Jason Johnson
Office of Undergraduate Education
University of Washington, Seattle Campus

Portfolios for Self-Reflection

Jason Johnson, Director of First Year Programs, described how the Portfolio Tool was employed in Freshman Interest Groups (FIGs), theme-based clusters of courses for first year students. One component of every FIG, a General Studies course entitled the University Community, incorporated electronic portfolios for use by over 3000 student participants. The course guided students through a process of reflecting on past, present, and future experiences to develop students' learning abilities and decision-making skills. In addition to reflective statements, students gathered artifacts from FIG experiences and clustered courses. Johnson interacted with FIG leaders to use their group experiences in designing prompts and portfolio exercises for students.

Student Experience with the Assignment

FIG leaders Dustin Daily, J.J. McCammon, and Becky Francouer themselves created portfolios to understand how their students would use the tool. They believed that the Portfolio tool brought continuity across the clustered courses, while being flexible enough to be adapted to different course contexts. They noted that electronic portfolios not only required students to identify and reflect on meaningful experiences related to their academic majors, but also afforded them opportunities to illustrate other intellectual pursuits important to their lives. Additionally, the process of selecting artifacts engaged students' creative and strategic thinking on how to best represent their ideas and experiences to others.

Presentation Video

FIG Program leaders and Johnson talked about their experiences at a forum entitled "Using Portfolios to Bridge Classroom, Community, and Career," held by the Program for Educational Transformation Through Technology.

You can watch a video of their presentation by selecting one of the connections below.

| QuickTime | Real Media | Windows Media | Video Transcript |