Graduation Portfolio Guidelines
Because New Century College values active and self-reflective learning,
graduating students are required to construct portfolios to demonstrate
achievement in NCC competency areas and to engage in self-reflection
and self-evaluation. Components of the portfolio include commentary,
self-assessment, and carefully chosen samples of work completed during
your college experience. The primary focus of the portfolio is your
academic work, but, in consultation with your capstone instructor, you
may possibly include some material you have created in a work setting
or community organization. Content of individual portfolios will vary,
but these guidelines should help you create an effective representation
of your learning. Faculty hope the portfolio process gives you a meaningful
way to reflect on and further integrate your learning experiences. In
turn, we look forward to learning from your work.
Audience: The primary audience for your portfolio will
be one or more faculty members who review and evaluate your materials.
When you submit your portfolio, you will select a faculty reviewer and
sign up for a review appointment. Your reviewer will evaluate your portfolio
and meet with you to discuss your work. If your portfolio is satisfactory,
s/he will tell you at this time. In the event portions of the work are
incomplete or require revision, your reviewer will discuss with you
what needs to be done and set up a second review. (In addition, some
portfolios may also be copied and read for program assessment purposes
by University assessment staff or others with expertise in assessment
issues.)
Please read through this assignment in its entirety before beginning
work on your portfolio. Note that you have some options in deciding
which of the nine NCC competencies (critical thinking, communication,
problem solving, global perspective, group interaction, valuing, effective
citizenship, aesthetic judgement, and information technology) you emphasize
and place in particular sections. However, you need to include some
discussion of all nine competencies in the portfolio.
Throughout the portfolio your purpose is to provide evidence about
your academic experience. In commentary sections, please include detail
to support your points. Please refer to specific experiences and to
texts (for example, books, essays, articles, films, performances, lecture
notes, etc.). When you make textual reference, cite sources parenthetically
in correct format (e.g., APA or MLA) and list in the bibliography in
Section VII. The most important evidence you will provide in your portfolio
is the examples of your work that you will include. Please assist your
reviewer in better understanding these samples by including information
about the assignment for which you created a particular product. In
general, the purpose of the portfolio is to demonstrate your highest
level of achievement in a competency area; however, you might in some
instances choose one example from early in your academic career along
with a more recent example in order to demonstrate your progress.
Please include the sections detailed below.
I. Title page and table of contents
II. List of courses taken
III. Essay: You as a learner
IV. Discuss 4 NCC competencies
V. Creative dimension: Thinking outside the box
VI. Experiential learning
VII. Bibliography
VIII. Future directions
IX. Postscript
I. Title page and Annotated Table of Contents.
The title page should include your name, concentration, email address(es)
and date of submission. The Table of Contents should communicate careful
and logical organization and enable readers to find materials easily.
Annotations should provide brief information about each section to help
readers preview the contents. Note: it is very important for your reviewer
to locate easily your discussions of each of the nine NCC competencies
from the Table of Contents.
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II. List of all courses you have taken/are currently
taking.
Please include credit hours for each. In the case of independent study
and experiential learning, add a phrase to communicate the nature of
the course. You do not need to include grades.
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III. Essay: You as a learner.
In essay format, using specific details and with reference to a variety
of texts and experiences, you are asked to examine your educational
experience as a college student and to create a meaningful statement
of your learning. In particular you are asked to discuss how your learning
is integrative and to discuss work in your concentration. In considering
how to organize your writing, there are two general options. You may
want to write one integrated essay or you may choose to organize your
work in two parts, one focusing on your concentration, and the other
on the larger picture of your overall learning experience. Whichever
option you choose, you are asked to think in complex ways, write analytically,
and support your claims with specific evidence. (You may also want to
include samples of course work as evidence here. If so, please make
it clear why you have chosen these examples and what they demonstrate.)
The writing in this section should equal a minimum of 12 pages (please
include texts you reference in your bibliography in Section VII). Please
support your points with specific examples. As a writer, your goal in
this central component should be to integrate ideas and experiences
in such a way that you understand and appreciate better what you have
learned while also creating an interesting picture of your experience
for your reader(s).
In this section you need to address these questions: (1) how have
you developed as a learner/thinker; (2) what is your concentration and
what have you learned in this area; and (3) how has your experience
been integrative.
Questions you might consider regarding your development as a learner/thinker:
Why did you choose New Century College?
How would you describe your learning processes and how did they develop
over your college career?
How did group collaboration enrich or affect your learning?
What learning experiences have been particularly rich and significant
and why?
In which competency areas have you experienced the most growth and
why?
Questions you might consider regarding how your education has been
integrative:
What connections or contrasts have you found among and between ideas
and experiences in your learning communities, courses, and experiential
learning, etc.?
What are some of the multiple perspectives embodied in or across
courses you have taken (including, for example, those arising from
differences in disciplines, culture, gender, values, etc.)?
What do you see as the value of and challenges to the integration
of knowledge?
How do the competencies relate to the integrative process?
Questions you might consider regarding your concentration:
Why did you choose this concentration?
What are the major issues, questions, concepts, theories, and skills
this concentration involves?
How/why are knowledge and practice changing in this field?
What might have strengthened your learning even more?
How has your experience prepared you to deal with ethical issues
in your field?
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IV. Discuss 4 NCC competencies pertinent to your
concentration and/or experience.
Because collaborative learning is central to the philosophy of New
Century College, you are asked to include group interaction in this
section. In addition, you are asked to select 3 other competencies that
are especially important to you. Demonstrate your work in each of these
four areas by (1) discussing each competency and (2) including at least
3 samples of work for each. Please organize your work for each competency
in the following way: (a) define the competency, using the NCC definition
as a basis and enlarging the definition to explain what it means to
you; (b) explain how the competency is relevant your concentration or
experience; (c) discuss some of the specific skills and abilities that
make up this competency; (d) evaluate your work in this area, identifying
areas of strength and need for improvement; and (e) discuss each sample
of work you have chosen. Provide brief information about the assignment
or context for which you created this work and say how each of the examples
demonstrates your achievement in the competency. The discussion and
self-evaluation should be a minimum of 3 pages for each competency in
this section.
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V. Creative dimension: "thinking outside the box."
Choose a competency not previously illustrated in the portfolio and
make it the focus of this section. Discuss the competency following
the process described in the section above and create a new product
to illustrate achievement in a competency area. Try to avoid relying
on the kinds of work you normally do in the courses you take. For example,
if you want to use writing to demonstrate this competency, you might
write in a genre different from those you generally use or you might
create a brochure for a non-profit organization. If photography is an
interest or hobby, as opposed to being a medium you use as part of your
coursework, you might take a series of photographs to illustrate some
aspect of your achievement in one of the NCC competencies.
This section should include (a) an introduction of 3 or more pages
in which you discuss the competency, explain the work that follows and
evaluate your strengths and weaknesses in this area, and (b) the product
you have created specifically for this section. Keep in mind that the
product you create should be appropriate to a graduation portfolio (for
example, it should look reasonably "professional").
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VI. Experiential learning.
In an essay of at least three pages, describe your experiential learning.
Keep in mind that academic credit is given "for the learning, not for
the experience."
Questions you might consider:
What was most vital to you in each experiential learning experience?
What were the most important lessons you learned and why?
How has experiential learning related to or enriched your work in
learning communities and courses?
What advice would you give others regarding getting the greatest
benefit from experiential learning?
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VII. Bibliography.
In your essays, you will need to refer specifically to sources such
as books, journal articles, lecture notes, etc. Please be sure to cite
these in appropriate format (e.g., APA or MLA) and to include the references
in this section. (See, for example, Hacker's A Writer's Reference.)
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VIII. Future directions.
This section should include the following components: (1) a statement
of approximately 2-3 paragraphs explaining your degree program in integrative
studies. This statement (which may be developed with suggestions from
your advisor, mentor, capstone instructor or Career Services consultant)
should provide information about what integrative studies means in the
context of your specific concentration and experience. Potential audiences
might include employers or graduate admissions officials. (2) Your updated
resume, carefully written and designed, accompanied by a brief statement
explaining the target audience for which you have shaped this particular
version of your resume. (3) Statement of career and personal goals as
you see them currently. (4) Future learning in a competency area. Because
NCC emphasizes life-long learning, you are asked to select a competency
in which you feel your achievement is not as strong as you would like
and to consider how you might develop skills in this area in the future.
Please begin by discussing the competency and articulate specific steps
you can take to become more competent in this area. This section should
also include one sample of previously completed work demonstrating awareness
of this competency, and your discussion should include a self-evaluation
of this sample.
Questions you might consider:
What are some of your learning goals, short-term and longer-term?
What are your current goals for graduate school or career?
What are some personal goals (for example, goals connected to travel
or to competencies such as effective citizenship, global perspective
or valuing)?
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IX. Postscript.
When you have finished choosing and organizing your materials and
writing the accompanying self-evaluation and analysis, please write
a postscript of two or more pages in which you discuss the process of
creating your portfolio.
Questions you might consider:
What was most surprising to you about the process? à What was hard/easy?
What did you learn in the process?
What is one thing you would not change about NCC/your experience?
What is one suggestion you have for improving NCC/your concentration?
Note: Students enrolled in capstone in 2001 have the option of choosing
to follow the 2001 Graduation Portfolio Requirements or the 2002 Requirements.
For useful information about writing for portfolios and other assignments,
see the NCC
On-line Writing Guide.
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