Establishing Professional Presence with an ePortfolio

The Sloan Consortium reported that over seven million higher education students are taking at least one online course (Blair, 2013). Online higher education, has become a primary teacher of productive members of society, and therefore needs to be at the forefront of innovation. Institutions can do this by developing and implementing curriculums, ideas and activities that are innovative, relevant and individualized to meet the needs of diverse populations. Palloff and Pratt (2013) contend, “technology in education makes sense when it is used to reach the increasingly nontraditional student body we now see in institutions of higher education and to meet their learning needs and objectives—needs and objectives that are different from the students institutions have traditionally taught” (p. 58). The development of an ePortfolio as a component of online degree programs allows diverse student populations to showcase their mastery of content in an innovative, individualized manner that can carry on to the professional world to communicate, share, collaborate, create, and distribute.

The theoretical background, purpose, and value of the development of an ePortfolio will be explored. Exemplar ePortolios will be shared, which demonstrate mastery of Program Learning Outcomes, career services integration and real-world applicability. Participants will be engaged in a personalized planning session where they will be able to create an outline of a professional ePortfolio, or a program plan of how they can integrate the scaffolded development of an ePortfolio into their programs.