Dive Brief:
- When Clemson University instituted a mandatory ePortfolio program for students, thousands protested extra work for which they saw little gain.
- Chalk & Wire CEO Geoff Irvine writes for eCampus News that many ePortfolio programs have unrealistic goals and are created in-house despite institutional denial as to cost and benefit, passing most of the burden of a disruptive shift in educational practice to students.
- Irvine argues commercial solutions, rather than in-house ones, can best serve institutions' need to integrate the ePortfolios with student work, assessment, accreditation, and analytics systems, and the creation of ePortfolio programs must come in the context of a larger master plan.
Dive Insight:
ePortfolios are sweeping the higher education system. Many colleges have latched onto them as opportunities for students to prove their skills and clearly display their best work for employers. When it falls to students to create them, however, sometimes with little support from their schools, the exasperation is no surprise. Students believe their transcripts should be enough. Part of the problem is in marketing and program design. Some schools have been more successful in pitching the ePortfolio idea to students, embedding it into certain courses for students whose future employers will most want to see work in such a format.
As high schools embrace ePortfolios, and the Coalition for Access, Affordability, and Success releases its new college application with a portfolio at its center, the next generation of college students will surely arrive on campuses more primed to continue curating their work for future display.