RAPPORT
Volume 3 Issue 1 (2018)
reflection; of connectivity between
personal and academic learning; and of
the potential to upload artefacts from
academic and wider contexts to
demonstrate such learning. However the
account also reminds us not to take
understanding for granted underlining the
value of support and training with students
and of making purposes and aims explicit
(some links to the scaffolding of the OU
here perhaps?). This notwithstanding, and
the limitations of the study being
recognised, their conclusion that ‘Learning
ePortfolios appear to help students
reflecting, being autonomous, self-
regulating and self-assessing their learning
processes and learning to learn for a
lifelong learning’ is important to celebrate
and take forward.
And finally we move to the contribution of
Gillian Hannum and Michaela Muckell,
which, like the work of several writers
before them, focusses upon making the
links between course-based learning in the
present and employability learning with
relevance to the future. Very helpfully, the
second author here provides a student
voice, again something we sought to
encourage at Dublin. Their account
highlights the recognition that ePortfolio
practice can wane as well as wax,
especially if ‘faculty and administration …
see it as costly … and an impediment to
graduation’. The optional, credit-bearing
replacement reported upon here re-
emphasises the move, highlighted by Nino
and O’Sullivan & Lavin, to reframing skills,
talents and achievements to identify those
of most interest to potential employers,
also pulling in ‘soft’ skills and learning
beyond the classroom, and with the
student perspective highlighting the
connections between personal skills and
career interests explicit. Lots of echoes
from earlier papers here, and some very
positive student feedback. But the final
testimony bears highlighting, reflecting as
it does the process benefits and holistic
potential that a supported ePortfolio
development process has the potential to
really deliver:
‘Perhaps even more significant than
the final ePortfolio itself, students
report that the process involved in
reflecting on their education and
collecting artefacts that demonstrate
their skills and competencies has
given them an edge in the interview
process. They are able to both see
and articulate the relationship
between their liberal arts education
and their job readiness’.
Those are some of my highlights from the
rich range of contributions that await you in
the following pages. So, with thanks to all
our contributors, happy and fulfilling
reading!
References:
Eynon, B. & Gambino, L. M. (2017) High-
impact ePortfolio practice: A catalyst for
student, faculty and institutional
learning. Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Yancey, K.B. (ed.) (in press) ePortfolio-as-
Curriculum: Models and Practices for
Developing Students' ePortfolio
Literacy. Sterling, VA: Stylus.
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