I imagine we will spend a large chunk of time discussing our projects, but I wanted to post some links and questions for tomorrow’s class. I saw that the description for today was ePortfolios, and I think that is a good place to focus some of our attention.
If you have never seen an ePortfolio and don’t know what it is, here is a link to a video from Digication about them. Digication sells software for ePortfolio creation to some CUNY schools.
Here are some useful links on ePortfolios to give you a better sense of them:
City Tech
LaGuardia
Macaulay
QCC
I’d like to pose just a few questions:
Is there a common understanding of what an ePortfolio is?
Do ePortfolios work for all subjects, or are they perhaps better suited for some fields than others?
How might online expression (ePortfolios or other platforms) strengthen learning communities?
Thinking about our online student expression discussions in general, I wonder, has anyone incorporated this type of project in a course they taught. If so, perhaps people might be willing to include students examples in the comments section, password protected of course.
Oops, meant to make it ePortfolio, NOT Eportfolio. Sorry about that.
I agree that you have some great links and thought provoking questions here Caroline. Since it will be great to discuss the questions in class, I wanted to add a few of my own that came from yours.
Is it important to have a common understanding of what an ePortfolio is (or even just a common spelling)?
How much does the software/platform used to create and publish the ePortfolio effect what the ePortfolio is and how it’s used? Do you need a specialized software?
Why do ePortfolio’s seem like an extra burden to many people? Is it due to the nature of the ePortfolio or how it’s used at a specific campus?
Is there a way, other than through carrots like grant funding, to convince people to use ePortfolios?
Is it important that a large number of classes and students use ePortfolios for them to be effective?
Amanda, I would also be interested to see how access to ePortfolios are limited at campuses and why.
Caroline,
Thank you so much for these wonderful examples. I am so excited about a campus-wide e-portfolio system where students can share their work. This is one possible manifestation of a virtual learning environment. Ideally this would allow students and faculty to display their work from many (all) of their classes as well as sharing their personal and professional work. I see immense potential for these portfolios in the humanities specifically, especially since many writing-based classes already employ a final portfolio (and these are often huge folders of paper that are forgotten and discarded). However, very few of these examples are multidiciplinary, and even fewer generated from humanities coursework.
I was taken by this example: http://lagcc-cuny.digication.com/tatjana_sevilla_scholars_ep_Fall2010/Home
Because LaGuardia is a community college, I applaud the exploration of new media to enhance student learning. Although I am not sure this is the case, a friend at LaGuardia told me the e-portfolios are linked only to specific classes and not available for ENG 101. This is very disappointing. I am wondering how each campus limits the e-portfolio use and why?
Has anyone used e-portfolios on their campus?