Conclusion

Conclusion

This proposal uses what we have learned through our previous attempts at writing assessment but builds on those earlier efforts:

• The portfolio will include the assignment for each paper, so that readers have an idea of what the student is trying to accomplish with each piece of writing;

• The portfolio will include samples of writing from various genres, so that readers will have more evidence to support their claims about student writing;

• The portfolio will reveal how students are learning about disciplines and interdisciplinarity—the way they are writing in different disciplines, combining the methods of different disciplines, using quantitative reasoning, or writing in different genres;

• Students will choose which papers to include in their portfolio, a feature likely to improve their engagement in the project;

• Students will include in the portfolio samples of revision in order to demonstrate their ability to integrate feedback;

• By including reflection on their work, students will provide an informative context for the readers;

• The honorarium will increase the likelihood of compliance;

• The project will provide a useful triangulation of the data revealed by our continuing quantitative assessment. And, by providing glimpses of the rich context in which students write, the project will give us material that will help us improve our teaching.  That is, it offers the tantalizing prospect of helping us understand more clearly the specific impact our teaching has on the writing skills of our students.