Portfolio
The Pacific Electronic Portfolio
Students at Pacific now have an opportunity—rare among universities and colleges in the nation—to document and reflect on their learning during their entire undergraduate career through an electronic portfolio. Electronic Portfolios (e-Portfolios) are collections of electronic content organized and presented as customized Web pages. By submitting examples of their academic work and co-curricular accomplishments along with self-reflection on them in the portfolio system, students are able to build a history of their learning. Since the portfolio system is web-based, students can access their work from any location at any time.
Beginning in fall 2007 in Pacific Seminar 1, all entering first-year students will be required to create a portfolio and add to it for the duration of their university study.
Purposes of the e-portfolio
- Gives students a clear understanding of the essential goals of their university experience
- Helps students integrate the learning in their coursework (their major, general education, and elective courses) and their activities outside of class
- Gives students a structured opportunity to reflect on what and how they have learned and to make connections among seemingly unrelated courses and activities
- Prepares students for their required intellectual and ethical autobiography assignments in Pacific Seminar 3 in their senior year
- Creates an archive of work and self-reflection that the student can use for employment, internship applications, and other Pacific portfolios
- Supports Pacific in assessing student learning
Expectations
Students should be looking every semester to document their progress toward the five learning outcomes. While the portfolio is student-directed, students should consult with faculty and staff to help determine which artifacts to include. Potential artifacts for inclusion in the portfolio may be selected from any academic coursework (general education breadth areas, major and minor coursework, electives) or co-curricular activity.
To get students started using the portfolio system, students will be required to submit work from Pacific Seminars 1 and 2. The e-portfolio must be completed prior to enrollment in Pacific Seminar 3 in the senior year, at which time students will re-visit and draw upon the material and reflective statements in their e-portfolio to compose an extended essay that will describe, analyze, and synthesize their intellectual and ethical development while at Pacific.
Examples of types of coursework assembled in a portfolio include essays, research projects, exams, informal assignments, artwork, and performances. Examples of co-curricular experiences that might be documented in the e-portfolio are participation in clubs and organizations, employment, internships, leadership programs and activities, campus and community events, and community service.
All of the work in the e-portfolio should be accompanied by reflective or self-assessment statements that articulate the students’ learning process and accomplishments. General guidelines for these reflective statements can be found on the web-pages of the five learning goals.
Conclusion
The Pacific Portfolio will help students clearly understand the common goals of their Pacific experience and document their learning over time. The portfolio will help students write better intellectual and ethical autobiographies in Pacific Seminar 3 and serve as an archive for other kinds of portfolios, such as major and job application portfolios. The portfolio will also help Pacific measure student performance through longitudinal analyses of learning gains.
