with John Zubizarreta

Engaging students not only in collecting selected samples of their work for assessment, evaluation, and career development but also in continuous reflection about such work and about the process of developmental learning is a powerful complement to traditional measures of student achievement.  The portfolio approach to gauging student learning is a compelling and diverse method of recording intellectual growth, involving students in a higher-order, critically reflective process that enriches their educational experience and helps transform them into self-directed, reflective learners.

This workshop will offer both a foundation for the value of reflective practice in student learning and a variety of practical applications of print and electronic learning portfolios from across disciplines and institutional programs.  The underlying assumption of the workshop is that the deep value of portfolios in improving student learning resides in engaging students not just in collecting representative samples of their work for assessment, evaluation, or career preparation but in addressing critically stimulating questions such as what one has learned; how was it learned; when was it learned best; how does it fit into a comprehensive, continual plan for learning; what difference has the learning made in one’s intellectual, personal, and ethical development; and why was it valuable to learn at all.  Presenting existing best-practice fundamentals and models and discovering new ideas through interactive conversation and resource sharing are key objectives of the workshop.