The electronic portfolio, or ePortfolio, plays an essential part in helping students during their journey through college.
Students use their ePortfolio to share what they have learned during their collegiate experience. These reflections assist students in understanding how and why certain assignments and courses will teach them valuable lessons that will enrich their lives as students and citizens.
Imagine the ePortfolio as a combination of a Facebook page and a LinkedIn profile without the opinionated wall posts and redundant suggested friends lists. It’s a place for students to showcase themselves and their academic growth.
“One thing I thought was going to be difficult and time-consuming but turned out to be one of my favorite assignments was my ePortfolio, because I now technically have my own website about myself for free,” says SLCC freshman Andre Matos.
An ePortfolio requires students to archive their best work and collect their thoughts from general education courses. In addition to assignment reflections, adding professional elements like a resume put a student’s knowledge and skills on display for instructors and future employers.
“I mostly like how anybody, such as my teacher or my boss, can go to my ePortfolio, look at my resume or look at a reflection of a service learning project I did, and really get a feel of what I learned and what I did during college,” Matos says.
Not only is the ePortfolio easy to access, it is also simple to create. Students can choose from a variety of web platforms to make their own customized websites in minutes.
Students like Matos who have never had experience working with site building before have access to ePortfolio workshops at the Taylorsville Redwood, Jordan and South City campuses.
“With some help from the [workshops], I was able to customize my site, add images and files in just less than an hour,” Matos says.
It can be difficult at times to see the benefit of some general education assignments. But students who put in the time and effort to build a quality ePortfolio gain the ability to promote their skills during and after college.
