The purpose of this assignment is to provide you with a chance to reflect upon what you have learned, to critically analyze your work, and to practice the selection of and presentation of your work to an audience.
You will submit your portfolio
electronically, using the Catalyst Portfolio tool. I use
electronic portfolios for several reasons:
Downloading and submitting the portfolio: When you are ready to submit your portfolio, log onto the Portfolio tool at <http://portfolio.washington.edu/optin.cgi?owner=davidgs&id=4007>. You will need your UW Net ID to log on.
Under "Choose a portfolio location," please
choose the default location and then click the "Continue" button.
After receiving a confirmation that your portfolio was installed, you
will see the main portfolio page. You do not need to click on the
instructions, because that link will just take you to this
page.
First, click on the "Preferences" link at the top of the page. Enter your full name and any valid e-mail address, and then, under "Portfolio Preferences," click on the box next to "Notify me when a submitted portfolio is returned."
Then, one by one, you will add content to your electronic portfolio. Refer to the specific instructions below for each item.
It does not matter
when you submit items into your portfolio. You can submit them
one at a time, or all at once. I will not be able to see any of
them, though, until you submit the entire portfolio to me for
review. This means that you can change things, add things, edit
things, etc., without worrying about me seeing your work until it is
ready for me. It also means, though, that even if items are in
your portfolio by the deadline, they do not count as "on time" unless
the entire portfolio is submitted to me by the deadline. It is
like putting things into a folder to turn in to a professor. He
or she does not care when you put your work into the folder. He
or she cares only when the folder gets submitted. Please make sure you do not submit the
portfolio until it is ready, and when you do submit it, please make
sure that it contains everything that is supposed to be included.
When you have submitted both of the elements of your portfolio, you need to click on the green "Submit" button to submit the entire portfolio to me for review. When you click on that button, you will see a list of the artifacts that you have submitted. Click on the "Check ALL pages" button just below the list. PRINT THIS PAGE! The printed list will be the only proof you have that all of the documents were submitted in the portfolio! Then click on the "Submit" button. You should get a pop-up confirmation that your portfolio has been submitted. Then log out and close your browser window to protect your UW Net ID. Important: Once you click the "Submit" button, you cannot go back to add anything, so make sure everything is in its final form and that all of the documents are included before clicking on "Submit."
Your midquarter learning portfolio is due
online at 8:35 a.m. sharp on Thursday, April 20. There is
no grace period for the midquarter portfolio because there is no
significant penalty for not submitting a midquarter portfolio.
You just will not get comments on your portfolio's contents. I also
will not confirm receipt of midquarter portfolios for the same
reason--they just are not crucial like the final portfolios are.
However, you can check the submission for yourself:
After submitting your portfolio, from the main page, check to see if an icon with an "S" (for "Submitted") appears next to each page that you wanted to submit. Then, open each page. The top of each page should say, in red letters, "This page has been submitted, and currently cannot be edited." That tells you that the page was, indeed, submitted with the portfolio.
Then
scroll down
to the bottom of each page that is supposed to contain an artifact
(e.g., a paper that you were supposed to attach) to see if the bottom
of the page shows the artifact that you were supposed to attach. That
tells you that the submitted page had the attached artifact. Print
this page for each of the pages of the submitted portfolio.
This is your assurance that (a) every page was submitted, and (b) every
page that is supposed to have an attached artifact does have an
attached artifact.
About ten days after you submit your midquarter portfolio, I will return your portfolio (follow the same link as the one you used to get to the Portfolio before), with my comments. I will not comment on midquarter portfolios submitted after the deadline, so please do not bother to submit a late midquarter portfolio. I will deduct ten percentage points from the score of final portfolios that did not have a corresponding midquarter portfolio submitted. If you activated e-mail notification as instructed above, you theoretically will receive an e-mail message when your portfolio is ready for you to pick up although it seems that students do not always receive this message for some reason. (I think the messages might go to some junk mail folders because they are misidentified as spam.) I will read, comment on, and return midquarter portfolios in the order in which I receive them, so the earlier you submit your midquarter portfolio, the more time you will have for revisions.
Important: When you re-open your
midquarter portfolio to re-read my comments after the first time you
get your midquarter portfolio back, it will look like my midquarter
comments have disappeared. To make my comments re-appear, you
have to click on the "View previous comments" link which is nearly
hidden at the bottom of each portfolio page.
If you want assistance, the best people to
ask are the computer lab consultants (who are trained in the Catalyst
tools), or me, or both. The librarians in the Campus Library
often can be very helpful, but they have not been specifically trained
to help with Catalyst tools, so the computer lab consultants are a
better bet. Click on this link for more information about the UWB
Computing Helpdesk: <http://www.uwb.edu/infosys/helpdesk.html>.
Downloading and submitting the portfolio: When you are ready to submit your portfolio, log onto the Portfolio tool at <http://portfolio.washington.edu/optin.cgi?owner=davidgs&id=4007>. You will need your UW Net ID to log on.
Under "Choose a portfolio location," please
choose the default location and then click the "Continue" button.
After receiving a confirmation that your portfolio was installed, you
will see the main portfolio page. You do not need to click on the
instructions, because that link will just take you to this
page.
First, click on the "Preferences" link at the top of the page. Enter your full name and any valid e-mail address, and then, under "Portfolio Preferences," click on the box next to "Notify me when a submitted portfolio is returned."
Then, one by one, you will add content to your electronic portfolio. Refer to the specific instructions below for each item.
It does not matter
when you submit items into your portfolio. You can submit them
one at a time, or all at once. I will not be able to see any of
them, though, until you submit the entire portfolio to me for
review. This means that you can change things, add things, edit
things, etc., without worrying about me seeing your work until it is
ready for me. It also means, though, that even if items are in
your portfolio by the deadline, they do not count as "on time" unless
the entire portfolio is submitted to me by the deadline. It is
like putting things into a folder to turn in to a professor. He
or she does not care when you put your work into the folder. He
or she cares only when the folder gets submitted. Please make sure you do not submit the
portfolio until it is ready, and when you do submit it, please make
sure that it contains everything that is supposed to be included.
When you have submitted all of the elements of your portfolio, you need to click on the green "Submit" button to submit the entire portfolio to me for review. When you click on that button, you will see a list of the artifacts that you have submitted. Click on the "Check ALL pages" button just below the list. PRINT THIS PAGE! The printed list will be the only proof you have that all of the documents were submitted in the portfolio! Then click on the "Submit" button. You should get a pop-up confirmation that your portfolio has been submitted. Then log out and close your browser window to protect your UW Net ID. Important: Once you click the "Submit" button, you cannot go back to add anything, so make sure everything is in its final form and that all of the documents are included before clicking on "Submit."
Your optional preliminary essay submission
portfolio is due
online after April 20 but no later than 8:35 a.m. sharp on
Tuesday, May 16. There is
no grace period for the optional preliminary essay portfolio
because there is no
significant penalty for not submitting it.
You just will not get comments on your portfolio's contents. I also
will not confirm receipt of these portfolios for the same
reason--they just are not crucial like the final portfolios are.
However, you can check the submission for yourself:
After submitting your portfolio, from the main page, check to see if an icon with an "S" (for "Submitted") appears next to each page that you wanted to submit. Then, open each page. The top of each page should say, in red letters, "This page has been submitted, and currently cannot be edited." That tells you that the page was, indeed, submitted with the portfolio.
About
ten days after you submit your optional preliminary essay submission
portfolio,
I
will
return your portfolio (follow the same link as the one you used to get
to the Portfolio before), with my comments. I will not comment on
portfolios submitted after the deadline, so please do not
bother to submit a late midquarter portfolio. If you
activated
e-mail notification as instructed above, you theoretically will receive
an e-mail
message when your portfolio is ready for you to pick up although it
seems that students do not always receive this message for some
reason. I will read, comment on, and return these portfolios
in the order in which I receive them, so the earlier you submit your
portfolio, the more time you will have for revisions.
Important: When you re-open your
portfolio to re-read my comments after the first time you
get your portfolio back, it will look like my comments have
disappeared. To make my comments re-appear, you
have to click on the "View previous comments" link which is nearly
hidden at the bottom of each portfolio page.
If you want assistance, the best people to ask are the computer lab consultants (who are trained in the Catalyst tools), or me, or both. The librarians in the Campus Library often can be very helpful, but they have not been specifically trained to help with Catalyst tools, so the computer lab consultants are a better bet. Click on this link for more information about the UWB Computing Helpdesk: <http://www.uwb.edu/infosys/helpdesk.html>.
First, gather all of your work that is to be included in your course-end learning portfolio. The guidelines for what to include are listed below. I strongly recommend downloading the learning portfolio items from the Catalyst Portfolio tool (see "Downloading and submitting the portfolio," below) so you can see what you will need to respond to. That will give you time to think about and draft responses.
Then, write a formal, reflective paper of about 800 words (no fewer than 600 and no more than 1000) that discusses, in an order that makes sense as the best way to present your thinking:
As a formal piece of university writing, your reflective essay should be typed and double-spaced throughout, using a standard font (like Times New Roman) in 12-point size, and with margins of one inch all the way around each page. By "formal," I mean that I expect carefully considered and carefully written work, which should be formally formatted, including double spacing. This probably requires some writing and revision before you can produce a high-quality, final product to include in the portfolio. First-person ("I") statements are fine. Please re-read "Tips for Better Prose" at <http://faculty.washington.edu/davidgs/Prose.html> after getting your main ideas down on paper but before submitting your final version of your reflective essay. Provide a meaningful but brief title for your paper (not "Reflective Essay" but rather a short hint of your paper's main point or thrust) and a standard academic heading (as described in T20 in "Tips for Better Prose").
Just before you submit your reflective paper online, do a final word count (in the Tools pull-down menu of Microsoft Word) to make sure you meet the 600- to 1000-word parameters. You do not need to type the number of words; I will be able to do my own word count of your paper.
Needless to say, your work must be entirely
original. Using another person's ideas or words without proper
attribution, whether intentional or accidental, constitutes
plagiarism, and will result in a zero on this assignment. Please
re-read "Maintaining Academic Integrity" at <http://faculty.washington.edu/davidgs/Integrity.html>.
Downloading and submitting the portfolio: When you are ready to submit your portfolio, log onto the Portfolio tool at <http://portfolio.washington.edu/optin.cgi?owner=davidgs&id=4007>. You will need your UW Net ID to log on.
Under "Choose a portfolio location," please
choose the default location and then click the "Continue" button.
After receiving a confirmation that your portfolio was installed, you
will see the main portfolio page. You do not need to click on the
instructions, because that link will just take you to this
page.
First, under "Options" or "Preferences,"
check to make sure that your full name is still entered from when you
completed the midquarter portfolio.
Then, one by one, you will add content to your electronic portfolio. Refer to the specific instructions below for each item.
It does not matter
when you submit items into your portfolio. You can submit them
one at a time, or all at once. I will not be able to see any of
them, though, until you submit the entire portfolio to me for
review. This means that you can change things, add things, edit
things, etc., without worrying about me seeing your work until it is
ready for me. It also means, though, that even if items are in
your portfolio by the deadline, they do not count as "on time" unless
the entire portfolio is submitted to me by the deadline. It is
like putting things into a folder to turn in to a professor. He
or she does not care when you put your work into the folder. He
or she cares only when the folder gets submitted. Please
make sure you do not submit the portfolio until it is ready, and when
you do submit it, please make sure that it contains everything that is
supposed to be included. If you submit one page later than
other pages, the entire portfolio will bear the date and time of the last thing you submitted.
When you have submitted all of the elements of your portfolio, you need to click on the green "Submit" button to submit the entire portfolio to me for review. When you click on that button, you will see a list of the artifacts that you have submitted. Click on the "Check ALL pages" button just below the list. PRINT THIS PAGE! The printed list will be the only proof you have that all of the documents were submitted in the portfolio! Then click on the "Submit" button. You should get a pop-up confirmation that your portfolio has been submitted. Then log out and close your browser window to protect your UW Net ID. Important: Once you click the "Submit" button, you cannot go back to add anything, so make sure everything is in its final form and that all of the documents are included before clicking on "Submit."
Your final learning portfolio is due
online at 8:35 a.m. sharp on Tuesday, May 30. Because I
have
provided the maximum amount of time to complete this assignment,
because I need to return graded portfolios before grades are due, and
because I need to ensure an equal amount of time to be fair to
everyone in class, I will accept late portfolios submitted after 8:35
a.m. on May 30 but no later than 8:35 a.m. sharp on May 31, with
only ten percentage points deducted from the learning portfolio score
(no deduction from the score on the research essay). However, I
will be an
absolute stickler for that
grace period. Let me be clear: A portfolio submitted at
8:36 a.m. on May 31 is not one minute late, but rather is
twenty-four hours and one minute late, and I will not accept it.
I will accept no
portfolios after 8:35 a.m.
sharp on May 31 for any reason, which probably will result in a 0.0
for
the course, so I strongly
recommend
finishing early to avoid any unforeseen problems. Try not
to
count on the twenty-four hour grace period. Think of the deadline
as 8:35 a.m. on Tuesday, May 30.
You can check
the submission for yourself:
After submitting your portfolio, from the main page, check to see if an icon with an "S" (for "Submitted") appears next to each page that you wanted to submit. Then, open each page. The top of each page should say, in red letters, "This page has been submitted, and currently cannot be edited." That tells you that the page was, indeed, submitted with the portfolio.
I am aware that the importance of submitting
your final portfolio properly can lead to anxiety. I am willing
to help
you in two ways: assist with submission if you want, and confirm
receipt of your final portfolio:
If you want to submit your portfolio with me at your side, please meet me in UW1-310 any time between 12:00 and 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 25. Bring all of your documents on a CD, Zip disk, or floppy disk (not a flash drive), or e-mail the documents to yourself, or both (as an extra precaution, which I strongly recommend). I recommend having the documents with you in two different forms to increase the chances that at least one of them will work. Bring a printout of these instructions!
To help you relax
after you submit your final portfolio, I will confirm receipt of your
portfolio the morning after you submit it. At midnight
every night, Catalyst will send me an e-mail message that lists
everyone who submitted a portfolio in the previous twenty-four
hours. In the morning, I will look at each one of those
portfolios and will e-mail each student (using the student's official
UW e-mail address) to indicate whether or not
everything looks o.k. I will do this every day. So, it is
very much to your advantage to submit your portfolio early so you can
correct any problems. If you
want me to check your portfolio in time for you to fix any problems,
then submit your portfolio by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, May 28, so
I can e-mail you the next morning (Monday, May 29) and you will
still have the rest of the day to fix any problems. Regardless of
when you submit your portfolio, if you do not get
an e-mail message from me by 9:00 on the morning after you thought you
submitted it, please e-mail me immediately.
Basis for grading your learning portfolio:
Completeness (responds appropriately to
the assignment in form and content) 20 percent Depth of response (quality of detail
and support; sophistication of ideas and argument) 70 percent Quality of writing (organization;
spelling, grammar, diction, punctuation) 10 percent TOTAL 10 percent of final course grade
Note that the score on the learning portfolio is entirely independent of your score on your two papers. Your papers will be graded separately and the grade and comments will be returned to you as part of the returned learning portfolio.
If you activated e-mail notification as
instructed above, you will receive an e-mail message when your
portfolio is ready for you to pick up, although students sometimes do
not receive this message.
I will read, grade, and return final
portfolios in the order in which I receive them, so the earlier you
submit your final portfolio, the earlier you will get your
grades. My goal is to return each portfolio within ten days of
its submission. Please do not
e-mail me to ask when your portfolio will be returned.
That really slows me down as I am trying to read hundreds of pages of
documents in the portfolios. Just count on picking it up (at the
same link, above, that you used to submit the portfolio) ten calendar
days after submitting it.
Let me emphasize that I expect your best effort in this and every exercise. My expectations are high because your ability to produce outstanding work is high.
Some additional advice:
This page last updated April 8, 2006.
