ePortfolio as a Tool for Reflecting on Rhetoric across Disciplines Liberal Arts Cluster, LaGuardia Community College Is it possible to deepen students’ understanding of the formal power of rhetoric by making it the theme of an interdisciplinary learning community? To investi gate, The Persuasive Note, a liberal arts cluster with a shared rhetorical approach, was launched at LaGuardia in 2009. Student refl ecti ons on rhetoric vis-a-vis their coursework, educati on and lives were elicited and collected on the students’ ePortfolios. Results, methodology and musings will be shared. • Gary Richmond, Lecturer

1. ePortfolio as a Tool for Reflecting on Rhetoric across Disciplines Gary Richmond Humanities Department LaGuardia Community College The City University of New York

3. The Persuasive Note (A liberal arts cluster involving a shared rhetorical approach) Public Speaking Introduction to Music Composition I The Research Paper Integrating hour

5. The question we put to ourselves: “Can we broaden and deepen students’ understanding of the formal power of rhetoric by making it the theme of our cluster?”

15. Methodology

16. Our basic tool to elicit reflections on rhetoric An ePortfolio ‘Reflections’ page on students’ ePortfolios for depositing critical and creative reflections on rhetoric in our disciplines and interdisciplinarily.

18. The Center for Teaching and Learning

27. Charles S. Peirce – The founder of philosophical pragmatism developed by William James, John Dewey, and others, argued that the methodology of scientific inquiry represents a kind of theoretical rhetoric.

30. (tentative) Results of our inquiry to date

34. Rhetoric: The Missing Link in education? “ Though weeks ago I didn’t even notice its absence, rhetoric is a sorely missed aspect of elementary education. Grade school [and high school] teaches one to write [and speak] mechanically functional [and] stylistically pleasing prose. Unfortunately, one is never [taught] how to give these properly spelled [and] pleasant sounding words any impact. Rhetoric is the missing element to give a work the needed “ oomph” to get a point across.”

36. “ I love rhetoric and learning about it.”

37. Special thanks to the co-author of “The Rhetoric of Teaching and Learning Rhetoric,” John Silva, to our cluster colleague, Gustavo Moretto, and to the peer readers and editors of In Transit: The LaGuardia Journal of Teaching and Learning .