The name, Wing Portfolio Project, traces its origin in 1994 from its start in a residence wing of then newly constructed Woodland Hall. The structure of the project follows that established by Miami University in the 1980s.
Where the portfolios come from
Wing portfolios are drawn annually from student volunteers, roughly half in a randomly selected wing of a residence hall and the rest during the big raffle at the end of New Student Orientation. Approximately 100 students volunteer in each class, some 60 of which hand in portfolios the first semester and about 50 of which actually stick with the project from year to year. Each semester, participating students are given new accordian file folders, one for each class they are taking. The project is constructed around a six year "pulse" from 1994 to 2000 and will follow these students until they graduate. When fully subscribed, the project consists of 250-300 portfolios.
Contents of the portfolios
Student volunteers sign a contract and promise to supply at the end of each semester the following five items:
In return for handing in the above items, each student receives an article of University logo clothing: first semester sweatshirt, second semester t-shirt, third semester sweat pants, fourth semester polo shirt, and so on. At the end of the graduation semester and for their loyalty in staying with the program, each student receives a full varsity-style jacket and "the keys to the Buick" (it's a real ignition key to a real Buick (!!) owned by an assessment "friend" on campus---but the students don't know who the friend is or what the car looks like). Through a volume arrangement with the University bookstore, total cost of this project each year is about $4000.
- A syllabus for each class the student takes
- All exams taken and handed back
- All papers written and handed back
- A survey of student attitude or some other subject of interest
- A study log or an essay on a selected topic (e.g., What were your expectations of college when you arrived and how has SIUE either confirmed or changed those expectations?)
Portfolios, the law, and confidentiality
University counsel has confirmed through case law that item #1 is work for hire, item #2, while intellectually the property of a professor, is physically the property of the student, and item #3 is both intellectually and physically the property of the student. Thus, there is no violation of academic freedom in acquiring these items, which are given by the student to the Assessment office at the end of Final Exam Week. During the next month, the Assessment office photocopies the items, returns the originals to the students, and stores the copies in 4-inch binders. All uses of Wing Portfolios respect the privacy of professors and students. No personal identification is ever allowed; results are released only in the aggregate.
Uses of the portfolios
What kinds of questions does this resource permit us to ask? Listed below in increasing order of complexity are some of the questions we have asked from the Wing Portfolios:
- How many professors list their office hours and phone numbers on the syllabus? (An undergraduate assistant can simply make a count on the syllabi.)
- How many writing assignments does the typical second-semester sophomore write? (An undergraduate assistant can simply make a count on the syllabi.)
- What kinds of writing assignments does the typical junior face? (A graduate assistant can examine syllabi and actual writing assignments to classify them into categories such as analytical, comparison-contrast, reaction to a text, creative, journal, etc. This investigation remains important because of an apparent discontinuity between what Freshman English was teaching and what the major disciplines expected. Freshman English contains a focus on "voice," a concept that is recognized as important among composition instructors but is largely lost on professors in the disciplines, who are unaware of the concept. Assessment has made this discontinuity visible and, through dialogue, is starting to improve the connection between what Freshman English produces and what the academic disciplines expect.
- Are there recognizable differences between, say, freshman and senior writing? (A graduate assistant can put a random sample of coded freshman and senior papers into a pile and professors or other graduate assistants can unscramble the pile. The Assessment office can apply statistics to the accuracy with which this is done and draw conclusions about answering the question above.)
- What significant differences exist in writing from first to final year and how does SIUE contribute to maturation in student writing? (This is truly a scholarly question that requires a scholarly investigation to answer it. In 2000, two or three SIUE professors will receive fellowships and be given access to the Wing Portfolio library in order to study this question. A fraction of the fellowship money will be given to them as they each embark upon the study. The remainder will be given when s/he presents a finished manuscript, suitable for peer review, in a stamped envelope addressed to a scholarly journal.)
Benefits
Multiple uses of Wing Portfolios yield results at several levels. First, of course, are the observations themselves about student learning. Our university improves as we learn more about ourselves. Second is the generation of campus discussion over data rather than anecdote. Our university improves as we bring to visibility those things that we care about. Third is engagement of faculty scholarship and the emphasis on peer review. Our university improves as we invite others to examine what we do.
Of all the assessment activities at SIUE, I view the Wing Portfolio Project the single, most cost-effective activity we do.
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