The Centre for Digitally Enhanced Learning (CDEL) at Newport University have begun piloting student led ePortfolio workshops for students. This pilot ePortfolio provision has been developed in recognition of the need for all students to fully engage in creating and managing their own ePortfolios and the personal and professional opportunities this encapsulates; students can begin to create a professional image now and promote themselves to prospective employers by creating and managing their own personal brand.
The ePortfolio is a powerful tool that can inspire students. It encapsulates the ‘New Basic Skills’ required of students today; multi-literacy, creativity, communication/IT, lifelong learning, adaption and change, environmental responsibility. Students being able to market themselves to lots of different cultures, businesses and industries is one of the most effective ways they can create a stable professional and financial future for themselves, as they’ll demonstrate a wide range of abilities through a diverse portfolio.
Initially, CDEL ran two large workshop sessions for student mentors and feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. The workshops are a combination of theory (e.g. personal branding and what to include) and practice. The sessions have had a great impact on the students as they have come away from the day with their ePortfolios already created and live on the web. They have also gained practical skills and confidence in website creation and maintenance as well as starting to think about their future employability.
As an outcome of this pilot stage of the project, staff from CDEL presented one of their 'hands-on' workshops at the recent ALDinHE conference. Delegates were taught how to create an ePortfolio with Google Sites and all attendees left with a live portfolio. CDEL received excellent feedback from this session and plan to attend the conference again next year.
Building on the success of the ePortfolio pilots, CDEL are progressing an institutional ePortfolio system for integration within the University's VLE. This will enable students to export their developments to their own website after they have graduated.
