ePortfolios: Documenting Learning and Showcasing A
John Jay students are introduced to ePortfolios through the curriculum in general education and major courses and professional and leadership development workshop series. We began piloting ePortfolios in 2012 and distributed licenses purchased on a grant to an average of 500 students annually. In Fall 2015, we received a one-time CUNY Strategic Investment Initiative (SII) award, which resulted in tremendous growth for ePortfolio use beginning in the 2016-17 academic year. Since that time, we have provided professional development to 376 faculty and staff members; conducted leadership workshops to over 100 peer leaders, who created ePortfolios that highlight their achievements inside and outside the classroom, and were trained to support their fellow students’ ePortfolio creation and maintenance. As a result, the program expanded exponentially such that we now support over 4,000 students annually across more than 180 course sections. To date, we have issued 20,982 annual student ePortfolio licenses over seven years through grant funding and the SII monies. To support students documenting their learning and achievements via ePortfolio, faculty who have adapted their pedagogy to incorporate this high-impact practice, and track student progress for more than 150 unique John Jay courses, we seek recurring tech fee funds to purchase 4,500 student licenses for the 2024-25 Academic Year or 13,500 student licenses for the next 3 years at a discounted rate.
ePortfolio is a tool for all John Jay students. In 2016-17, we issued 3,531 licenses; In 2017-18, we issued 4,112 licenses; In 2018-19, we have issued 4,117 licenses; In 2019-2020 we have issued 5,080 licenses; In 2020-21, we have issued 3,618; In 2021-22, we have issued 2,044, In 2022-23 to date, we have issued 1,758 and expect this number to rise before the end of the year. Nonetheless, we anticipate to maintain or increase our current level of ePortfolio use in the 2023-2024 year.
Digication ePortfolios are a hosted solution. They do not require John Jay to physically or virtually host them.
The benefits of ePortfolio for students are well documented in the literature and supported by AAC&U as a high-impact practice. We have honed our training sessions for students, faculty and staff and created numerous ePortfolio support web sites, in particular our NEW Student Support Site (https://johnjay.digication.com/student-support/home), which hosts step-by-step tutorials in print and video formats, exemplar student ePortfolios, and features our signature ePortfolio Showcase events.
The ePortfolio Program is under Bryce Tolbert, the Director of Academic Support and Learning Technologies. As noted above, we have an ePortfolio Specialist who is the primary coordinator of the ePortfolio Program. T
Bryce Tolbert, Director of Academic Support and Learning Technologies with
Girard Tecson, ePortfolio Specialist, and they supervise the eTerns.
Student Success
Objective: “Guide and support students as they master foundational intellectual skills, discover and construct knowledge for themselves, attain degrees and certificates, and develop themselves personally and shape their relationships to others, both locally and globally.”
ePortfolios allow students to construct the story of their intellectual, personal, and professional growth by identifying their achievements inside and outside of the classroom and showcasing them to audiences internal and external to John Jay. Students who have completed our workshop series gain practical skills, such as the ability to articulate their strengths, digital and information literacy skills, verbal, written and visual communication and presentation skills that support learning and their post-graduate success. With the launch of LEAP in Fall 2019, ePortfolio will be critical to demonstrating the LEAP students’ ability to master skills, demonstrate academic progress and career-readiness to internal and external communities.
Teaching
Goal. Lifelong learning through pedagogy.
Objective: “Practice continuous assessment of teaching and learning and provide frequent feedback to inform teaching and learning.”
Beginning in Fall 2017, the ePortfolio Program worked with the Writing Program to use Digication ePortfolio to conduct all ENG 101 and ENG 201 outcomes assessment. This streamlines the process and consolidates the information into one easy-to-access digital repository.