Creating her Sense of Self:Integrative Learning, ePortfolio, and Feminist Advising

Rebecca ReynoldsAssistant DeanDirector of Pathway AdvisingDouglass Residential College

Intro: Douglass Residential College

•founded 1918 as New Jersey College for women, became “residential college” in 2007;•approximately 1600 current students who are also enrolled in Rutgers’ undergraduate schools

Geographic:13.3% out of state and international

Ethnic:

Enrollment figures, Douglass Residential College, Entering class, 2009 (geographic and racial/ethnic)

22%

18%

21%

39%

AfricanAmerican/Black

Asian

Latina

White

Requirements• First year students take course, “Knowledge

and Power: Issues in Women’s Leadership” through WGS

• Externship (mini-internships with alumnae in variety of professional fields)

• ePortfolio, with evidence of students academic and co-curricular pathways

• Minimum 1-year residency on campus (with exception of commuter students)

Pathways • integrative curricular model: students can choose among themed clusters of academic work and co-curricular programs, e.g., “global Issues,” “leadership,” “arts and creativity,” “research and honors,” “STEM,” “business,” or “self-designed”;

• pathways are voluntary, but serve as guidelines, encouraging students to integrate classroom work with non-classroom experiences;

•Douglass advisors encourage students to explore & connect non-classroom opportunities to major or minor focus

Evolution of ePortfolio: how we started • Launched in 2008, the

ePortfolio would serve as a professional development tool, a web showcase for students’ achievements

• Modeled on Douglass’s educational pathways: eP would reflect integration of academic and co-curricular experience over course of college career

From first to second year of ePortfolio implementation

• 2008-2009: training and surveys, emphasized use of eP as professional tool (“resume on steroids”); • 2009-2010: developed more dynamic site, added templates, emphasized creativity to encourage use;• 2010 – 2011 needs: critical assessment tool for students, advisors, and “Knowledge & Power” instructors; partnering with library’s new media center for series of instructional workshops (piloting with three sections of “Knowledge and Power.”) Developing more structured assignment.

• https://sakai.rutgers.edu/portal

• https://sakai.rutgers.edu/portal/site/18bdcbb8-3b18-4d1c-92de-5cd110641079/page/b07e5a2d-c1df-4ac5-a8d8-77099fbab5d6

• e-Portfolio reflects pathway model: “My Path” page and matrix

Advising Women: first year students

“I believe that laughter is the best calorie burner and that glitter can make anything look better. Ballet is a sport, politics is an automatic headache, and ice-cream should always be served at dinner. I think that knowing all of the words to a song is overrated and that improvisation is best. Sometimes I smile for no reason and I am a strong believer that the color pink can solve any problem . . .

. . . I believe that college is going to bring me one step closer to saving the world, and that I will overcome any obstacle put in my path. I dream of going into medicine because helping others has always been what makes me happy. . . Over the course of these next four years at R.U, I plan on growing intellectually and reaching outside of my comfort zone. I am determined to be a valid candidate for medical school and will work to the best of my ability to be just that.”First year student, ePortfolio “About Me”

Y. Aguilera, https://sakai.rutgers.edu/portal/tool/833f7f18-f7ca-4543-bebf-a5502666ab44/viewPresentation.osp?id=A6E55EC7D44A5FDD36A27EAA86F180D7&page=myPathway&subPage=0

We live in a society where it is still easier for women to gain approval and attention for their bodies and physical attributes than for the quality of their minds. Cultural and historical definitions of femininity reinforce this message. Lists of traditional feminine stereotypes read like recipes for Western anti-intellectualism (Gallos, 1982). We send modern women mixed messages: ignore the stereotypes but remain feminine . . .

Gallos, Joan V. "Gender and silence." College Teaching 43.3 (1995): 101. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 25 Apr. 2010.

Frameworks

. . . Women have been asked to learn the experience of men and accept it as representative of all human experience. (e.g., Kohlberg 1981; Vaillant 1977).

Gallos

Societal conceptions of knowledge, learning, and individual development are androcentric. Men have historically been the "fact-makers," in Hubbard's terms (1988). They have designed and conducted the research, served as research subjects, proposed the theories, written the histories, defined the procedures for science and instruction, established standards, controlled access to institutions, and set the public policies.

Some of the core principles of feminist pedagogy include:

• recognition that social inequalities exist in society;• empowerment of the student;• a “reformation” of the professor-student relationship so that all individuals both share and acquire knowledge;• privileging the individual voice, and;• the respect and valuation of diverse personal experiences.

Durfee, Alesha and Rosenberg, Karen. “Teaching Sensitive Issues: Feminist Pedagogy and the Practice of Advocacy Based Counseling.” Feminist Teacher 19 (2009): 103-121.

The Possibility of Feminist Advising

Feminist Education• . . . Values experiences as sources of

knowing• . . . Values disciplinary and

interdisciplinary knowledge• . . . Recognizes the effect that

gender or other identity characteristics have on educational processes and outcomes;

• . . . Recognizes and draws attention to the role of education in social change

Ropers-Huilman, Becky, and Palmer, Betsy. "Feminist and Civic Education." Most College Students are Women. Ed. Jeanie K. Allen, Diane R. Dean, Susan J. Bracken. Sterling, Virginia: Stylus, 2008.

Skyla

Reflection: Experience as Evidence. . . The learner is situated

at the center of her own learning process as an interpreter of experience as well as the agent of future actions . . .

Taylor, Kathleen and Marienau, Catherine. “Efffective Practices in Fostering Developmental Growth in Women Learners: A View from Neurophysiology.” Jeanie K. Allen, Diane R. Dean, Susan J. Bracken (Eds.), Most College Students are Women (pp 29-53). Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, 2008.

Experience is at once always already an interpretation and it is in need of interpretation. What counts as experience is neither self-evident not straightforward; it is always contested, always therefore political.

Scott, Joan. "The Evidence of Experience." Critical Inquiry 17.4 (1991): 773. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 25 Apr. 2010.

Mary, “Mirrors: A Reflection on Identity” https://sakai.rutgers.edu/osp-presentation-tool/viewPresentation.osp?id=C437BE1DE03F24AB7A213AEBA855EC2D&page=aboutMe&subPage=0https://sakai.rutgers.edu/osp-presentation-tool/viewPresentation.osp?id=C437BE1DE03F24AB7A213AEBA855EC2D&page=aboutMe&subPage=0

Vicky, Bunting Student, motherhttps://sakai.rutgers.edu/osp-presentation-tool/viewPresentation.osp?id=741B562BB15BA87A9CE8683E4FE36FA6&page=home&subPage=0

Elaf, identity• https://sakai.rutgers.edu/osp-presentation-tool/viewPresentation.osp?id=34B2

64FE80015145EE9D9C918E7C96FD&page=home&subPage=0

Kae, Integrating interests• https://sakai.rutgers.edu/osp-presentation-tool/viewPresentation.osp?id=52A8

077C28F38FFAA10A72CD3CD13A73&page=home&subPage=0

Douglass Advising Framework•Integrative learning: pathways connect our students’ learning experiences across multiple domains•Self-authorship: students reflect on their own experience (ePortfolio, Mission course, dialogue with advisors)•Feminist principles: power to create knowledge and the power to make decisions resides with student, not the advisor

“In terms of feminist pedagogy, the authority of the feminist teacher [advisor, mentor] as intellectual and theorist finds expression in the goal of making students themselves theorists of their own lives by interrogating and analyzing their own experience”

Weiler, K. "Freire and a feminist pedagogy of difference." Harvard Educational Review 61.4 (1991): 449. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 25 Apr. 2010.

Self-Authorship

Baxter Magolda, Marcia B. “Learning Partnerships: A Gender Inclusive Model for Undergraduate Teaching.” Jeanie K. Allen, Diane R. Dean, Susan J. Bracken (Eds.), Most College Students are Women (pp 29-53). Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, 2008.

central feature of theories of men’s development . . . Refers to separating from others to function as an autonomous individual. . . Self-authorship does not connote the historical emphasis on the individuating, agentic self; instead it reflects an authentic self that is capable of genuine connection to others and the world.

Connection, a central feature of theories of women’s development . . . Refers to the ability to link with others and function in collaborative ways. Autonomy, a

Chinaza Okonkwo

Integrative and Intentional Learning:

In 2003, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) launched a project to promote “integrative learning.”

.

The undergraduate experience can be a fragmented landscape of general education courses, preparation for the major, co-curricular activities, and “the real world” beyond the campus. But an emphasis on integrative learning can help undergraduates put the pieces together and develop habits of mind that prepare them to make informed judgments in the conduct of personal, professional, and civic life.

A Statement on Integrative Learning. 2004. Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/dynamic/downloads/file_1_185.pdf

• Hira• https://sakai.rutgers.edu/osp-presentation-tool/viewPresentation.osp?id=36131A14

4B70E98A941479B1AE303FAF&page=home&subPage=0• Janina• https://sakai.rutgers.edu/osp-presentation-tool/viewPresentation.osp?panel=presen

tation&id=C7BC5F74D2D093DFDB267B420B4E3A29&sakai.tool.placement.id=833f7f18-f7ca-4543-bebf-a5502666ab44

• Chi Chi• https://sakai.rutgers.edu/osp-presentation-tool/viewPresentation.osp?panel=presen

tation&id=C7BC5F74D2D093DFDB267B420B4E3A29&sakai.tool.placement.id=833f7f18-f7ca-4543-bebf-a5502666ab44

• Skyla• https://sakai.rutgers.edu/osp-presentation-tool/viewPresentation.osp?id=B592AD14

ACDF46ADAD9DE7539847D024&page=aboutMe&subPage=0

First Year

• Yolanda• https://sakai.rutgers.edu/portal/tool/833f7f18-f7ca-4543-bebf-a5502666ab44/viewPresentation.osp?i

d=A6E55EC7D44A5FDD36A27EAA86F180D7&page=home&subPage=0• Kae• https://sakai.rutgers.edu/osp-presentation-tool/viewPresentation.osp?id=52A8077C28F38FFAA10A

72CD3CD13A73&page=home&subPage=0• Elaf• https://sakai.rutgers.edu/osp-presentation-tool/viewPresentation.osp?id=34B264FE80015145EE9D9

C918E7C96FD&sakai.tool.placement.id=8833f7f18-f7ca-4543-bebf-a5502666ab44• Rumela• https://sakai.rutgers.edu/osp-presentation-tool/viewPresentation.osp?id=00CCCC076A5B9F14EBA

EC99B15A31A2B&page=home&subPage=0• Mary G• https://sakai.rutgers.edu/osp-presentation-tool/viewPresentation.osp?id=C437BE1DE03F24AB7A21

3AEBA855EC2D&page=home&subPage=0

Artwork by visiting artist and poet, Cecilia Vicuňa (on Rachel’s site)

A quipu [Cecilia Vicuña] is a knot. “A mental quipu” is a mental knot I like that. I like the idea of seeing thought as knots. A thought as a visual image of knowledge is very appealing. . . All the images, idea, memories are somehow all interconnected in each of our heads . . .

The interview is to help me see the life of woman in a career field that I am interested in, and I think of her life as a quipu. Every time I ask a question, her thoughts will be like mine, associating memories and thoughts with the words. She “will...reflect upon [her] experience and choose for [herself] which experiences and feelings are central to [her] sense of [her] past” (Kathryn Anderson 6). I will have her “vocal quality and body language, not through words alone” to piece together her life. (Kathryn Anderson 2). Even though I will write a transcription of the interview, my paper weaving our lives together will bring in my own quipu. The paper will be like the shadow of the quipus together in the picture of the hand with strings.

Rachel, first year student, reflecting on artwork of Cecilia Vicuña, and relating the artwork to interview assignment, Knowledge and Power

Rachel’s Reflection on Interview Assignment

AS students create ePortfolios they:

• develop statements about their sense of purpose and identity as learners

• integrate personal background & experience with academic goals (as “lifetime learners”)--ePortfolios reveal how students learn across multiple sites;

• develop technical, visual, graphic understanding of electronic media;

• women students (et. al.) define identity and voice against backdrop of expectations

Photo credits—from student ePortfolios

• Slide 6, Skyla Pojednic • Slide 10, Yolanda Aguilera• Slide 11, Mary Gismond• Slide 12,

14, Yolanda• 17, Skyla• 20, Chinaza Okonkwo• 23, Vicuňa photo from exhibit

• Sophomores & juniors

Karinhttps://sakai.rutgers.edu/osp-presentation-tool/viewPresentation.osp?id=D627A3F1EF4DB205C7B2A35E6E700722&page=aboutMe&subPage=0

Skylahttps://sakai.rutgers.edu/osp-presentation-tool/viewPresentation.osp?id=B592AD14ACDF46ADAD9DE7539847D024&page=aboutMe&subPage=0

• Janine – Junior https://sakai.rutgers.edu/osp-presentation-tool/viewPresentation.osp?

panel=presentation&id=C7BC5F74D2D093DFDB267B420B4E3A29&sakai.tool.placement.id=833f7f18-f7ca-4543-bebf-a5502666ab44

• Chi Chihttps://sakai.rutgers.edu/portal/tool/833f7f18-f7ca-4543-bebf-a5502666ab44/viewPresentation.osp?

id=2A6D489DF44FA0319873C7A82D27080A&page=home&subPage=0

• Daphneyhttps://sakai.rutgers.edu/osp-presentation-tool/viewPresentation.osp?

id=E9E29F960EBFFC58E1D628E1A7BFACD3&page=home&subPage=0•