Beginning September 2011, St. John’s University will be
partnering with Digication, a company that
provides electronic portfolios for students. The incoming freshman
class will have digital portfolios starting this fall, and we will
continue to provide students with such portfolios until, within the
next four to five years, every St. John’s student has one.
An e-Portfolio is a collection of academic
material and accomplishments that a student gathers and places
online. e-Portfolios have become increasingly common at all levels
of education, especially in high schools and colleges. Students use
e-Portfolios to showcase their intellectual achievements, as well
as present themselves academically and professionally to outside
audiences. In many areas the e-portfolio is fast replacing the
conventional resume as the means by which students apply for jobs
or graduate programs.
Faculty use e-Portfolios to better understand
and evaluate the work their students are doing. For example,
e-Portfolios offer a means by which faculty can engage in classroom
assessment and program assessment. Faculty and administrations also
use e-Portfolios to assess the work their students are doing.
Just as WEAVE offers an essential means by which
an institution continually documents its claims for assessment—a
living archive and database of mission statements, goals, findings,
and action plans—e-Portfolios provide the evidence that supports
the findings presented in WEAVE. Together, WEAVE and e-Portfolios
will be the mechanisms that St. John’s will use to further document
our ongoing assessment activities.
Our Goal: For faculty to
seriously imagine ways that their students can demonstrate
expertise in their courses on e-Portfolios—via written statements,
papers, research, video, photography, audio, reflective journals,
etc.
*There is additional information for faculty
regarding ePorfolios and the Portal in St. John's Central
under the faculty tab.(October 2012)