Internet Learning Volume 6, Number 2, Fall 2017/Winter 2018 | Page 66

Helping Students Close the Demonstration Gap: Portfolium
work with on a regular basis to interact
within their network in addition to
the greater Portfolium network, giving
employers targeted access to students
who have the skills they need. The system
contains rich data tools, making it
useful for career services professionals
to help advise learners.
Challenges
Like any social network, even a
learning demonstration network,
Portfolium requires being tended
to in order to reach optimal performance.
The Portfolium network is
growing for learners, institutions, and
employers, but it is not ubiquitous yet.
While it integrates with LinkedIn, it
does not yet have the market recognition
that LinkedIn or other social media
do. Therefore, institutions taking
the plunge to build a network need to
maintain it as well. Portfolium offers
tools to help do this: from integrating
it into the classroom to providing
tools for institutions to host challenges.
Challenges are specific tasks posed that
prompt learners to create projects hosted
on Portfolium. Running challenges
requires some resources in the way of
time and people, but the results seem
to be worth the effort from what I have
observed at institutions.
In Practice
Here at American Public University
System, we recently
launched our Portfolium network.
We invited our students, faculty,
and alumni to share accomplishments
through their Portfolium pages. Within
the first several months after launch,
we have had nearly 20,000 users (i.e.
students, alumni, and faculty) onboard,
showcasing nearly 90,000 skills across
more than 2,000 projects. We have had
five student projects featured in the entire
Portfolium network. For context,
a university partner typically has zero
to one featured projects within the first
few months of launch. Featured projects
are selected by a team of experts
at Portfolium and their partnered employers.
We extended the opportunity to
our own institutional employer partners
to engage in our network and anticipate
positive results. In the future,
we look to deepen our engagement by
embedding Portfolium within courses
in our learning management system.
We will use it as well to enhance career
services provided for students and
alumni.
From our first conversation with
Portfolium to our growing use, we have
had positive interactions with the Portfolium
team. They imbue the tenants of
customer service throughout the onboarding
process. If your institution is
considering how to extend the use of
e-Portfolios, whether for accreditation
or to help students meet their professional
goals, I highly encourage considering
Portfolium as a solution.
References
Bessen, J. (2014). Employers aren’t
just whining—the “Skills Gap” is real.
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