Digital Portfolio uses shared at forum

The forum, called “Using Portfolios to Bridge Classroom, Community and Career,” was sponsored by the Program for Educational Transformation Through Technology (PETTT).

Catalyst’s Portfolio is in some ways analogous to the paper portfolios that have been used for years. Artists, for example, collect samples of their work to show prospective clients; teachers collect samples from courses they’ve prepared to show prospective employers. So Catalyst describes its product as a tool that “allows students to collect, annotate, arrange, and display on the Web a variety of digital ‘artifacts’ that illustrate their accomplishments throughout their University careers.”

But, the electronic format of Portfolio allows the display of a greater variety of artifacts than paper — artifacts such as videos, Web sites, animation and so forth. Moreover, a tool called Portfolio Project Builder allows for an interactive process in which an individual can build a portfolio with help and feedback from a mentor.

Five uses of Portfolio were demonstrated at the forum:

Service learning: Student Joe Gombos showed excerpts from a portfolio he created as part of a class called Introduction to the Sociology of Deviance and Control. Service learning was an option in the class and Gombos volunteered at the Pike Market Senior Center. As the class progressed, the instructor provided questions for the students to think about at their service learning sites. Gombos said he learned to read ahead on those questions so that he could be looking for answers before the assignments were actually due.

Michaelann Jundt, director of the Carlson Leadership and Public Service Center, said representatives from the service learning sites had noticed a change in students as a result of the portfolios. “They asked me what was being done differently, because students were asking the most amazing questions,” she said.

Self-reflection: Jason Johnson, director of first-year programs, brought Freshman Interest Group (FIG) leaders Dustin Daily, J.J. McCammon and Becky Francoeur to talk about their use of Portfolio. All FIG enrollees were required to complete a portfolio in which they were asked to reflect on classes and texts; notable people, places and events; and to speculate about their future. Francoeur called the exercise “a good way to take stock. You don’t realize the connections in all your experiences until you see them this way.”

Academic planning: Undergraduate advisers Kay Balston and Jason Boyd created a portfolio tool aimed at students interested in health sciences careers but who had not yet been accepted to those majors.

“These are very competitive programs, and the portfolio is a way for students to think about what they have to offer and to prepare for the application process,” Balston said.

The tool is available for students to use independently and includes sections on such things as intellectual growth, citizenship and leadership. Student Helen Weiss, who appeared with Boyd and Balston, said the portfolio had helped her get her bearings as a 35-year-old returning student. “I learned through the citizenship section, for example, that it would be important for me to volunteer in a health-care setting, so I’ve been doing that,” she said.

Career planning: Susan Templeton, senior career counselor in the Center for Career Services, has always had students who sign up for the center’s Navigating Career Options class, create a portfolio, but switched to the electronic version when it became available. The tool has been very valuable in giving helpful feedback she says. For example, when students do an exercise in which they describe memorable experiences, Templeton reads the descriptions and writes in an area provided for her comments what skills they have demonstrated in those experiences.

“When we had paper portfolios, we often didn’t see them until students were done,” Templeton said. “This way we see them as they’re working on them and they can revise them as they go along.”

Professional skills: Technical communication professor Jennifer Turns used Portfolio in two ways — first, to have students demonstrate proficiency with a variety of tools they were learning in her class and second, to create a Web site for a fictional department in a company. Her student Adam Wilson said the Web site exercise was a great chance for him to learn how to create a presentation aimed at a particular audience. “It’s something I can show prospective employers to demonstrate that I know how to create a professional presentation,” he said.

Mark Farrelly, program manager in Educational Partnerships and Learning Technologies, called Portfolio a “big dumb tool” that was designed to be extremely flexible so it could be adapted for a variety of uses. “It provides resources to help students store, select and present their work, but the tool only ‘becomes smart’ when it is used by innovative teachers, advisers and students,” he said. He speculated that the uses demonstrated at the forum might be only scratching the surface.

Faculty and staff who want to use Portfolio with groups of people can enter the tool through “owner/instructor information” on the Catalyst Web site, http://catalyst.washington.edu/catalyst/tools  and get to Portfolio Project Builder, while individuals enter through “participant/student information” and can immediately begin creating their own portfolio.

Students retain access to their portfolios through UW NetIDs for six months after they graduate, and can also download the information. In addition, graduates can now sign up for MyUW.net to continue accessing information they created while students.