The Learning Portfolio

"The Learning Portfolio" is a rich, flexible document that engages students in continuous, thoughtful analysis of their learning. Developed through a process of reflection, evidence, and collaboration, the portfolio may be paper, electronic, or another creative medium; at its center, the power of writing and reflection are combined with purposeful, selective collection and assessment of learning endeavors and outcomes in order to improve learning. Straightforward and easy to understand, this book offers readers both an academic understanding of, and rationale for, learning portfolios along with practical information that can be custom tailored to suit many disciplinary, pedagogical, programmatic, and institutional needs. Organized into four parts, the book includes: a foundation for and review of the value of reflective practice in student learning and how learning portfolios support reflection, sound assessment, and collaboration; diverse contributions by practitioners in two and four year institutions in the United States and Canada who implement portfolios in a variety of ways, including the use of digital technology.
The array of specific models of how to use portfolios across disciplines, courses, and programs provides many practical ideas that can work on different campuses; fourteen practical and adaptable examples of actual student learning portfolios; and a wealth of assignment sheets, guidelines, criteria, evaluating rubrics, and other materials used in developing print and electronic learning portfolios from across disciplines, programs, and types of institutions in higher education.