RE: Portfolio Assessment

Clay Spinuzzi (spinuzzi who-is-at iastate.edu)
Sat, 27 Feb 1999 22:59:46 -0600

At 03:27 PM 2/27/99 -0500, Eugene wrote:

>Thanks for sharing your research about artistic portfolio. I found
>interesting that you talk about collaboration between artist and prospective
>clients. There are at least two interesting aspects: artist participation
>in negotiation of meaning of portfolio and discursive character of
>negotiation. This is very different from practice of use of portfolio in
>schools. Students are not often involved in helping other stakeholders
>making sense of their work. Also they don't have "the last say" on what
>will be in portfolio. Artistic portfolio represents artist's best work from
>the artist's point of view, right. Not so for student's portfolio.

I think it depends on the discipline and the type of portfolio. My wife is
finishing her degree in graphic design. Like the graphic designers Bonnie
is studying, student graphic designers are encouraged to collect,
cyclically improve, and present their portfolios at various opportunities
-- to peers, teachers, outside reviewers (both in academia and the
workplace), and potential employers.

These portfolios embody the designers' design philosophy, chosen media,
approaches, etc.; they aren't used to simply *assess/critique* the
designers, but to collaboratively decide whether the employer and project
are a good match for the designer's skills (i.e. a good use of her time).
For unskilled assessors (clients), the designer may have to point out what
the pieces in the portfolio mean; skilled critics (peers, teachers, other
graphic designers), on the other hand, usually can interpret the designer's
intent and make useful suggestions relevant to the philosophy and approach.

Similarly, in some programs, technical communication students assemble
portfolios of their work -- partly because some tech comm graduates show
their portfolios to prospective clients. However, the tradition of
portfolio critiques has not (yet) taken root nearly as deeply in this
discipline, either in the curriculum or in the workplace.

Now, is this the same type of portfolio assessment as the class-by-class
assessments Eugene was originally discussing? If not, how can we apply it?

=============
Clay Spinuzzi
spinuzzi who-is-at iastate.edu
Iowa State University
206 Ross Hall
Ames, IA 50011
(515) 294-9325
www.public.iastate.edu/~spinuzzi