DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

Learning From the ePortfolio Field: Using the Catalyst Site

Group 4:  ePortfolio in the First Year Experience

 

Set-up:   Effective First Year Experience (FYE) programs help students make successful transitions to college  -- helping them understand what college requires, develop new skills and dispositions, and connect what they’re learning to a deeper understanding of themselves as learners.  Research shows that FYE programs can be highly effective in building student success.  In this activity, we invite you to use the Catalyst for Learning site and your own expertise to consider ways ePortfolio can help students meet the goals of Guttman’s  First Year Experience.

 

Task & Guiding Questions:  Your task is to use your knowledge and the Catalyst site to think about and identify ways to  ePortfolio can help meet the goals of our first year experience.  Your group will do a short presentation summarizing your ideas and recommendations to the whole group (see Step 4).  Please think about these guiding questions as you do your work:

 

  • How does a First Year Experience program help students adjust to and integrate into an institution?  How can ePortfolio help students in this transition?
  • If student success in the first year is a shared endeavor, what are some recommendations you would make about integrating ePortfolio across the various components of our FYE?  What are some practices and strategies that other campuses employ that would be helpful for your Guttman colleagues to learn more about?  What evidence of impact do these campuses have? 

Activity:

Step 1 (5 min):  Working individually, please identify 2-3 goals of Guttman’s first year experience.   Your expertise and perspective are important.  You might use the back of this paper to make some notes to yourself about key points, based on what you already know.

 

Step 2 (40 min): Still working individually, first read the following pieces on the Catalyst site.   Please keep the guiding questions (above) in mind as you work, and take good notes about ideas and examples. 

 

FYE programs help students make successful transitions to college and develop new identities -- connecting what they’re learning to a deeper understanding of themselves as learners. How might reflective and social pedagogy help them in this process?  Where and how could we scaffold such activities?  What could that look like? 

 

FYE programs seek to help students adjust to college life, providing advisement and familiarizing them with key college programs and policies, preparing them to do college-level work.  What aspects of SFSU’s and Manhattanville’s practices reflect these goals?  Are there elements of their work that would align with our program at Guttman?  What ePortfolio opportunities should we offer our first year students?

 

As you read, take notes that help you remember your answers to these questions.  After you finish these tasks, feel free to explore other areas of the Catalyst site.

 

Step 3 (45 min): Convene with your small group to share what you’ve learned and your answers to the questions. Take turns going around the group to share your thoughts.  How could we strengthen our FYE?  How could the integrative ePortfolio pedagogy help?  What ideas or examples about FYE and ePortfolio are most valuable?  Why?  Please keep track of time and make sure that everyone has a chance to share.

 

Step 4 (30 min):  Prepare your presentation,  identifying up to 5 recommendations for ways we could use ePortfolio to support and strengthen Guttman’s First Year Experience.  Please keep the guiding questions in mind as you draw on the expertise of the group and the resources you found on the site.  Please identify specific themes, sample practices, and other resources.    Please be prepared to share your draft presentation with the group as a whole, tomorrow morning.  Your designated representative (we recommend 1 or 2 presenters) will have 5 – 8 minutes to present to the group.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.