Assignments completed while you are in the program:
Students in the Interdisciplinary Studies major at UW Bothell participate in a portfolio assessment process. The portfolio process is intended to help students become aware of their learning progress during their time at UW Bothell and to complete their degree with a solid measurement of their accomplishments. It also contributes to shaping the future development of the program as a whole.
The process begins when students take the program core course, BIS 300 Interdisciplinary Inquiry. In BIS 300, the portfolio process is explained, and students complete a course portfolio and a final self-assessment.
Other Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences (IAS) courses may or may not explicitly use a portfolio system, but students are encouraged to continue assessing their progress. After the completion of every quarter, the IAS Program recommends students retrieve all assignments and include them in their portfolio.
The Quarterly Student Self-Assessment (QSSA) form encourages students to reflect on what they have learned, the connections they have made between this quarter and past quarters, and what they might change to improve their approach to learning in the future.
The Environmental Science major concludes with a Capstone Project or Independent Research. In both cases, students complete a self-assessment of their learning in the program up to that point, drawing on their collected assignments and QSSA forms. Students are asked to submit selected examples from their assignments. This self-assessment prepares students to successfully complete their capstone.
*Non-standard assignments can be difficult to retain and may take an extra effort, but they can be extremely valuable. For example, students may be able to have Campus Media videotape their performance and request a taped copy. Other students may take digital photos of a group poster or installation. Assignments on web discussion boards and other web-based media should be printed out before the course ends.
