LRO Benefits and Differences
As seen, the LRO is unique in terms of its design and its approach to and philosophy of student learning, reflection, and evaluation.
The LRO is an experience, as students and teachers literally explore the spaces of learning by moving through and clicking on the different links to student work.
The physical space, with its links, connections, and different sections, models the learning experience and newer conceptions of writing as complex, varied, and multi-linear/dimensional.
In fact, the LRO encourages (more so than other portfolios) writing as a process, for it asks students to gel their learning and evaluate it according to the past (Part A), present (Data Collection, Parts B and C), and the future (Part C), thus encouraging students to view writing and learning as vivacious operatives, and not simply as static tasks.
The LRO focuses on practical and theoretical aspects of learning, by asking students to assess (to "grade") their peers' LRO's; this assessment is based on the multi-dimensionality of the student's LRO (evidence from a variety of sources that cover a variety of issues) and its level of demonstration and quality of work.
The LRO encourages more student independence, since students are wholly responsible for logging in, making observations, demonstrating their learning, and arguing for their grade.
The LRO encourages multi-disciplinary thinking, not only by its design and medium (with links/connections), but also by its philosophy, for as students argue for their course grade, they must make specific connections to their growth in a variety of areas (confidence, emerging knowledge, etc.)
By focusing on more than peer reviews of papers, journal entries, and global revisions, the LRO encourages learning to learn and writing to write. Instead of putting so much emphasis on individual writing assignments and revising choices, the LRO puts the emphasis on overall growth and development, without de-emphasizing the other important parts of writing and learning, by including all work in the same space (as opposed to putting all assignments in a folder or in a web page at the end of the semester) and asking students to argue for their development and growth (instead of simply answer questions about or recount their growth and development).
The largest philosophical difference of the LRO is its focus on overall growth and development in a variety of areas; while many portfolios ask students to answer questions about their growth (concerning individual assignments and the class as a whole) and how they have changed, many portfolios do not consistently focus on personal and scholastic development. Instead, they focus on revisions, interpretations, and opinions of assignments and the class. Furthermore, students are not really forced to critically self assess when writing a few paragraphs (if that) about their development. In contrast, the LRO forces critical self-consciousness by having students synthesize their learning and support it with specific evidence and argue for their grade. And finally, as mentioned, the design of the LRO encourages the formation of connections and multi-disciplinary thinking with its links in collective, creative space (all of the work is created in a central space with separate sections).