The new ePortfolio project on Auburn's campus is a highly designed and individually managed website that helps students organize and display their course work online for future employers to easily access.
After extensive research and several other ideas were placed on the table, Dr. Margaret Marshall director of University Writing Program brought ePortfolio to light.
"The question we are trying to answer is: now that you are done with your degree and you want to go on to graduate school or get a job, how do you represent the learning that you have done so that people outside the institution can understand it?" Marshall said.
The idea behind the project is to be a window into student classes. When an employer looks at transcripts, they can see an A in, for example, economics, but what does that A really mean? With ePortfolio students are able to put online samples of work or projects done in class with details describing them, what they are calling artifacts.
"I'm an English major so I know I am a good writer, but I realized when I started putting together my ePortfolio and looking at all that I have done and the themes of my work that I had a lot of skills that I hadn't even realized," said Laura Elmer a graduate assistant helping with the development of the project.
According to Marshall's research when students do an ePortfolio they begin to see the relationship between their different classes and how and why they are connected. Also Mashall said the act of putting together the ePortfolio increases student learning.
"The other big thing about ePortfolio is that it makes your work real, instead of turning in an assignment and getting a grade then never looking at it again," Elmer said. "With ePortfolio students are eventually going to show it off to a public audience so they want to continue working on it to make it really good so it is worth something."
Eportfolio is a tool that helps students grow and displays their communication skills as well as shows how they have progressed through the years.
Currently, ePortfolio is being used at more than 84 different universities including Boston University and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. It is also an international program.
"I would use the system to make myself more marketable in the future, I think eportfolio gives employers another dimension to look at besides a resume," said Earl Myers sophomore psychology and English double major. "Not only does it show that you are more technology savvy as a student, but it is also an in depth dimension of who you are, whereas a resume is just a list of all your accomplishments."
This year the program has invited seven groups, also called cohorts, to participate in the project. The graduate program in the English department, the art, building science, nursing, and pharmacy departments, the New Media Club and one co curricular unit- study abroad were chosen and will create a plan to embed practices of ePortfolio into their programs. With this the development committee can gain feedback to help shape ePortfolio.
Currently members on development community, faculty and students on board with the project are still in the learning process.
"We would never turn down people that want to participate in ePortfolio, in fact they can go to the writing center, the career center and the digital media lab for help, but because this is so new to us we don't want to invite everyone at once," Marshall said. "We are putting our energy into helping the cohorts so that they can better understand and develop models others can then learn from."
As for students and their opinion on the project, Marshall and Elmer have received a lot of positive responses. They will soon be putting out a call for student ambassadors to build their own ePortfolio and share their experiences with other students.
"I feel like eportfolio is a new growing thing and I could easily see it in the next 10 years as something that goes hand in hand with resumes when we are thinking about applying for jobs and internships." Myers said.
To learn more about the ePortfolio project, visit auburn.edu/writing/eportfolios
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