BLS 347 (LN
7852):
History of
American Documentary Films
Spring
2003
David
Goldstein-Shirley, Ph.D.
Learning
Portfolio
Due no later than 5:45 p.m. sharp
on Tuesday, June 3
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.
Your learning portfolio will be submitted
entirely electronically. Carefully follow the instructions for each
component of your portfolio:
To complete and submit your portfolio, you
will need all of the requested documents (see list below) on the same
computer with which you have Internet access. If the documents
currently reside on a computer that does not have Internet access,
you will need to put them on a floppy disk or Zip disk and transfer
the files to a computer that does have Internet access, either at
work or home or in one of the UW computer labs.
Before assembling your learning portfolio,
you must complete and submit the course-end questionnaire after
class ends on May 22 but before 5:45 p.m. on May 27. You will
need to refer to copy of the pre-course questionnaire that you
printed just before you submitted it online at the beginning of the
quarter and that I e-mailed to your UW e-mail account on April 14.
With that document available to you, go to
<http://webq.catalyst.washington.edu/survey.cgi?user=davidgs&survey=25>
after class ends on May 22 but before 5:45 p.m. on May 27 and
log on with your UW Net ID. On May 28, I will send to your UW e-mail
address your completed course-end questionnaire for you to use as you
prepare your learning portfolio.
You also need to 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:
- your reflections upon what you feel you
have learned in this course, with a focus on your
performance rather than on the course itself
- how you think you learned what
you learned (what you did that led to learning)
- how you feel about the various aspects
of your work, including, but not limited to, the degree to which
you have made progress in the following areas:
- critical reading
- formal writing
- understanding of the history and
form of documentary films
- what you feel you will carry into your
future courses and into your lifelong learning
- what your priorities are for continuing
improvement and learning
*By "formal," I mean that, as a formal
piece of university writing, your reflective essay should be
carefully written, and must be typed and double-spaced throughout,
using a standard font (like Times) in 12-point size, and with margins
of one inch all the way around each page. 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).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 writing your reflective essay so you can go back and edit
properly.
When you are ready to submit your
portfolio, log onto the portfolio tool at <http://portfolio.washington.edu/optin.cgi?owner=davidgs&id=982>.
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.
One by one, you will add content to your
electronic portfolio. Refer to the specific instructions below for
each item.
- Pre-course and
course-end questionnaires. Start
your portfolio with "Pre-Course and Course-End Questionnaires" by
clicking on that blue phrase. With those two questionnaires in
front of you, think about and then type your reflection upon those
questionnaires. With this item and all of the others, you can
click the "Save" button periodically to make sure you don't lose
your work, but when you are all finished, you must click on the
"Finished" button.
- Scene
analysis. Your original
scene
analysis, graded with my
comments, is the next component of your learning portfolio. If you
do not have a copy of your scene analysis (the one with my
comments typed onto it), you can download it from your Digital
Dropbox in Blackboard at <http://bb.bothell.washington.edu>.
To submit this artifact, click on the blue "Scene Analysis" phrase
from the main portfolio menu. Click on the blue "Attach artifact"
button. In the pull-down menu following "Artifact type," choose "A
file from your hard drive." Then use the "Browse" button and
locate the file on your computer. In the next box, name your
artifact "Scene Analysis." Don't change the artifact location
(leave it "My Artifacts"). Then click the "Create Artifact"
button. When you get to the next screen, click on the "Finished"
button. That should take you back to the main portfolio
menu.
- Scene analysis
revision (optional). If you have
chosen to revise your scene
analysis, then attach it next.
Your Word file should be named exactly in this format:
LastnameFirstinitialS2. For example, if you name were Mary Husky,
your filename would be "HuskyMS2" (but without quotation marks).
Note that there is no space between the last name and the first
initial or between the first initial and the "S2" (which stands
for Scene analysis, second version). Your file name cannot have a
space in it. To submit this artifact, click on the blue "Scene
Analysis Revision" phrase from the main portfolio menu. Click on
the blue "Attach artifact" button. In the pull-down menu following
"Artifact type," choose "A file from your hard drive." Then use
the "Browse" button and locate the file on your computer. In the
next box, name your artifact "Scene Analysis Revision." Don't
change the artifact location (leave it "My Artifacts"). Then click
the "Create Artifact" button. When you get to the next screen,
click on the "Finished" button. That should take you back to the
main portfolio menu.
- Film
proposal. Your original
documentary
film proposal, graded with my
comments, is the next component of your learning portfolio. If you
do not have a copy of your scene analysis (the one with my
comments typed onto it), you can download it from your Digital
Dropbox in Blackboard at <http://bb.bothell.washington.edu>.
To submit this artifact, click on the blue "Film Proposal" phrase
from the main portfolio menu. Click on the blue "Attach artifact"
button. In the pull-down menu following "Artifact type," choose "A
file from your hard drive." Then use the "Browse" button and
locate the file on your computer. In the next box, name your
artifact "Film Proposal." Don't change the artifact location
(leave it "My Artifacts"). Then click the "Create Artifact"
button. When you get to the next screen, click on the "Finished"
button. That should take you back to the main portfolio
menu.
- Film proposal
revision (optional). If you have
chosen to revise your film
proposal, then attach it next.
Your Word file should be named exactly in this format:
LastnameFirstinitialP2. For example, if you name were Mary Husky,
your filename would be "HuskyMP2" (but without quotation marks).
Note that there is no space between the last name and the first
initial or between the first initial and the "P2" (which stands
for Proposal, second version). Your file name cannot have a space
in it. To submit this artifact, click on the blue "Film Proposal
Revision" phrase from the main portfolio menu. Click on the blue
"Attach artifact" button. In the pull-down menu following
"Artifact type," choose "A file from your hard drive." Then use
the "Browse" button and locate the file on your computer. In the
next box, name your artifact "Film Proposal Revision." Don't
change the artifact location (leave it "My Artifacts"). Then click
the "Create Artifact" button. When you get to the next screen,
click on the "Finished" button. That should take you back to the
main portfolio menu.
- Reflective
paper. To submit this artifact,
click on the blue "Reflective Paper" phrase from the main
portfolio menu. Click on the blue "Attach artifact" button. In the
pull-down menu following "Artifact type," choose "A file from your
hard drive." Then use the "Browse" button and locate the file on
your computer. In the next box, name your artifact "Reflective
Paper." Don't change the artifact location (leave it "My
Artifacts"). Then click the "Create Artifact" button. When you get
to the next screen, click on the "Finished" button. That should
take you back to the main portfolio menu.
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,
and then 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.
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>.
Every element of your learning
portfolio must be submitted as specified above, absolutely no later
than 5:45 p.m. sharp on Tuesday, June 3. Because I have
provided the maximum amount of time to complete this assignment,
because I intend to return graded portfolios (electronically, using
the same online portfolio tool that you used to submit the portfolio)
by the end of the final examination on June 10, and because I need to
ensure an equal amount of time to be fair to everyone in class, I
will accept late portfolios only until 5:45 p.m. sharp
on Thursday, June 5, and impose a five-point penalty. Let me be
clear: Any portfolio items received after 5:45 p.m. on June 3
(e.g., 5:55 p.m. on the due date, or sometime the next day) will
cause the entire portfolio to be considered late.
Be sure to allow some time for unforeseen
problems with the electronic submission or other unforeseeable
circumstances like illness or computer malfunction. I recommend
trying to post your portfolio at least a day or two early. I use
electronic paper submissions because they form an archive that I can
use if I need to (e.g., if I misplace a printed copy of a
document).
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 pts.
|
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:
- Save your work often (maybe every ten
minutes) so you do not lose everything when your computer
freezes.
- Visit the Writing Center (see
<http://www.bothell.washington.edu/writingcenter/>).
- I do not have time to read rough
drafts, but I am very glad to discuss your portfolio or its
components as you work on them. You would be wise to visit me
during office hours (see syllabus) to make sure you are on the
right track, and to get advice about any particular difficulties
you might be encountering.
- Re-read this assignment sheet just
before the final portfolio deadline to make sure it meets all of
the requirements.
- Keep your graded portfolio components
for use in your senior seminar portfolio if you are a Liberal
Studies or Interdisciplinary Studies major.
This page last updated May 9,
2003.
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