| Description: |
Thinking becomes clearer as we express it. We talk to someone, make notes, create sketches, make models. All these externalizations are our attempts to take our often vague and hazy early ideas out of our heads and make them explicit. These expressions are helpful in allowing others to see what we mean, but their main value is in helping us to see our own ideas. To feel, see, hear, measure, taste and smell them. These externalizations of learners’ thinking are traditionally captured in portfolios. But what are they – and what are they for – and how do they ‘work’? Portfolios have many purposes, but at its best a portfolio is a conversation of the student with him/herself. Maybe I’ll do that … it might be better if … I wonder if … how might I … ? For faculty, students’ portfolios are our means of access into the thinking process that the students are experiencing. If for no other reason, this is why portfolios have become such critical elements in assessing students’ performance. |