Margot Palermo
Professor Margot Palermo uses ePortfolio in Introduction to Business (BUS 115), Honors Business Seminars (BUS 195, BUS 295, BUS 296), and Honors Business Ethics (BUS 447).
Why do you use ePortfolio in your courses?
"Several reasons:
1) a forum for a student's self expression
2) a place to showcase their course work
3) a medium to promote themselves to employers"
What are the benefits to you?
"A central place to evaluate, organize and see the growth of my honors students who I see as freshman every semester until the first semester of junior year."
What advice would you give to other faculty considering using ePortfolio?
"This use of technology, in general, has long term rewards and ePortfolio helps students use technology to market themselves, follow and document their journeys in education and showcase themselves with pride."
Cynthia Davidson
Professor Cynthia Davidson uses ePortfolio in WRT 102, WRT 303, and WRT 302.
Why do you use ePortfolio in your courses?
We have always taught with portfolios to demonstrate learning of writing skills and for the pleasure of sharing writing with an audience (showcasing best work); we have always used portfolios for end-of-semester assessment as well--at least since the early 1990s, when Drs. Peter Elbow and Patricia Belanoff began the trend of using best work portfolios to assess skill in college-level writing across the country (that began at Stony Brook). In that sense, it's intuitive that we would embrace ePortfolios as the evolution of those uses. ePortfolios encourage writers to compose with other modalities, as well--such as through portfolio design, photoessays, and digital stories.
How do students benefit from using ePortfolio?
Professor Cathleen Rowley uses ePortfolio in WRT 102 (Intermediate Writing Workshop) and WRT 303 (The Personal Essay).
Why do you use ePortfolio in your courses?
It is required in WRT 102 for end of the semester evaluation. I choose to use it in other classes as it is a good place for students to present their work and it is easy for them to provide links for digital stories.
How do students benefit from using ePortfolio?
They have a place to display their work and to have a record of their work for their entire time at Stony Brook and beyond. They are given practice in learning about how their work appears to an outside audience (beyond me as their professor). It is easy to update it and easy to personalize it.
What are the benefits to you?
It is a good way for me to see their work as a whole (all essays and other works together). Also, when students ask me for reference letters a year or two after our class, I can revisit their work and get a reminder of what they have done.
What advice would you give to other faculty considering using ePortfolio?
It helps to create your own practice portfolios. It also helps to create a teaching portfolio to learn about how to work within and modify portfolios. It also is a good idea to have students do peer reviews of each other's portfolios to help make sure requirements are being met and all content is viewable.
Rita Nezami
Professor Rita Nezami uses ePortfolio in WRT 102 and WRT 303 in the Writing and Rhetoric Program.
Why do you use ePortfolio in your courses?
It's the best way to showcase student writing and overall performance in the writing class. Also, my students write a visual rhetoric paper. This allows them to incorporate images that make strong arguments.
How do students benefit from using ePortfolio?
I see the ePortfolio as a gift to students from the university. They can keep revising their portfolios and carry them along to the professional world once they graduate.
What are the benefits to you?
It allows me to get an overall picture of student work and performance through the entire semester. It also offers me the opportunity to read and evaluate student portfolios from other classes.
What advice would you give to other faculty considering using ePortfolio?
I would strongly advise other faculty to consider using ePortfolio.