Learning Portfolio1
(1.5x quiz)
Description:
The portfolio is commonly used in architectural design to demonstrate what you have learned and
are capable of producing, as well as to sell your services to clients. This portfolio will specifically
demonstrate what you have learned in ARCH 331 this semester. An important part of the learning
process is reflecting on what you have learned, how you have learned it, and how you know that
you have learned it. The process of putting together a learning portfolio will facilitate this
reflective process and allow you to describe and document your learning.
Your learning portfolio will have two components: (1) a reflective essay that communicates
your description of what you have learned this semester in ARCH 331, how you have learned it,
and how you know you have learned it; and (2) a set of documents that illustrate what you describe
in your reflective essay. The reflective essay is described in more detail below. Possible and
required illustrative documents are listed in a following section.
Reflective Essay:
Using the statement below as a catalyst, reflect on your learning experience, with special focus on
these four areas: structural concepts, structural skills, problem-solving abilities, and learning
abilities. The questions below will get you started, but you are encouraged to use these only as a
starting point. As you consider the quality and quantity of what you have learned, remember to
refer to your supporting documents as evidence of this learning. For example, you might write that
“The assignment required me to , and by doing this, I understood
more clearly. This is illustrated in Appendix 1, where you will see my original
assignment along with the revised assignment and my detailed description of what changes I made
and how I knew to make them, and why I made them.” The above example refers to a specific area
of improvements or learning and relates it to a document that illustrates that learning. The more
concrete your illustrations, the better. You must include reflection of your physical math aptitude
prior to the class and how your aptitude has changed through this course.
Architectural Structures Concepts:
What are the major structural behavior, analysis or design concepts that I have either learned for
the first time or learned at a deeper level? What do I understand now that I did not understand at
the beginning of the semester? What concepts were difficult to understand? How do I know that I
understand these concepts? Have I improved my ability to articulate the meaning of these
concepts? Have I recognized these concepts when they come up in other courses or in my
everyday experience? Can I describe any structural concept with an operational definition?
Architectural Structures Skills:
How confidently can I establish a free body diagram with unknown quantities and set up the
equations for equilibrium? Am I able to relate the unknown quantities to the type of structural
member or to design requirements, like stresses and strains? Am I able to calculate geometric
properties important to analysis? Do I know how to use design aids, and charts, and the design
methods they can be used with and so on?
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