An electronic portfolio, or an ePortfolio, is an online archive of an individual student’s academic career. It usually includes samples of student work, a resume, and some sort of personal profile. As a graduate student, it made sense for me to create one. But as someone who is not tech-savvy and who is not comfortable talking about herself, it did not. Yet throughout the experience of creating an ePortfolio, I came to many realizations which all led to the same conclusion: ePortfolios are useful.
Throughout the experience of creating an ePortfolio, I came to many realizations which all led to the same conclusion: ePortfolios are useful.
My ePortfolio
As I created my ePortfolio using Google Sites (here is a nice guide on how to do so,) here are some of the thoughts I had:
- I have been storing all of my work really inefficiently!
Between multiple USBs, various email addresses, old laptops, my Google Drive – my work was everywhere. And not only that, some of my work has been lost because of my disorganization.
- It is really nice to have the opportunity to look at my academic trajectory.
Looking for samples of my work, I was able to look back on all of the classes I have taken in my undergraduate and graduate school career. I was reminded of what topics interest me and I could see how I have evolved academically.
- It feels great to be able to see all of my accomplishments.
Now, remember when I said I have trouble talking about myself? That is still true. But by adding work samples, my resume, and writing up a profile, it does make my accomplishments more recognizable and tangible, and that is a good thing.
- This will be really useful when I apply for jobs!
As I start to apply to internships and jobs after graduation, it will be nice to have this website to show to potential employers, or even to grab samples of my work to send along with my resume.
As I reflect back on the process, I can see that ePortfolios have many advantages. ePortfolios:
- Are a nice way to market yourself to potential employers.
- Encourage self-reflection and self assessment.
- Are a great place to store all of your work.
- Allow you to document your learning progress and work over time.
- Are easy to distribute and access
- Are a great opportunity to display creativity.
ePortfolios are really beneficial tools for both students and faculty. They are a great way to help students work on skills of self-reflection, self assessment, and creativity, while also producing a very useful tool for the job-seeking process. They are also great for teachers. With a range of samples of student work, faculty can assess students’ skill development over time. I firmly believe that ePortfolios are a very useful tool, and I encourage faculty to consider implementing them into their curricula.
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