Portfolios are (using the currently in-vogue terminology) an assessment instrument. That means that they are meant to be used to determine what the student has learned. Yes, that basically means a grade.
There are many different types of portfolios.
Personal. This are your own personal papers, financial information, recommendations, etc. For example, diplomats present their portfolio when they take a new post.
Literacy. These portfolios demonstrate your literacy in a particular area.
Classroom. These are the K-12 portfolios.
Capstone. Capstone portfolios show mastery of an area, such as computer science or mechanical engineering.
Proficiency. Proficiency portfolios show proficiency with certain material (rather than a whole subject). For example, a portfolio in French might contain translations of several important literary works, poems, legal documents, scientific and mathematical articles, etc.
For classes, the type portfolio that I ask you to assemble is usually a proficiency portfolio. You are to demonstrate that you have reached learned the material and you are proficient at it. But others are possible; for example in the 291/491 courses, a personal portfolio is called for. In my experience, the best way to determine whether or not you have gained proficiency is to have you write about what you know.
I am using portfolios to serve several purposes.
Exploration. Students should explore of the field of computer science with respect to the particular course and the relationship of computer science and other disciplines. It allows the student to ask private questions of the instructor without risking embarrassment.
Communications. Computer scientists be able to express themselves in writing. You must be able to communicate with other technical and non-technical colleagues verbally as well.
De-stressing. The unstructured nature of the portfolio reduces the ``stress'' of homework assignments. It allows the student to ask private questions of the instructor without risking embarrassment.
Pacing. It allows the student to work at her/his own pace.
Portfolios require quite a bit of planning on your part. You will be asked to select work that you have done throughout the semester and meaningfully reflect on what you have done and what you have learned. I will give some criteria that I want you to use when choosing materials, but much of the demonstration will be up to you. You should attempt to communicate with the readers: these would be perhaps grad school profs or your new boss at your workplace.
There are four planning areas to focus on that new writers/researchers often don't get right:
What is the purpose of the document?
Who is the audience? At what level will they see this document?
What are the criteria for successful completion of the assignment?
What are the criteria for success in presenting the case?
Some of the criteria that should be used to make selections are
Items that demonstrate your growth in the subject. This might be your first and last programs, for example.
Items that show your creativity. This could be in a problem solving situation or a program that you think is really clever.
A piece about what's working for you and what's not working for you. What types of problems out all the problems we study do you enjoy? What part of programming do you hate?
A piece of writing evaluating what you have learned in this course. This should include things you like and things you don't like. These things must be justified as to why. You also cannot take the easy way out and try to say you like everything.
Since one of the purposes is to have the student get into the habit of writing I will make it as easy as possible. Therefore, communications should be as short as possible. I expect the submission to be correctly spelled, grammatically correct, and punctuated properly. This, by the way, is part of the grading criteria.
There are two "modes" of writing.
One mode is to have something that can be presented to others as a finished work. This is probably what you think of when someone says "write a letter to ...." In such a document, we would expect to see completely correct grammar and spelling. But we would also expect to see issues presented in an internally consistent manner; "first things first" manner.
The second mode is called "writing for discovery." In this second mode, we may not see complete sentences or correct grammar for that matter. The important thing is the sequence: the subject matter is presented in an "as discovered" sequence.
My experience in teaching has been that students use "writing for discovery" in place of "writing for presentation." That's because the students wait until too late to begin the writing exercise and only have time for the "discovery" phase. I expect homework to be written in "presentation" mode. Believe me, it's really easy to tell the difference.
Your portfolio should show that you have thought about your work. To quote Plato, "The life which is unexamined is not worth living." (Apology, p 38). Here are the ways that this examination manifest themselves:
Reflection on Important Themes with the Subject.
Reflection on Values and Learning.
Development of Themes.
Diversity of Interests and Knowledge.
Communications of Thoughts and Values.
Evaluation of Yourself and Your Surroundings.
Understanding of Ourselves and the Contexts in Which We Learn
Reflection is not something that comes easily or naturally. Our reflections here are on the work of the semester and what has taken place.
Did you learn what you wanted?
Did you learn what you expected to learn?
What have you learned about your relationship with the material?
What have you learned that surprised you?
What did you learn that made you feel the most excited?
What did you do (in or out of class) that excited you the most?
What motivates you?
Details of examples in textbooks.
Your homework problems (including all attempts).
Unassigned homework you attempt on your own.
Journal entries of interesting things learned in lectures.
Reworked test questions missed on the original test.
Questions asked and the answers you received.
Rewritten classroom notes of especially hard sessions.
There are two important exercises the student can do to improve understanding. The first is to rewrite, in your own words, all the details of derivations or examples done in class or seen in a text book. The emphasis is complete detail. The second is to correct your answers to any missed questions on tests or homework.
Journal entries from interesting classes about ideas that occur to you or insights into computer science gained are a good way to put down thoughts. Some classes may be a bust; some may be great. We'll just hope there are more of the latter than the former.
At the end of the semester, the portfolio consists of the work done during the semester. In some theories about these things, the student chooses what goes in the portfolio; the teachers takes what they can get and come to some sort of conclusion. My theory is different.
My theory is that I am asking you to put assigned work in the portfolio. I want to see the work before the end of the semester. The reason to assign work is for you to develop your understanding in a fairly risk-free environment. You do your homework and hand it in as you complete it. (Ideally, there would be no due dates in such a system. See How It Probably Works). I will read it and comment on deficiencies I find. I then expect you to take that information and correct the deficiencies. I therefore expect that the working copies as well as the final copies of a problem will be in your portfolio. You may hand in any problem you care to, assigned or unassigned.
In those classes that have a group-oriented homework policy (e.g., CPSC 350) the policy is each student will hand in her/his own version. That is, the group does not hand just one version for the group. Each individual of the group will hand in a version (not copied, either)
You may also submit for my reading such things as questions about computer science outside class, how various pieces of the major fit together, why you have to take math, etc. These too become part of your portfolio. I take these side question as a measure of your participation in the subject. My policy on this sort of question is that I'll try to answer any question that is sincerely put forth. I would prefer not to answer anonymous questions but I will. To hand in an anonymous question:
Hand the paper to the Department secretary, Carol Williams carol@cs.clemson.edu. Explain to her that it is an anonymous question. Work out some way for her to contact you when I'm done.
Carol will hand it to me. I will respond and return to her.
You and Carol coordinate the return.
Experience shows that unless due dates are given portfolios do not work. Therefore, students should expect to have due dates on homework and programs. Homework seems to be more problematic than programs. Therefore, I will also count against the participation grade how well you avail yourself of the opportunity to have homework "prejudged."
While I don't want to see your tests in the final portfolio, I do definitely expect to see each of your tests again. For each test, you should hand in a a corrected version of any question missed.
Since you have an opportunity to find out whether or not you are doing homework correctly, you can expect grading to be significantly tighter.
You may send questions e-mail. If you must, then use mathematical notation then use TeX/LaTeX conventions. The conventions are
Underscore represents subscript. E.g., x_i for "x sub i"
Caret represents superscript or exponent. E.g., x^i for "x superscript i" or "x to the i".
Greek letters are preceded by a backslash `\' and spelled out. Capitalize the name for upper-case letters.
Questions about computer science, mathematics, etc. are to be put one to a page. There must be enough room for me to return the answer to you on that paper. If the answer is longer than one page, I'll staple the answer to the original. All last minute questions must be in before the beginning of the last week of class.
Whenever you hand in something you are to attach any previous work on the same subject to the new piece. For homework, there is a penalty for too many tries. The grade on a given piece of homework will be 10*(.95)^i, where i is the number of previous tries.
The portfolio should be handed in bound in a cheap folder. Please do not spend a lot of money for a two- or three-ring binder.
The major purpose of the portfolio is to get you to write your thoughts clearly, concisely, and professionally. The assigned homework is graded only when the student presents the complete package for a particular assignment. For example, suppose a homework question were a proof of some sort. The student hands in her/his best first try. I correct it. If the proof is acceptable then the student gets credit. If not, then the student should rework the assignment and hand back in. This continues until some terminal point on the assignment. Credit will be decided on the number of times handed in as well as the quality of the writing.
For other communications, the first handed-in paper is probably the last unless there is some need for dialogue. For example, suppose the student asked a question that I respond to. However, my response is unsatisfactory to the student. Then a second go-around is suggested.
My expectations are below:
Maximum. The maximum I can expect is one item per homework problem or program assigned and one other item per class. This seems on the high side for grading purposes.
Minimum. The minimum I can demand is one item per homework problem or program assigned.
If you are a student in one of my classes with a portfolio assignment and you have not sent me an e-mail message saying you have read and understood these directions, do so now. This counts as something in your portfolio.
If you wish to comment on these ideas for whatever reason, please use e-mail:
steve@cs.clemson.edu