Welcome to the website of the course portfolio for CSCE144 - Introduction to Computer Science offered in the Department of Computer Science and Computer Engineering at Pacific Lutheran University. This portfolio is part of the Disciplinary Commons, a larger project that brought Computer Science faculty from two- and four-year institutions around the Puget Sound region together over the 2005-06 academic year to engage in the scholarship of teaching through the construction of individual course portfolios.

What is a Course Portfolio? Unlike a teaching portfolio, which focuses more broadly on a faculty member's teaching philosophy, pedagogical approaches, etc., a course portfolio "focuses on the unfolding of a single course, from conception to results" (Hutchings, 1998).

In the introduction to this portfolio I describe my motivation for its creation and its intended audience. The portfolio is organized primarily around the objectives for the course and can be navigated by following the various links throughout the document or in a more "sequential" order using the table of contents.

Other main sections of this document describe the overall course design and the context in which this course is taught. I also outline my teaching philosophy and teaching methods for this course. A sampling of student work is analyzed and discussed, although this part of the portfolio is not as complete as I would have liked. Finally, in the conclusions I discuss my recommendations for future iterations of this course and summarize the lessons I've learned in creating this portfolio.

I began working individually on the first draft of this portfolio during spring 2005 but found it challenging on my own. It was difficult to stay motivated, I was unsure how to analyze students' work in this context, and I didn't know what material to include or how to organize it. Working with project leader Josh Tenenberg and the other "commoners" proved immensely helpful. The overall project provided a disciplined process and framework for the portfolio's construction and the other members gave encouragement and feedback and shared examples from their own work that helped make this portfolio possible.

Last Modified: 06/02/2006