Working (on) Electronic Portfolios:
Connections between Work and Study
This web essay describes and reflects on a two-year developmental project of integrating Open Source Portfolio (OSP) software in a distance learning, interdisciplinary studies program focusing on Work and Professional Studies (WPS). The process of creating the eportfolio in Blackboard, videoconferences, and WPS Eportfolios encouraged the students to articulate connections among different skill areas and tasks. The process of collecting, selecting, and reflecting on their eportfolios helped students realize that no matter what workplace setting they were in, they owned their knowledge and skills.
Feedback from the WPS students also suggests that the development of site-specific, database-driven eportfolios tends to isolate students and diminishes their control over the final product. As a result, we recommend that faculty, administrators, and developers of electornic portfolio systems turn to composition tools and software that are as common as possible and used in non-academic settings.
Carl Whithaus
Professional Writing
English Department
Old Dominion University
Norfolk, VA 23529,
USA,
cwhithau@odu.edu
Mary Beth Lakin
Assistant Director, Special Projects
Center for Lifelong Learning
American Council on Education
One DuPont Circle, NW
Washington, DC, 20036, USA
marybeth_lakin@ace.nche.edu
Working (on) Electronic Portfolios
Connecting
Academic Work and
the Workplace