ePortfolios help students create meaning in the General Education curriculum
ePortfolios in General Education: A New Approach to Meaning-Making
The University of Arizona's General Education Curriculum has been updated to focus on student agency, meaning-making, and experience. Faculty, students, and staff from across campus formed together to generate a program that is responsive to what students need today and provides opportunities to explore different perspectives and ideas. The ePortfolio is an essential part of this curriculum, providing students a space for these connections and meaning-making to occur. Students will create a Learning ePortfolio in Digication throughout their time in General Education. The ePortfolio will start in an Introduction to GE course and be finalized in a Portfolio Course. The ePortfolio focuses on personal, professional, community goals and students have the opportunity to pick from a large variety of signature assignments to use as evidence and reflect on. We are eager and excited to learn from our students and celebrate their ideas!
General Education Deep Dive Sessions:
In collaboration with the Office of Instruction and Assessment, the Office of General Education put together two series to help prepare instructors to teach learning ePortfolios and signature assignments. You can find the recordings, slides, and resources below for each different topic.
Learning ePortfolio Deep Dives:
The session topics are:
- A Panel on Learning ePortfolios (February 2,2021)
- An Introduction to the Practice and Pedagogy of Learning ePortfolios (February 4, 2021)
- Inclusivity, Accessibility, and Technology: Considerations for Learning ePortfolios (February 16, 2021)
- Implementing Learning ePortfolios Across Disciplines (February 18, 2021)
Signature Assignment Deep Dives:
The session titles are:
- An Introduction to Signature Assignment Design and Implementation (March 24, 2021)
- A Panel on Designing Meaningful Assignments (March 26, 2021)
Digication Support for Students
Find support on uploading artifacts, sharing your work, personalizing your ePortfolio, and more!
Digication Support for Instructors
Find support on building a course, template, your own ePortfolio, and more!
Digication Support for Administrators
Find support on LMS integration, assessment tools, accessibility, and more!
Frequently Asked Questions: ePortfolios in General Education
ePortfolios are used in General Education for students to engage in meaning-making across their courses. As we revised the General Education curriculum we wanted to focus on relevancy to students and one way to do that is to help support their personal, professional, and community learning goals. ePortfolios will also be used for assessment of the General Education program.
Signature assignments are designed to help students make meaning of their work by connecting individual, course, and GE learning goals. By gathering signature assignments students have the opportunity to identify meaningful learning experiences throughout their GE courses, reinforcing what is relevant and useful to transfer to their major courses and beyond. Additionally, signature assignments help instructors communicate their learning goals to students and fellow instructors and further our community and engagement to quality teaching and learning.
Examples of signature assignments include, but are not limited to, reflections (written, oral, artistic, multimedia), presentations (oral, visual, musical, artistic), compositions, research projects, service learning projects, social, economic, or environmental justice projects, and creative endeavors (artistic, design, technological, problem solving). There is no media/modality requirement for signature assignments -- instead we encourage instructors to shape the assignment based on learning outcomes.
No. Instructors do not have to teach ePortfolios in their courses or support students using Digication. However, we invite instructors to use ePortfolios as a great learning tool in their courses. They also make fantastic signature assignments!
Students are using Digication in General Education for the following reasons:
1) It is flexible for students to express their digital identities in multiple ways.
2) It allows students to upload videos, songs, podcasts, and other media.
3) It has accessibility features such as alt-text.
4) It is accessible to students after they've graduated from the University of Arizona so they can continue to build and use their ePortfolios
5) It has useful assessment tools for faculty and the Office of General Education to engage in quick and ethical assessment practices.
Students will start their portfolios in their Introduction to General Education course and finalize them in their General Education portfolio course. In these courses they will provide contextual information on their personal, professional, and community goals and themselves as learners; examples of perspective-taking and building connections in their courses; reflections on their learning; and signature assignments.