Finishing Div I - Sue Darlington's advisees

= Finishing Div I =

The following guidelines are adapted from a handout by Laura Wenk (CS):

The first year is a time for exploration and reflection. Finishing the first-year program can look mechanical: completing 8 evaluated experiences (5 distributions - 1 in each of 5 schools; 3 electives), and making progress on each of the 7 first-year learning goals, but we know it is a time of lots of thinking and trying things out. Putting together a portfolio can help you reflect on your learning in the first year and see where you want to go next. You can talk more about this at your final meeting with your advisor. To this end, this handout summarizes some of what you should start to pull together to make the completion of Division I run smoothly.

It makes sense to do as much of this in your first year as possible so that your third semester really can be a time to focus on building relationships with possible Division II committee members, put together your Division II contract, and move toward filing Division II.

To pass Div I, you need to compile a portfolio of your work and evaluations, and write a retrospective that reflects on what you accomplished in Div I, what lessons you learned, and how you engaged the seven learning goals.

Div I goals:
a. Learn to read and interpret intellectual or artistic works b. Write critically and analytically c. Understand quantitative methods of analysis d. Develop creative abilities in expressive modes (e.g. creative writing, visual, performance arts, and music) e. Effectively present ideas orally f. Conceive and complete project-based work g. Understand multiple cultural perspectives on intellectual or artistic subjects

Building your portfolio.
You will need to give me the samples of your work (originals with professors' comments when possible), your course evaluations and self evaluations, and your retrospective the week before we have a final meeting. I will use these pieces, your course evaluations, and a conversation with you to write your Division I evaluation. The Division I evaluation is part of your official transcript. So what I write there really matters. The more you can highlight your strengths, the easier it is for me to write about them.

Here is more detail about the portfolio:


 * List the courses you are applying to Div I on the first page of your portfolio (a table of contents), marking those which fulfill your distribution in each school.
 * Print and include your Hampshire evaluations (preferably format them in a word processing program – for each course, give the course description and evaluative comments followed by your self evaluation).
 * Match each goal to work you did or are doing in your courses (you can do it as a list or a grid). This helps me look at where to find examples of your work showing your engagement with the goals.
 * Select examples of that work and put it into a folder that will become part of your portfolio.
 * Write a reflective piece. It should look back at what you learned from the distribution about the different fields of knowledge or how one works in the different disciplines, your assessment of your abilities with regards to the goals (what did you learn, what do you still need to work on), what helped in your learning, what strategies you developed for success, and what questions you have that you want to pursue. Reflect on how you engaged the learning goals explicitly.  While page length is not set, a good retrospective will probably be around five pages, double-spaced.
 * Write about where you see yourself going for Div II -- questions you'd like to explore, goals you have, things you want to learn. Think in terms of writing a preliminary Div II proposal.
 * The retrospective must be in the portfolio and put on the Hub before I can pass you.

Scheduling a Div I Final Meeting:
Schedule a final meeting at which we will discuss your portfolio, your performance all year, and your plans for next year. You should submit your Div I portfolio to me the week before our meeting. For advisees passing Div I in May 2010, please sign up for an appointment on the Div I meeting 'page.