RESEARCH
My research explores the potential for electronic portfolios (ePortfolios) to enhance students' learning, 21st Century Skills, and prospects for employment. I am interested in how this tool can benefit students, faculty, and employers. I seek ways in which students can best demonstrate their work to potential employers, and in turn, how this tool is most useful to hiring agencies. My work also involves how students can use ePortfolios to make their learning visible and knowable to them.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
PUBLICATIONS
Student portfolios are becoming extremely popular as assessment tools at a growing number of campuses across the country (Banta, 1999). ePortfolios enable students to communicate their learning; through using this tool students are reflecting on their education, and then choosing how to showcase these experiences to an audience.
Web-based portfolios help students become more cognizant of the skills that are valued by potential employers (Willis & Wilkie, 2009). It seems developing ePortfolios may be a way to better prepare students for the challenges associated with entering the workforce. Most of the current literature on ePortfolios focuses on learning outcomes and assessments, and has little to do with how employers might use ePortfolios within their hiring process. There is a need to learn more about hiring officials’ response to ePortfolios.
Self-evaluation or reflection is a common way to assess high-impact practices. Colleges and universities are increasingly turning to ePortfolios to provide this type of assessment (Bryant & Chittum, 2013; Eynon, Gambino, & Török, 2014; Kahn, 2014). Learning more about how ePortfolios can be used to measure another high-impact practice, such as undergraduate research, service learning, or study abroad, is another area of research of interest.