Multi-Dimensional Evidence Provided with ePortfolios

Rhodes, Terrel L. (2011). Making Learning Visible and Meaningful Through Electronic Portfolios.  Change 43 (1), 6-13.

Making Learning Visible and Meaningful Through Electronic Portfolios

I highly recommend this article especially for those interested in institutional assessment. The author shares great points and excellent examples.

Prior to the development of electronic portfolios, art and design students were already building collections of work to display their skills and accomplishments. Now that technology has made this process easier, it has spread to other fields. (The author points out teacher education as the most prominent and anyone following my annotated bibliography shouldn’t be surprised by that.)

An interesting statistic in this article states that forty percent of college campuses report using student e-portfolios. That number includes all campuses from public and private to research, liberal arts, and community colleges.  Perhaps more relevant to my research, the author references a 2008 survey conducted by Peter S. Hart Research Associates. The survey asked employers what evidence of student learning they would like to see when hiring college graduates. Thirty-five percent wanted to see student work in e-portfolios.

An e-portfolio has the ability to demonstrate what is learned both inside and outside the classroom and the development of the e-portfolio requires reflection, which in itself is a learning process. The most successful examples of institutions using e-portfolio consider the students to be the owners. The students are then able to decide how to use their e-portfolios beyond a course or program. When employers want to see examples of students applying their knowledge and addressing problems, an e-portfolio can provide multi-dimensional evidence that integrates life and academic experience.

“Resumes are good. Are electronic portfolios better?”

Rowh, Mark. (2008). Building an e-Portfolio. Career World 37 (3), 26-28.

Building an e-Portfolio

For this article, Mark Rowh interviewed college students seeking internships and employment opportunities.  He explains how e-Portfolios go further than traditional resumes by displaying information through more than one medium, but differ from social networking sites due to the targeted audience of employers and other professionals. This is not Facebook. 

He notes that electronic portfolios are ideal for artists, designers, and other creative individuals, but unlike many other resources that I’ve read through, he acknowledges that “almost anyone” can use an e-portfolio, including high school and college students. His idea of using e-portfolios is not limited to any particular field. He can envision the experiences of a camp counselor or a student’s science fair project displayed in an e-portfolio.

The students interviewed in this article had various reasons for using e-portfolios.  A writing and public relations student didn’t feel that a resume could do justice to his experience.  An architecture major wanted to share her work samples with employers far away from her current location and yet another graduate was simply looking for something to grab attention.  The plan worked for all three students.

The author recommends a few online portfolio hosting sites:

• Coroflot
• Carbonmade
• VisualCV

Lifetime Electronic Portfolios?

Cohn, Ellen & Hibbits, Bernard. “Beyond the Electronic Portfolio: A Lifetime Personal Web Space.” Educause Quarterly 27.4 (2004).  Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/apps/eq/eqm04/eqm0441.asp

Beyond the Electronic Portfolio: A Lifetime Personal Web Space

This is an interesting viewpoint from Educause Review and I hope you will check it out.  The authors ask some very important questions and I’d like to hear your answers.

The article is more or less describing a dream (I believe the authors called it a wish) of moving beyond the limits of an e-portfolio model by providing a personal Web space for everyone for their lifetime.  A lifetime personal Web space?  Think of the possibilities!  This article was published in 2004, so my interest is whether or not e-portfolios have advanced enough in the past eight years to make these dreams a reality. 

I think we’re getting there or at least moving in the right direction.

The authors of this article note that new graduates can use e-portfolios to showcase their accomplishments and gain an edge in the job market.  Along those same lines, career centers in universities can use e-portfolios to link academic outcomes to the workplace.  This all leads to many questions for the authors.  Will students bringing electronic portfolios to job interviews be more competitive than students with paper-based portfolios?  Is a glorified resume the best possible result for this technology?

As I watch the integration of e-portfolios with workforce development efforts, it is now time to look at the value in business and industry development.  What is the impact of electronic portfolios in hiring practices?  I started the next phase of my research this week by distributing a survey to human resource professionals, career counselors, and workforce development representatives.  It’s time to find some answers to these questions and I’m happy to take you on this journey with me.  Stay tuned!