LRO Mid-term Portfolios are due Mar. 16 at the beginning of Class!
The mid-term has two parts: The work samples that you will assemble in a folder in the dropbox, and the electronic document you will turn into the class drop-box. This second part, the electronic document, is the part where you discuss your evaluation of your progress and is not something that should be displayed publicly.Both the eletronic document and the work samples should be put in the drop-box by the beginning of class on Mar. 16 to receive credit.
How to Submit your Mid-term documents
For final submission, you will create a folder with you last name, within the Mid-term LRO folder of the teacher folder. Inside the folder with your last name, you will create two folders. One folder will be named "work samples" and you will put copies of all relevant work samples inside. The other folder will be named Learning Record and inside of it you will put your mid-term learning record. Name your document according to the following convention:
firstnamelastinitial_lro_mid.doc,Ex. JanF_lro_mid.doc)
Your Midterm LRO consists of the following:
Completed parts A1 and A2
Completed part B1
Completed part C1
Part B1-Midterm is a "summary interpretation of observations and evidence in terms of the major strands of work and the five dimensions of learning."
For the purposes of this class, the major strands are: Written Expression, Rhetorical Sophistication,Technology and Technical Skills, and Collaboration. The dimensions of learning are: confidence and independence; knowledge and understanding; skills and strategies; use of prior and emerging experience; and reflectiveness(critical awareness).
Part B1-Midterm is crucial to the effectiveness of the LRO. It helps readers understand what the bits and pieces of evidence gathered really mean for the student's learning. In it you need to make an argument about your progress and development in the class, and you need to include evideence to support the claims that you make. As part of your evidence, you should include a selection of observations and work samples that represents the best work you have done thus far in the semester. You should quote directly from any essays, wiki postings, emails, peer critiques, etc. that demonstrate your progress in the course. More than that, however, you must explain how the work sample you've included actually provides evidence for the claims you make about it. This part of the LRO needs to connect the observations and samples of work explicitly to development across the five dimensions of learning and the main course strands for our class.
Part C1- Midterm is where you make an estimation of your grade based on the grading criteria and make suggestions for your own further development. Part C provides an opportunity to reflect over the entire LRO and the class, evaluate progress and achievement, and suggest next steps for development. Part C1 helps students take stock of their progress, estimate an evaluation in the form of a grade, and reflect on their plan of work for the remainder of the semester. I will take this opportunity to provide feedback to you regarding your work in class to this point. The midterm serves as a kind of "reality check" to prevent misunderstandings about the level of activity and progress I expect from students in my classes. When completing Parts B and C, you can use the Word document template.
Note that you are supposed to select work you believe illustrates what you have learned since the beginning of the semester, which means that you are not expected (and should not) include all of the work you've completed in the LRO and the course in the selected portfolio. ( Of course just because it doesn't make it into the showcase of your best work, does not mean that it is not essential to your progress in this course. Remember all assignments must be completed to receive a passing grade).
What can I use as Evidence?
First and second submissions of essay and project assignments, workshop materials, wiki postings, e-mails to instructor or peers (about the class), comments you made to peers,comments you received from peers or me, class-related IM transcripts, observations-- all of these documents and any other written materials are eligible to be part of your work samples.
Examples
These sample LRO portfolios come from the semester I was teaching literature. Note that they did their LRO mid-terms earlier in the semester and so they did not have as wide a variety of work samples to choose from (i.e., they draw mostly from their observations as evidence). This semester, I made it so that we are doing mid-term portfolios after you have done Essay 1.1 and 1.2 and submitted your logo and the second submission of your professional website, so you will have a wider variety of work to include as evidence.
Also note, because this was a different course, their course strands were different. Consequently, make sure you follow our course strands when you do your portfolio. Download the attachments: sample midterm 1 and sample midterm 2 to see A level work. You can find more information about the midterm LRO by going to the LRO information site (note: do not use the samples on the site as guides for exemplary work--notice the student is doing C- level work and the B portions do not include evidence to support the claims the student is making). You might also want to take the guided tour for students (best viewed with Microsoft Explorer). It is vital that your LRO not be late, because we will be doing in-class moderations. This is one day you really cannot miss.
Tips
The portfolio is "selected," which means you should only include your best work. You do not need to include all of your observations, only the ones that will help you make a persuasive case. You do not need to include all of your work samples, only the ones that will help support your argument.
It is a good idea to treat evidence in your LR as you would evidence in any other essay. You should quote directly from the materials, and explain and interpret how the evidence you've selected supports the claim you're making about your learning and progress. To that end, it is important that you draw from a wide variety of evidence (not just observations or wiki postings).
It is a good idea to choose an organizing structure. Some students choose to organize by dimensions of learning, others use the course strands as their main criteria. You must talk about both within the course of the essay, but how you choose to organize is up to you.
I do not assign relative percentages to assignments, but you may consider "weighting" things in your argument. You may consult the course policies page for guidance.
You may want to take a version of your mid-term to the Center for Communication Practices before submitting it for evaluation.