Group workshop ideas to help you with the portfolio.

One group has written me to let me know they plan to meet to workshop the portfolio, and I wrote them some advice on activities groups have found helpful in such workshops in the past. Notice this isn't an assignment, it's meant to help your groups with discovering what make a good claim to include in the portfolio and how to use evidence from your work this semester to back up these claims.

Here's an edited copy of my email:

Here are two group workshop ideas students have found helpful in the past. I use them in my non-distant learning courses, and you can easily adapt them to work with a group google doc or in a group meeting:

1. Each member of the group writes five claims they plan to make in their cover letter. From these five claims, each student picks one to present to the group which they consider the most effective. After the claims are presented, the group decides as a whole which two claims are the most effective and which two are the most well stated. They then discuss what aspects of the claims make them effective and well stated.

The activity is designed to allow the group to come to an understanding of what constitutes an effective claim and how to state their own claims in the most effective way.

Also think of sharing your list of claims to prompt ideas within the group.

2. One at a time, each group member presents a claim they plan to include in the portfolio. The member also presents the evidence from their work this semester they plan to use to back up the claim. The group then brainstorms ideas for additional examples and evidence which could be used to help prove the author's claim about what they have learned. As part of this discussion, try to decide the best set of evidence to help support each claim. Limit your choice of evidence to that allowed in the portfolio assignment.

Notice this activity helps authors in two ways: 1) it helps them learn to think about how to use evidence to back up claims made about their learning and/or performance in the course; and, 2) it helps authors by giving them additional examples of claims and evidence others are thinking of using.

As always, write with any questions.

Steve