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AMST 200 Description: Orientation to the major in American Studies, emphasizing the creation of an electronic portfolio documenting intellectual and professional development through written and multimedia projects, internships and service-learning experiences. This project developed at the convergence of a departmental initiative to improve the way we assess our teaching and mentoring undergraduates and a personal exploration of integrative learning. The electronic portfolio was originally proposed in 1999-2000 as a way to engage students more directly in planning and rationalizing their own programs, in a major which leaves many choices up to the individual. An on-going student portfolio, we felt, would give students away to map their educational journeys, first for themselves and then for their advisors, parents, potential employers and other interested parties.
Required elements: Reflective essay on academic work to date Learning plan Optional elements: Writing samples Interviews with faculty, graduate students or peers Experiantial/integrative learning plan Explanation of supportive areas
AMST 200 Syllabus
Portfolio Template
Student Portfolios
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AMST 201 Description: Introduction to American cultural studies--past and present--by examining the concept of "self" in American autobiographical writing and the concept of "society" in accounts of various communities. Required elements: Introduction Reflective essay on research project Reflective essay on intercultural learning experience Identity and community essay Conclusion
AMST 201 Portfolios
AMST 201 Syllabus
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Why use student portfolios? I use electronic portfolios in my courses for several reasons. First, American Studies is intended to cultivate "a connecting frame of mind", and the web-based portfolio allows students to represent what they have learned in a non-linear format that encourages this habit of connection. Second, electronic portfolios make students learning visible not only to the student and the teacher, but to the entire class. This enhances learning by introducing additional sites for connections and giving the student a real audience for his or her writing. Finally, the portfolio format makes it easier for students to observe, track and reflect on their own learning process over the course of the semester. Learn more about e-portfolios in Higher Education!
ePortfolio (Indiana U Purdue U Indianapolis)
Educause/NCII Electronic Portfolio Site
The site serves as a gateway to the National Learning Infrastructure Initiative's work on electronic portfolio, including key research and analysis questions, projects, resources and readings.
Open Source Portfolio Initiative (OSPI)
The Open Source Portfolio Initiative (OSPI) is a community of individuals and organizations collaborating on the development of the leading non-proprietary, open source electronic portfolio software available.
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AMST 498J Description: What is the impact of popular culture on American youth today? Does it help or hinder the development of literacy skills? What popular culture is meaningful to a given population of American teenagers? This course will engage students in these and similar questions through an innovative combination of popular culture research and service-learning, taught in part on campus and in part at a local high school. Students actively investigate the popular culture consumed (and produced) by today's youth, who are often our teachers in this endeavor. Approximately one third of the class time is devoted to independent research, analysis and discussion of popular culture "texts". The other two thirds of the class time is spent engaging in tutoring and other activities with the high school students. The class is taught in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club Northwestern High School Branch in Hyattsville, Maryland. Required elements: Selected journal entries "My Beat" (independent research) Reflective essays.
Northwestern High School
Boys and Girls Club (NHS Branch)
AMST 498J Portfolios
AMST 498J Syllabus
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