry in this class and in other learning contexts this year?

• What have you learned about your ability to contribute informed and original ideas into a professional/scholarly dialog/discourse/discussion?

• What decisions, resolutions, or next steps are you making in terms of your academic career here at the university?

As you write and shape your essay, think about how best to organize it. Does it make more sense to order the information chronologically? From most to least important point? From struggles to breakthroughs? In other words, your final essay shouldn’t read like a free association. Revise and organize your essay into a logical order that best fits the points you are trying to make.

This reflection should be about what you learned, not about what you liked.