Every student in every section of ENGL 1101/2 taught at Georgia Tech composes an electronic portfolio and submits the portfolio at the end of the semester. Each portfolio includes a Reflective Essay on the first page, a page showcasing the Common First Week Letter (1101) or Video (1102) and process materials through which students developed the first week common assignment, as well as a series of short, reflective paragraphs through which students narrate their progress through the course. In addition to the Reflective Essay, Common First Week assignment page, and connective reflective writing, students are required to include at least three other pages that showcase final drafts of major artifacts produced in the course along with process materials, that is drafts, pitches, artist statements, scripts, drawings, and peer feedback reports. Because composing in multiple modes is a central aim of the WCP, student portfolios are likely to include final and process documents for podcasts, videos, posters, presentations, board games, artbooks, maps, and much more.
The goal of the ePortfolio project is two fold. The first goal of the project is to integrate the reflection on writing as a process into every stage of ENGL 1101/2 at Georgia Tech, and the ePortfolio is the best measure of how well students meet the WCP outcome on process and reflection. When students reflect on not only what they learned, but also how they learned it, studies show they are more likely to transfer those skills from first year courses to their major subject classes. In other words, the portfolio demonstrates to students and faculty, the ways in which writing is a process that occurs in always changing constraints. Through the composition of the showcase portfolio, we aim for students to meet future writing challenges by drawing on a writing process best suited to the contexts they face.
The second goal of the ePortfolio project is programmatic Assessment. Brittain Fellows and WCP Lecturers meet in assigned groups of three six times over the academic year to assess how well a randomly generated set of student portfolios shows how well the WCP has met its programmatic outcomes. The portfolios are scored in terms of the WCP Common Feedback Chart, which is embedded below.
