How are eportfolios being used as spaces for empowering our students, staff, faculty, and administrators to learn and to do more across our campuses and in our communities?

Most colleges and universities strive to mold students into lifelong learners and civically-minded citizens. Connecting learning from across disciplines and from the classroom to real-world experiences can create lifelong learning opportunities for students. When students make these connections, they often become more civically engaged. ePortfolios provide students with a dynamic space for them to collect and share that learning and engagement with a variety of audiences: faculty, employers, friends, family and community members, and others. Creating an eportfolio also invites multi-modal/multimedia self-authorship and meaning-making opportunities for students to showcase their curricular, co-curricular, and volunteer work and reflections on that work. At this conference we would like to explore the use of eportfolios in lifelong learning and civic engagement.

Proposal submissions are invited for 50-minute, 90-minute, or poster sessions in line with the conference theme. We are particularly interested in workshop sessions. While the proposal need not specifically address the theme of the conference, preference will be given to those that relate to the theme.

Following is a short list of conference presentation and workshops: 

• Student eportfolio presentations
  
• Teaching and learning with eportfolios 
  
• Student self-publishing with eportfolios
• Beyond the surface reflections
• And more...
  

The focus of this conference will be on practical uses of eportfolios for lifelong learning and civic engagement. SLCC has been using electronic portfolios in its General Education program for over two years and has made use of eportfolios for lifelong learning a priority not only for the college but for the State of Utah.

Important Date

• Early-Bird Registration discount ends – April 5, 2013

Who should attend?

The conference will be suited for faculty and staff at institutions that are at various stages of eportfolio implementation.

Helen L. Chen is a researcher in the Designing Education Lab in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the Director of ePortfolio Initiatives in the Office of the Registrar at Stanford University and the Director of AAEEBL’s Research Committee. Her current research interests focus on three areas: engineering education; assessment of teaching and learning in innovative learning spaces; the use of eportfolios in general education, the disciplines, and student affairs. Helen and her colleagues Tracy Penny Light and John Ittelson are the authors of Documenting Learning with ePortfolios: A Guide for College Instructors (2011, Jossey-Bass).  Read a chapter and learn more about Documenting Learning with ePortfolios, by Chen, Penny-Light and Ittelson.

• David Hubert, Professor, Political Science and ePortfolio Director
  
• Kati Lewis, ePortfolio Coordinator and English Adjunct, English and Humanities Department
  
• Suzanne Mozdy, Chair, Mathematics Department
• Adam Dastrup, Assistant Professor, Geosciences
  
• Trent Batson, AAEEBL
  
• Judy Williamson Batson, AAEEBL

Help us extend the invitation to this conference.  Download a conference flyer (updates 4/2/13) to share.

Questions?  Contact Judy Williamson Batson.

(4/9/13)