BY NIA NGINA MEEKS
Staff Writer for the Virginian-Pilot
|
Portfolio Seminar
Virginia Wesleyan College re-examined its liberal arts curriculum. After bouncing ideas off students, parents and faculty, the college came up with the pilot Portfolio seminar. Its objectives:
|
VIRGINIA BEACH - Amorita Randall came to Virginia Wesleyan College because she wants to become an ambassador someday. But first, she'll have to learn about fish.
Randall is one of 24 students enrolled in Portfolio, a program that mixes specialized classes, internships and field trips to help students balance their dreams with reality.
One such trip found Randall and her classmates at the Virginia Marine Science Museum, where they learned about grades of sand and the softness of sting rays. Randall's still not sure how that will help her negotiate between nations.
"It's weird, but we've done a lot of weird stuff lately," the 19-year-old Florida freshman said. "But who knows? Maybe one of these days I'll use it."
If nothing else, learning about the waterways leads to learning about water life and then to those who earn a living on the water. That equals broader thinking, which Portfolio is meant to stimulate, seminar director Lawrence D. Hultgren said.
Many students stumble to find their interests and themselves during their college career, Hultgren said. Some don't take internships until senior year, limiting their "real world" experience.
Hultgren talked with a variety of colleagues, from psychology professors to religious studies experts, about better structuring the liberal arts experience so that students would better understand their strengths and how to apply them to a broad range of careers.
Hence, Portfolio.
Over the course of four years, students will learn critical think-ing, conflict resolution and how to put their degrees to work. Study abroad is encouraged.
Students will build and maintain a multimedia journal on the World Wide Web as a part of their grade, too. It will detail their trek to a degree and serve as their "portfolio."
"If this works, it's really going to make students a lot more responsible for their own learning," Hultgren said.
Portfolio is not a major, but a set of enrichment courses. The only class the seminar substitutes for is freshman orientation.
The inaugural Portfolio class is composed of students with solid academic skills, leadership and community service backgrounds.
Crystal Daggs is one of those students. The 17-year-old Houston native came to study political science and international business.
"On the short term, I want to work in New York or D.C. in business," Daggs said. "On the long term, I want to be vice president of the United States."
In the meantime, she needs to understand as much as she can about herself, and become comfortable with her strengths and her weaknesses.
The Portfolio setting will allow her to mull such revelations in a structured way, Rita Frank said. She's an associate psychology professor and a Portfolio staffer.
"The fact that they are doing this exploration makes it a legitimate thing, rather than, 'Boy, look at me, I don't know what I'm doing,'" Frank said.
Along with learning about themselves, students learn about others. They use field trips to bridge theory with real life. A Portfolio student may volunteer at a homeless shelter, then read "Oliver Twist" to gain a deeper appreciation for the human condition, for example. This sort of approach to education is what made Cheryl Cummings comfortable sending her daughter from their home in Buffalo, N.Y, for school. She thought it was an environment in which Melissa, an Advanced Placement student, would thrive.
"There are some people who work perfectly sitting in the classroom doing classwork," Cummings said. "She cannot just walk into college and take English 101. She's above that and used to doing much more. I think this program perfectly fit my daughter's needs."
It's too early to tell whether the Portfolio approach will remain a separate entity or a roadmap for revamping Virginia Wesleyan's curriculum. But the short-term benefits are evident, Portfolio professor Craig Wansink said.
"I do think some of us have seen exciting ways of energizing our teaching," said Wansink, a sixth-year professor of religious studies. "It's one of the best examples in interdisciplinary team teaching."
And if all goes well, Amorita Randall will have a choice of career fields, just in case the ambassador thing doesn't work out.
Article from the Hampton Roads section of the Virginian-Pilot, Friday, October 2, 1998