I am a sucker for portfolios - I mark them for the AUA as well as for
'academics'. However, I do note that they tend to get marked at the last
minute (or later if I confuse my dates). I would like to think that this
is a product of clearing my mind (I sit on the setteee to read them -
might as well be comfortable) rather than 'putting it off'. I gueess that
this is personality-driven and those who are late at any form of marking
will be late at marking portfolios.
Howveer, there are some deeper questions lurking there and I like Liz's
suggestion of an oral examination on a portfolio. My own experience has
been that they are mostly misguided and even where there is a word limit
to counter the 'wheelbarrow-load' approach, people still put in the most
remarkable collection of items. I recently replicated parts of Mantz
Yorke and David Baume's analysis of portfolio marks and found them quite
consistent - there is a reservation there but you will have to wait for
the paper to come out!
The other intriguing factor is the extent that portfolios are use for
personnel decisions - this is creeping up more so elsewhere than in the
UK.
I don't regard portfolios as any more or any less valid or reliable but
they do have to be approached with the same diligence as any other form of
assessment.
Bland
--
Bland Tomkinson
University Adviser on Pedagogic Development
PO Box 88
Manchester M60 1 QD
Telephone (0)161 306 3531
Fax (0)161 306 4863
http://www.manchester.ac.uk/pdo/meet/bland
Any views expressed in this email are personal to me and not necessarily
those of the university.
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