This third session focused on John Zubizarreta’s “The Learning Portfolio: A Powerful Idea for Significant Learning.“
The author asserts that student portfolios are still very much in use and should continue to be utilized in all areas of school, as well as out of school contexts, as a method for “displaying and judging evidence of best practice and samples” of someone’s “full range of talent.” Portfolios, as artifacts, “showcase a representative breadth of acquired skills or professional success and career.” Zubizarreta provides the reader with a learning portfolio model, though he reminds us that portfolios take may forms. One model he proposes consists of three fundamental components: Reflection, Documentation, and Collaboration. He goes on to describe these and explain carefully their use and purpose. He says, “The learning portfolio, then, is a flexible tool that engages students in a process of continuous reflection and collaboration.” He encourages flexibility and adaptability through the portfolio process and reminds the reader that “purpose” drives the final decisions about reflection and documentation. Ultimately, this author is in search of an “authentic” and meta-cognitive process—students/people engaging in self assessment, and thinking critically.
The Group decision:
For the next Honors Ed. FIG session in Fall 2016 to:
- (re)read of the article and further the discussion on portfolios
- decide on a portfolio project with one or limited students
- update each other on the process and student progress
- invite involved students to our last meeting for a conversation (perhaps a presentation of their project)
- to read more by John Zubizarreta.
We will attempt to meet by the second week of the semester, giving ourselves an early start on the project, if all are still on board.
The group found this reading both challenging and interesting.
