3 The CMS Portfolio
Annette Holba
The Communication and Media Studies program requires all of our majors to assemble a portfolio during your time in the program. It is required for graduation. This section explains more about the portfolio and how assignments in this course may be useful in assembling your portfolio.
A portfolio is a collection of activities and achievements over a period of time such as your four years of college. The Communication and Media Studies portfolio displays your best work and allows you to demonstrate the skills, knowledge and dispositions that you have achieved during your time at Plymouth State University.
In particular, as a student in the Communication and Media Studies department at Plymouth State University, you will use the portfolio to demonstrate that you have achieved each of the four learning objectives listed below. Our curriculum and courses provide opportunities for you to create artifacts that demonstrate your mastery of these learning outcomes. As you move through the CMS program, you will collect these artifacts into a portfolio that will also include your self-reflection explaining what each artifact demonstrates. You will begin your portfolio in CM2000 (Studies in Communication and Media) and finalize and evaluate it in CM4905 (Senior Seminar). Your portfolio should contain at least one artifact (assignment, paper, exam, project, etc.) per learning outcome along with a reflection statement in which you explain the ways in which this particular artifact demonstrates that you have met this particular learning outcome. That is, your portfolio will contain at least four artifacts (one for each learning outcome) and four reflection statements. Each reflection statement should contain three separate paragraphs. The first paragraph states the learning outcome and explains what the outcome means in your own words. The second paragraph identifies the artifact you chose to represent the learning outcome and provides the context of the course and the assignment description. The third paragraph explains how the artifact you created demonstrates you have achieved the learning outcome.
Program Learning Outcomes:
- The ability to read, write, listen, and present in various contexts and for various audiences.
- The ability to understand emerging communication and media technologies, and the complex causes and opportunities of that evolution.
- The ability to analyze and explain the moral, ethical and cross-cultural dimensions of messages.
- The ability to apply communication and media theories to critically analyze real-world issues and employ practical, innovative solutions.
Here are some links to student portfolios (with their permission) as examples:
