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Examples of Assessment by Institution |
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Spelman College recently expanded its longstanding First Year Writing Portfolio into a multimedia documentation of student achievement – the Spelman Electronic Portfolio (SpEl.Folio). SpEl.Folio develops students' ability to think critically about the connections among their intellectual, professional, and personal lives. Each student creates a dynamic web-based composition representing her diverse goals, achievements, and reflections. In this way, students construct and demonstrate their development as lifelong learners. SpEl.Folios enable assessment on multiple levels: self-assessment by students, course and major-based assessment, and institutional assessment of designated learning objectives.
Imbedded initially in the First Year Experience, the SpEl.Folio includes samples of writing from first year classes, as well as from prompts developed by the Comprehensive Writing Program. Portfolio scoring is done by a jury of trained readers from across various departments at Spelman, as well as expert readers from other schools including Emory University. Each portfolio is read by at least two jury members and is assigned an evaluation of "Exemplary," "Pass" or "Resubmit." An assessment of "Resubmit" means that the author will need additional support in one or more area(s) in order to be prepared for her upper-level writing and critical-thinking work. Each student whose Writing Portfolio receives an assessment of "Resubmit" also receives information designed especially for her, specifying workshops to attend and at least one visit to a Writing Center tutor.
Planning is underway for SpEl.Folio assessments of other learning outcomes, including those from the core curriculum and within the major. Each department is developing capstone demonstrations of student learning (often a senior thesis) that will become part of the student's portfolio.
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Spelman College |
