Psychology Department Dominican University of California

Information About Psychology Digital Portfolios

As you move from first year or transfer status in the psychology major, your psychology-related knowledge and skills will be enhanced in a number of different areas. In order to help you recognize and reflect on that growth, you will begin work on an digital portfolio of your learning when you enter the major and complete your portfolio by the end of your field placement course in the Senior Seminar Course held during the last semester of your senior year. 

Why should I care about digital portfolios?

Dominican University of California is now requiring that all incoming students create a digital portfolio that includes a number of items.  The University Digital Portfolio office serves as resource in creating this portfolio. See: ht

https://sites.google.com/students.dominican.edu/digitalportfolio/home

You may elect to use your digital portfolio to showcase your work to future employers or graduate schools or you may elect to keep it private and let it serve as a digital archive of your work at Dominican University. Ultimately, the decision is yours. You will work with your faculty advisor and Senior Seminar instructor to determine how to best disseminate your portfolio.

What do I need to include in my psychology major digital portfolio?

The psychology major includes a wide range of possible experiences, from the classes you choose to take, to the experiential learning opportunities in the major (field placement, internships, research assistant-ships, your own research) to those offered by the University  (study abroad, service learning, global learning).

Your digital portfolio should reflect your unique experiences, and as such, you have a great deal of flexibility in what you choose to include. 

The psychology department asks that you include a handful of required artifacts (detailed in the image below), but beyond that, you simply need to provide some form of evidence—from any source you think is most relevant (classes, research, field placements, etc.) in each of the areas discussed below. The easiest way to think about this is by the classes and the assignments you have already completed that you believe demonstrate alignment with the related departmental learning outcome.

Keep in mind that the requirements described below refer to what your completed portfolio should include (when you take Senior Seminar in your senior year), but that you will add to this incrementally as you move through the program. Do not wait until the last minute to finish this requirement.

What will happen if I don’t complete my digital portfolio?

Because we believe that digital portfolios uniquely contribute to the learning and overall experience of psychology students, and because we use digital portfolios to assess our effectiveness in preparing students for their futures, it is a departmental requirement that students complete their digital portfolios by the end of Senior Seminar. For this reason, at least 50% of your final grade in Senior Seminar will be devoted to your digital portfolio. Senior thesis faculty will also confirm that your digital portfolio is complete after the senior thesis paper and poster are included.

Where can I go if I have questions about my digital portfolio? 

If you’re having trouble figuring out what to add to your digital portfolio, or if you have any questions about the psychology department’s requirements, feel free to check in with any full-time faculty in the psychology department.  If you have technical questions about the digital portfolio platform or University-wide requirements go to this resource: https://sites.google.com/students.dominican.edu/digitalportfolio/home