Reflection & Portfolio

Overview

Reflection is one of the core tenets of Interdisciplinary Honors. Deliberate, focused reflection allows us to build connections across different educational experiences and coursework, particularly between content that initially appears disparate. Interdisciplinary thinking requires not only identifying these connections but thinking deeply about how your experiences in these disciplinary contexts synthesize to inform who you are as a learner and problem-solver.

The Honors Portfolio is a web-based collection of artifacts and reflective annotations that documents and contextualizes students’ undergraduate experience, allowing them to share their UW Honors story with their peers, friends, family, mentors, employers, and graduate school admissions boards.

Throughout their time in the Interdisciplinary Honors Program, students will be prompted to engage in critical reflection in the following was as they work to complete their Honors requirements:

Introduction to critical reflection through assignments that prompt students to think deeply about their interests and experiences and setting up their Honors Google Drive to archive reflections

HONORS 100

Opportunity to submit critical reflections for every Honors course students take

Honors Courses

Students submit reflective applications and a final reflection for two Experiential Learning activities

Experiential Learning

Students who choose to pursue ad hoc, graduate-level coursework, or HONORS 499 submit reflections to receive Honors credit

Honors by Contract Reflections

Students receive regular prompts to reflect at the end of each quarter, reflection workshop opportunities hosted by Honors and, independently prompted reflections they can add to their Google Drive

Additional Reflection Opportunities

Reflective synthesis of UW and Honors experience during a student’s final year

HONORS 496

Honors 100 and your Honors Google Drive

Students are introduced to the practice of critical reflection in HONORS 100 through in-class reflections and assignments that encourage students to think deeper about their interests, learning, and experiences.

Students set up a Google Drive folder in HONORS 100 where they will digitally archive their reflections, artifacts, and annotations throughout their time at the UW. This Google Drive folder is set up through students’ UW Google Accounts and must be made accessible to the Honors Program Staff.

For all students that took HONORS 100 prior to Autumn 2024, you are not required to make this change, and may continue to add your artifacts and annotations to your website.

Artifacts are multimodal pieces of evidence that represent your learning inside and outside the classroom. Examples include but are not limited to:

Art pieces
Audio files
Creative writing samples
Essays
Lab reports
Musical compositions
Photographs
Presentation slides
Research posters
Study guides
Videos

Annotations are short reflections that give context to the artifacts you add to your Google drive. As you craft these written reflections, consider the following questions:

Why does this artifact matter to you and how does it reflect how you currently conceptualize yourself as a thinker and learner?
How did the process of creating this artifact push you intellectually, creatively, or personally?
As you worked on this artifact, how did you build off previous learning strategies or ways of knowing? What new strategies or approaches did you discover through this project? How could you apply these to other courses and/or disciplines?
How could takeaways from this project (new strategies, insights, approaches, or skills learned) be transferred forward into your professional career?

Critical Reflection Activities in Honors Coursework

Students will be prompted to complete a critical reflection activity every time they are enrolled in an Honors course.
Students must submit their critical reflection forms to Honors via their Honors portal.
Students should additionally save their reflections in their Honors Google Drive.
We strongly encourage students to respond to these reflective prompts at the time they are taking the course, but can submit them at any time.
Completion of at least four critical reflections will be required to enroll in HONORS 496.

Submit a Critical Reflection Activity

Other Opportunities for Reflection

At the end of each academic quarter the Honors Program will send daily reflective prompts for students to consider. These prompts often intersect with personal growth, identity, memories and experiences from the past quarter. Responses should be saved in your Honors Drive.

The Honors staff holds workshops and advising sessions focused on critical reflection. These workshops focus on building skills, exchanging ideas, and considering different ways of archiving experiences.

Throughout a student’s experience the Honors Program will remind students to practice reflection independently as much as possible. Scholarship applications, study abroad journals, research proposals, photos with friends, and so much more can all be ways that students capture important milestones in their time at UW, and can and should be archived in their Honors drives.

HONORS 496

HONORS 496 is the Interdisciplinary Honors Capstone Seminar. This course is designed to give students the opportunity to reflect on their time in Honors and at the UW to better understand their experiences. Students will draw connections across courses and disciplines, as well as consider the production of knowledge across academia and their experiences outside of the classroom.

Students will work on individual and group reflections, workshops, and practice sessions. The class will culminate in the construction of your final Honors Portfolio and a conference style group discussion and presentation.

Preparing for HONORS 496

To register for HONORS 496, students must have completed the following:

5 of 7 Honors Core Courses
1 of 2 Experiential Learning Activities
4 Critical Reflections Activities in Honors Coursework (this can include reflections for Ad Hoc and Graduate-level coursework)

Before starting HONORS 496, we strongly encourage students to have a robust collection of reflections and artifacts from their time at the UW to draw from. This preparation allows students to better engage in the reflection and group workshopping of the Honors Portfolio in HONORS 496. These can include reflections and artifacts and annotations from:

Courses in your major(s), minor(s), or other electives
Honors courses
Experiential Learning
Challenges you’ve faced
Influential experiences outside of your coursework
Connections you’ve seen throughout your undergraduate education

Examples

Below, you can find additional examples of Reflective Portfolios completed in HONORS 496. These are just some examples of how students might choose to organize their reflections as they close out their time at UW.