“Electronic Portfolios are no longer just a good idea, they are an expectation and a powerful element of college and career readiness for many.” –Emerging EdTech
The IUPUI ePortfolio Initiative advances the use of ePortfolios at all levels campus-wide to support and demonstrate student learning and academic success, as well as personal, intellectual, professional, and civic development. It also helps all students make the most of the distinctive opportunities available at IUPUI. There are many resources available to help students and faculty who are involved in ePortfolio work or that are interested in learning about ePortfolio.
The ePortfolio Symposium is a professional development event for all faculty and staff from any IU campus who are interested in learning about ePortfolio and coming together to share ideas and learn approaches to high-quality ePortfolio implementation. At IUPUI, CourseNetworking (CN) is the preferred ePortfolio tool. During the ePortfolio student panel hosted in March, there were several students demonstrating their ePortfolio pages, sharing ideas, and creating processes. At this event, a student said of the CourseNetworking ePortfolio: “I’ve tried LinkedIn, I really didn’t like it, it was too much. CN felt very comfortable to me, it makes me feel safe and happy. I also feel like I have a lot of control and customization abilities available as well. My whole personality really comes out when using CourseNetworking”. When using CourseNetworking in comparison to other ePortfolio platforms, students found that they felt more comfortable with template-based layouts and preferred networking features that allowed them to easily connect with others. Overall, the CN ePortfolio was a new and valued experience for the students, and was the favored choice due to the fact that they can showcase their best projects, documenting learning experiences with a hashtag, and share skills learned from those experiences. They are excited about the idea of sharing artifacts from learning experiences like photos, presentations, and videos, as well as building a network of their peers that have similar experiences and skills.
The CN ePortfolio gives its users a multitude of different customization options like adding visual resumes to their profile. They can also add different sections like skills, badges, documents, and showcases with various privacy and security settings. They are also able to create different versions of their ePortfolio targeting different roles that they can apply for in the future job market. The ePortfolio can be shared with more than just employers, and their links can be posted to social media, pasted on resumes, placed on business cards, pasted in email signatures, and much more. The opportunity to get yourself out there and the amount of people who can see your ePortfolio has increased drastically.