Creating an ePortfolio can help you in many ways at different times along your college journey. By adding experiences to your ePortfolio now, you will be better prepared down the road to discuss what you did, why you did it, and how it connects with your other academic and work experiences. The time spent creating your ePortfolio is good preparation for job and graduate/professional school interviews. Your ePortfolio can be shared with anyone writing recommendation letters to give a detailed and thorough view of who you are as a student and professional.
Benefits of ePortfolios
How will an ePortfolio help me?
Description of the video:
[MUSIC PLAYING] DILLON POLLEY: ePortfolios can serve a range of purposes for students in different times during college and after graduation. Let's talk about why it's important to create and update your ePortfolio and how it can benefit you during and after college.
So why would you use an ePortfolio? An ePortfolio can be a useful platform for you to capture and share what you do in college. All the experiences you have while in college help shape you into the person you'll become by the time you graduate.
By adding experience to your ePortfolio each semester, you'll be better prepared down the road to discuss what you did, why you did it, and how it connects with your other academic and work experiences.
As a freshman, you'll start your ePortfolio and begin adding examples of your college work, your first year experience, your freshman writing portfolio, clubs, and student organizations.
As a sophomore, continue to add to your ePortfolio with work from your general education courses, important courses in your major, an internship, or work experiences. Make sure you are taking pictures and using these to tell your story.
When you were a junior, you'll begin taking more classes in your major, completing larger class projects, team projects, a second internship, research experiences. Maybe you'll study abroad or participate in service projects. If you're in a student organization, maybe you'll take on a leadership role. Include all of these.
Then, as a senior, you'll get your capstone course where you will edit and pull your ePortfolio together. This is where you'll go back and decide which items to keep and which you don't want to share anymore. You want to shape your ePortfolio to be your best work so you can use it for job searches or graduate school applications.
You'll have your resume, which is a static piece of paper with bullet points. And then in your ePortfolio, you'll have evidence that you can do all of these things you say you can do on your resume.
Why is it important to consistently update your ePortfolio? You experience and grow so much during college, so updating your ePortfolio every semester is important to make sure that nothing is out of date or not representative of who you are.
I hope you have a better understanding now of why an ePortfolio can benefit you and why it's important to make sure it stays up to date. If you need help, come to the ePortfolio studio. We're a peer-led space where students can get help with and feedback on their ePortfolio. Schedule an appointment or stop by on our drop-in hours.
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Find your purpose
You may have a good idea of what you want to do with your life and how your college experience will help you get there – or maybe you aren’t so sure. An ePortfolio gives you a place to figure out who you are and who you want to be. It can even help you change your path when things don't go as planned.
Set goals and see your progress
Your degree map tells you which courses to take, but it doesn’t show what you have learned. Your ePortfolio takes care of that. Since we know not all learning takes place in the classroom, the ePortfolio is your space to show off all of your learning and strengths: from work, internships, student organizations, service projects, and countless other experiences you are having at IU Indianapolis.
Prepare for internships, scholarships, and jobs
You have dreams, and your ePortfolio can help you reach them. Your ePortfolio helps you tell the story of your skills, strengths, and experiences. Whether or not you share your ePortfolio, putting the pieces together will give you important practice to speak clearly and succinctly about your experiences, goals, and accomplishments.
Bonus: get better and more detailed recommendation letters by sharing your ePortfolio with faculty.