Becky Francoeur

FIGs make the UW seem smaller

"It's no secret that the UW is a big place--it's a city within a city with thousands of classes to choose from and countless opportunities." So reads the introduction to the Freshman Interest Groups (FIGs) home page. To help make the UW seem smaller and more welcoming, Freshman Interest Groups (FIGs) offer prepackaged clusters of courses, simplifying the registration process and allowing freshmen to meet other students with similar interests. FIGs have been around for over fifteen years, and approximately 70% of entering freshman participate.

All FIG students take General Studies 199, a course designed to help them make the most out of their time at the UW, with the goals of reflecting upon personal experiences, learning what to expect at the UW, and planning for the future. In this course, they take excursions to explore different aspects of the University and community. For example, for the arts excursion, they may attend a play, go to an art gallery, or attend a literary performance. The course is taught by FIG Leaders who are experienced undergraduates.

FIGs use Portfolio to standardize student work

The program decided to use Catalyst Portfolios because they wanted a project where all students would have a similar finished product which could last beyond the quarter. They wanted to be able to edit, view, download their assignments and look at each other's work--all tasks easily done using online portfolios. Online portfolios also teach students how to present themselves to an audience and publish materials on the Web.

Becky Francoeur, the FIG Program Coordinator, likes being able to have a "solid foundation to build curriculum off of" with all students completing the same assignment. Francoer helped create a Portfolio Project template which prompts students to write about their experiences and reminds them that their finished product will be published for an audience. To access the Portfolio Project, the students simply click on a URL and download it. At the end of the quarter they publish their work. FIG Leaders post the URLs of the portfolios on their Web site to allow the students to review each other's work and share ideas.

Teaching thousands to use technology

How have a couple of staff members taught over 10,000 undergraduates how to create online portfolios? In the spring, they teach around 200 FIG Leaders how to create their own portfolios. The FIG Leaders' online portfolios are then used to introduce themselves to their students and to show a model of the caliber of work expected. The FIG Leaders then each train 25 Freshmen how to use the Portfolio tool. The leaders may demonstrate the process while showing screen shots, reserve a computer lab and have the students actually work on a Portfolio, or hold office hours in a computing commons so students can get extra help using the technology. This model has been effective for teaching thousands of students how to create online portfolios.

Some students have found online portfolios to be so worthwhile, that they continue adding to their portfolio throughout their university career, potentially using it to apply to jobs or graduate schools.