The Portfolio Project was conducted to promote lifelong, self-directed learning in the workplace. The project, which offered courses on basic skills, supervisory communications, and English as a second language, was initiated as a literacy demonstration project by the Casco Bay Partnership (CBP), which brought together government, educators, and several local businesses in Portland, Maine. The project was based on a portfolio process with four goals: authoring one’s learning; documenting the evidence of learning and development; fostering reflective learning; and assessing one’s own learning. After a review of the literature on portfolios, a portfolio process tailored to the workplace was developed. It was based on the following principles: make goals explicit for students; keep samples of student work; provide students with a folder or a notebook; build on routines already in place; be persistent in engaging students in reflection; conduct end-of-course portfolio presentations; and set new goals. Case studies of the process in use at three worksites (a producer of wood-boring tools, a manufacturing plant, and a food processing plant) confirmed the effectiveness of portfolios as a means of encouraging professional growth and development in the workplace. In the case studies, portfolios proved to be effective tools for both assessment and development. (MN) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document.
Portfolio: A Tool for Self-directed Learning at Work Nona Lyons University of Southern Maine and Linda Evans Casco Bay Partnership for Workplace Education Presented at Self-directed Learning: Past and Future Montreal Symposium September 1997 o ffUcSo f D EEuPcAtRioTMl ENT se aOrF h EnDd improvement ED ATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION , CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy.
