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.

Past Webinar Series on Signature Assignments

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.