The LaGuardia ePortfolio Intiative

WHAT IS AN ePORTFOLIO?  

Our review of ePortfolios nationwide found many variations and approaches.  The common foundation is a student-centered process in which students collect their work, select key work samples, and reflect on that work and its significance for their learning.  

The electronic medium (making the portfolio available on the Web) adds portability in terms of storage and access.  It increases versatility by allowing students to collect oral presentations, performances, and visual projects as well as traditional essays and research papers.  And it allows students to use the power of the Web to communicate with other audiences, including baccalaureate schools and employers.

* The ePortfolio represents a learning history. It serves as a way for students to assess their progress and take more responsibility for their learning.
 * Portfolios bring together curriculum, instruction and assessment. Through portfolios, teachers and students develop shared understanding of what constitutes quality work and acquire a common language for evaluating students' accomplishments.  Institutions come to a clearer understanding of learning across the curriculum.  At LaGuardia, the portfolios will help advance program assessment, based on a richer understanding of who our students are and what they are learning.
  * We must to adapt nationwide models to meet LaGuardia needs.  We propose to add a fourth element to the basic portfolio framework, to make it:  collect, select, reflect, and connect.  We want students to connect across courses and across boundaries, and to make the links between classroom and many cultural and and extracurricular elements that inform their lives.

From Elon College:

Exemplary Academic Work  Student's best works are accessible through a link in their portfolio. You may find a paper from their Freshman English or Global Experiences class and a best piece (paper, video, PowerPoint presentation, etc.) from their major.

Experiental Learning  The Elon Experiences Transcript tracks students’ participation in five programs: Volunteer Service; Study Abroad; Internships/Co-ops; Undergraduate Research and Leadership positions in student organizations and campus programs. A student’s participation in these experiences is collected for the student by the college. Students simply link their Elon Experiences Transcripts to their portfolio

Resume  Student resumes are developed in consultation with Career Services and and classes and may contain llinks to their best works, pictures, reflections, other web pages (e.g., internship sites), etc. Students have designed their web-based resumes to be printable directly from their portfolio, or emailed to employers.