REFLECTIONS on the 2022 AAEEBL Student Panel Experience
Thursday, July 21, 11:00-12:00 PST / 2:00-3:00 EST
Embedded Files
The Student Panel included voices across the ePortfolio spectrum: project-oriented ePortfolios, course-based ePortfolios, internship ePortfolios, graduate-program level ePortfolios, and more. On this webpage, we hear student perspectives after the panel.
STUDENTS SHARED IDEAS with THE FOUR QUESTIONS BELOW AS DISCUSSION STARTERS:
Was this your first academic conference?
What was it like sharing your ePortfolio to university faculty and ePortfolio pros?
Share your thoughts on the experience.
How might the panel experience influence your ePortfolio use and/or thoughts on ePortfolios?
Thank you for visiting our AAEEBL Student Panel presentation website.
The Student Panel convened July 21 at 11AM Pacific/ 2PM Eastern.
Panelist worked together to build this shared presentation ePortfolio. The week after the conference, on Thursday, July 28 from 3-4:00 EST, panelists Zoomed to debrief and reflect on the AAEEBL Student Panel experience.
[Image below of the Zoom debriefing]
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Panelists Opportunity to Type Reflections
Panelists Opportunity to Type Reflections
Was this your first academic conference?
What was it like sharing your ePortfolio to university faculty and ePortfolio pros?
Share your thoughts on the experience.
How might the panel experience influence your ePortfolio use and/or thoughts on ePortfolios?
Was this your first academic conference?
What was it like sharing your ePortfolio to university faculty and ePortfolio pros?
Share your thoughts on the experience.
How might the panel experience influence your ePortfolio use and/or thoughts on ePortfolios?
Chelsi Chapatwala: Senior, Exercise science, IUPUI
ePortfolio experience: Course-based ePortfolio
Link to Student/Professional ePortfolio:
https://cchapatw.wixsite.com/e-portfolio
Was this your first academic conference?
What was it like sharing your ePortfolio to university faculty and ePortfolio pros?
Share your thoughts on the experience.
How might the panel experience influence your ePortfolio use and/or thoughts on ePortfolios?
REFLECTIONS after the Panel Prep Zoom, Wednesday July 12, 2:00EST:
14:50:07 From Debbie Oesch-Minor to Everyone:
Your thoughts on prepping for a panel?
14:52:34 From Debbie Oesch-Minor to Everyone:
I appreciate the opportunity to prepare with students for panels. The digital prep—sharing information on a Google Site is an important step—but meeting on Zoom really helps me see how the panel can come together. My #1 goal with prep is to help students feel comfortable and prepared. And, we find that we have so much in common across states and universities—ePortfolios work regardless of when and where: when done well, they’re an asset. Prep reminds me of this and the ways reflection can support each stage.
14:52:53 From Emma Delph to Everyone:
I think it is smart to predict common questions and be prepared for most likely scenarios. We are doing it so that attendees get well thought out response while still keeping it authentic to our experiences.
14:53:24 From oliviabradford to Everyone:
Prepping for a panel is a very important opportunity to experience and practice how to answer important questions that I could encounter. Additionally, it helps me start reflecting on my additional experiences with ePortfolios by listening to others experiences. This has given me the opportunity to brainstorm best ways to express my thoughts surrounding ePortfolios.
14:53:28 From Brennah Kennedy to Everyone:
Prepping for this panel allowed me to hear myself respond and find areas that I need to improve upon. Also, getting the verbal feedback was helpful in improving my communication skills and make my responses more concise. I feel that this very much helps reduce the tension I had and allows me to feel better prepared considering this is the first time I am participating in a conference. It is also a unique experience getting to hear about others and their experiences, which helps me feel more inspired.
14:53:29 From Michael Peck to Everyone:
With my prior experience on panels, I have found that being on the spot with questions can be difficult and lead to important points you want mentioned getting lost. I think that by highlighting these important points during a practice it allows us to provide the context and bring up the points we deem important so that later questions are guided toward a productive discussion. It also helps with nerves and maintaining a professional demeanor.
14:55:25 From Chelsi Chapatwala to Everyone:
I think I would want to come in with an open mind but prepare my materials in order to feel confident in what I would be presenting. And Don’t forget to relax yourself physically and mentally so that you can handle all the information during the panel. Rid of any stress before hand and just have fun with all the knowledge
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OTHER RESPONSES/REFLECTIONS
Debbie Oesch-Minor
To be added later
The student panelists challenged me to re-think
the ways I introduce ePortfolios.
What I appreciated most was the student's openness. Student honesty about how intimidating ePortfolios are when they are first introduced strikes me as something worth noticing. My students make similar comments about their team project/s and the course workload outlined in the syllabus. I empathize.
I remember walking into Dr. Saalbach's Sociology course, getting the syllabus, and feeling a flight or fight response. Salbaach's class ended up being one of the best of my undergraduate experience. He knew it was hard. He knew the buzz: students whispered about him in the hallways. He tapped into that energy by dressing to match his level of expectation for student performance. He wore his anthropologist shirt for day one: a pleated, button up dress shirt, Caribbean safari style. For the midterm exam, he wore a suit and tie. For the final exam, he wore a tuxedo. I presented him with a red, rose boutonniere to add the finishing touch to the tux. Saalbach's students, including me, met him step-by-step, challenge-by-challenge to explore the work of Foucault, Geertz, and Martineau. The concepts were complicated. The work was intimidating. Saalbach was unflappable. He believed in us and supported our learning. It was scary at first and hard work from the week one academic article until he walked through the door for our final exam wearing a bow-tie, tux jacket, and canvas tennis shoes.
There were only a handful of faculty members who had the gravitas and expertise to challenge me the way Dr. Saalbach challenged me. These faculty created classes that were, in every way, more challenging than other classes. Their assignments were more "real", and their feedback was more thorough. I can still list them: Othoson, Branson, Saalbach for undergrad--Peterson, Stroik, and the Cowans [Mary Louise, Donald, and Bainard] for grad school. What did they have in common? They were fearless in their challenge: learning "this" is hard, and it's important. And, they were just as fearless in their support saying, "You can do this." They were unapologetic. The ideas were complicated. The assignments were open-ended and forced me to discover and report on my own evolving thoughts on sociology, literature, semantics, and culture. They encouraged me to make connections by asking where does what we're learning connect with democratic ideas? equality? pedagogy? theory?
The panelists affirmed that ePortfolios and folio thinking are new and often challenging.
We, as faculty members, should find supportive, practical ways to guide our students as
they explore the new worlds of ePortfolios.
I want my students to feel challenged, but not overwhelmed. I want to support learning without cutting corners or building cookie-cutter experiences. I want to inspire and support learners the way so many generous teachers inspired me. I'm convinced that insightful reflection on course materials and what students are learning is essential to the process and that ePortfolios provide transparency in documenting, sharing, and interrogating the learning process.
ePortfolios are both architectural and pedagogical keys
to building reflective learning experiences.
ePortfolios are both architectural and pedagogical keys to building reflective learning and intellectual complexity into my classes. And, while I don't want students to be terrified or intimidated by their initial introduction to ePortfolios, I do want to let students know this is hard work, and, at times, frustrating work. And, I want them to know that this work will be rewarding. This work will provide students with metacognitive awareness and add to their technological tool belt.
The student panelists challenged me to re-think the ways I introduce ePortfolios. They affirmed that early on, ePortfolios and folio thinking are new and challenging. And, that we, as faculty members, should find supportive, practical ways to guide our students as they explore the worlds of ePortfolios.
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TRANSPARENCY
The invitation to debrief was sent along with a "Thank You" email to all participants right after the Student Panel at AAEEBL.
Debbie Oesch-Minor and Rachel Swinford worked with the AAEEBL Planning Committee. Part of their work was to coordinate the Student Panel. Other AAEEBL members helped Debbie and Rachel connect with faculty across the country; faculty emailed students with the AAEEBL panel opportunity. There were some challenges getting responses from interested students from other universities, even with the generous support of AAEEBL representatives and faculty at several universities. As a result, most of the students on this year's panel are from IU Bloomington and IUPUI. Special thanks to Brennah for joining the panel from Bucknell.
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Ideas? Questions? Comments?
Ideas? Questions? Comments?
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