English 357 Portfolio

Fall, 2011

Due in Bb Weekly Cyber Class/Drop Box/Portfolios no later than 11:59 pm, Dec. 13/15.

No late portfolios will be accepted without documented evidence of severe hardship.

5 pts. possible.

 

Your portolio will "show off" the work you've done for this class and reflect on what you've learned over the semester. The material you include in your portfolio should demonstrate how you have met the learning outcomes for this course:

  • General Education Outcome #1: To communicate effectively in a variety of genres for various audiences and situations
  • General Education Outcome #6: To integrate knowledge and ideas in a coherent and meaningful manner

You need CLEAN copies of your work—without previous teacher comments or response sheets.

 

Audience

Your audience for this portfolio is your instructor as well as the English Dept. Upper Division Writing Assessment committee. This audience wants to know about student learning trends and ways to improve our writing program.

Your voice or tone for this audience should be thoughtful, academic, mid-formal.

 

Purpose

To enhance your own awareness of your learning, your understanding of concepts, your strengths and weaknesses. To self-evaluate.

 

Contents of the Portfolio

Your portfolio must contain the following:

    1. A main folder, titled, "English 357 Assessment Materials."
    2. Sub-folders titled as follows:
    • Reflective Letter
    • Cyberwork
      • Include all work completed, including Sept. 13/15 through Dec. 6/8, which have not yet been scored and are part of the second cyberwork check.
    • Major Projects

 

How to Compile and Post Your Portfolio

  1. Create a digital main folder titled, "English 357 Assessment Materials."
  2. In the main folder, create 3 sub-folders, titled as follows:
    • Reflective Letter
    • Cyberwork
    • Major Projects
  3. Into the appropriate folders, put the following:
    • Major Projects [Include just the final versions of these projects —not your drafts—and be sure these are clean copies (no instructor comments or grades).]
      • Project #1: Self-Portrait in a Visual Culture
      • Project #2: A Timeline of Visual Culture
      • Project #3: Reading Film
      • Project #4: Graphic Fiction/Nonfiction (Experiments in Verbal-Visual Sequential Art
  4. Zip the main folder. If you're not sure how to create a .zip file, this is the time to learn! Call or visit the Technology and Media Learning Center at ITS, explore your Windows 7 Libraries to figure out how a .zip file is created, or check out various zip/compression utilities available on the web. Be sure to test your zipped file on a couple systems.
  5. Post your portfolio zipped file.
    • Go into our Drop Box and click on “PORTFOLIOS.”
    • When the “Thread Detail” page opens, click “Reply.”
    • A new message box will open. Erase what’s on the Subject line and type your full name.
    • Scroll down to “Attach a file,” and attach your zipped file.
    • Click "Submit."
TIP: START EARLY BECAUSE YOU MIGHT HAVE TROUBLE LOADING A LARGE FILE.

USE MICROSOFT WORD (.docx files) WHEN POSSIBLE. ADOBE ACROBAT (.pdf files) are also ok.

FILES THAT ARE IN EXCESS OF, SAY, 50-100 MG ARE LARGE AND MAY BE DIFFICULT TO POST AND OPEN!!!

LEARN TO COMPRESS.

 

Reflective Letter

This important letter allows you to consider your strengths, weaknesses, growth, understanding, and future work as a writer. It should be a minimum of 3 typed pages, double-spaced. Be sure to:

    1. Address the letter to English Dept. Upper Division Writing Committee. These are English faculty who of course will be very attentive to your writing skills and ethos.
    2. Use standard, MLA business letter format.
    3. Use a thoughtful, academic, mid-formal tone and voice. Proofreading is especially important, given your audience. Be sure to check your sentences for surface errors, punctuation, clarity, style.
    4. Provide a good introduction, body, and conclusion.
    5. Provide well-developed paragraphs which are clearly focused and include transitions.
    6. Consult your Elements of Style text!
    7. Comment on your major projects. For each, reflect on:
      • The process of completing the project—how you revised it to improve:
        • development (thesis, support for thesis, detail, complexity, and analysis);
        • use of relevant sources;
        • attention to audience and purpose;
        • attention to the principles of design;
        • overall polish (sentence editing and proofreading).
      • What you learned about writing as well as visual culture or literacy in the course of completing the project.
    8. Comment on how well you believe the course fulfilled its aims. It might help to reflect a bit on our course textbooks, Power Point presentations, Blackboard Discussion Board conversations, worksheets and micro essays. For review, here is what our Homepage states:

      At the end of the semester, students should be able to:

      Discuss visual culture and language intelligently with classmates, instructors, friends and family, drawing on principles and vocabulary introduced in class.

      Explain the importance of visual literacy to classmates, instructors, friends and family.

      Analyze print and screen forms of communication with precision, drawing on the frameworks introduced in class. "Write visually." I.e., produce effective visual communication in several genres and media related to personal, professional, and/or educational goals.

 

Evaluation of Your Portfolio

  • Your portfolio must contain the items listed above and compiled according to instructions.
  • Your portfolio must be easy to open and navigate. Files should be titled as instructed and open appropriately.
  • Documents should not include your name or my name.
  • Your reflective letter must heed instructions described above under "Reflective Letter."
  • Your main folder must be zipped and the contents should open appropriately.
  • All writing should be CAREFULLY PROOFREAD, as you will be addressing NDSU English faculty. Always remember to pay heed to your audience, and how they will likely react to your work. Consult (or even consider reading cover-to-cover) your Kalman/Strunk text!

Grades

An "A" portfolio meets all of the requirements described above and does so with distinction. I.e., it stands out from the rest. All requested materials are included; files are easily opened and navigated; the reflective letter is very well-organized, focused, and developed, with lots of specific detail and meaningful reflection. It is also edited for mechanical correctness, concision, clarity and elegance. 5 pts.

A "B" portfolio meets all of the requirements described above. All requested materials are included; files are easily opened and navigated; the reflective letter is organized, focused, and developed with detail and reflection, and it contains few mechanical or stylist flaws. 4 pts.

A "C" portfolio meets most of the requirements described above, or may may meet some very well and some very poorly. Files can be opened and navigated; the reflective letter is fairly well-organized, focused, developed and edited, but contains conspicuous weaknesses. 3 pts.

A "D" portfolio meets few of the requirements described above, or meets many of them very minimally.There may be problems accessing or reading the files, and the reflective letter show conspicuous weaknesses throughout. Alternately, the letter may actually accomplish one or two aims fairly well, but completely fails in other respects. 2 pts.

 

CHECKLIST

_____ Zipped Main Folder

_____ Sub-folder: Reflective Letter

_____ Subfolder: Major Projects

_____ Project #1

_____ Project #2

_____ Project #3

_____ Subfolder: Cyberwork Samples

 

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