REFLECTIONS on the 2022 AAEEBL Student Panel Experience
Thursday, July 21, 11:00-12:00 PST / 2:00-3:00 EST
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
Sophie Carrison: Senior, Biology, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis/IUPUI ePortfolio Studio, student consultant
ePortfolio Experiences: Course-based ePortfolio, project-based ePortfolio with a community client, and ePortfolio student consultant
Student/Professional ePortfolio http://sites.google.com/iu,edu/sophiedemoeportfolio/home
Project-Based Micro-ePortfolio for a Community Client in the 2021 Institute for Engaged Learning Showcase https://getengaged.iupui.edu/showcase/2021/pbl/w231/woman-4-change.html
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?
Inge Mares: M.S. Ed., Educational Leadership & Policy with specialization in Postsecondary, Adult, and Continuing Education (PACE), Portland State University (Spring 2022)
ePortfolio Experiences: Recent MS graduate who used ePortfolios to document learning journey, benchmarks, and share a Comprehensive Project
Teaching the Teachers: Best Practices for Technology Support Desk Employees When Working with Aging Adult Learners
https://pebblepad.com/spa/#/public/GctzZ7MGccy5zd67pm6b4kRqgW
Was this your first academic conference? Yes
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?
Sheila Mullooly: Ed.D. Postsecondary Educational Leadership & Policy, Portland State University
ePortfolio Experiences: Completed a multi-paper doctoral dissertation using ePortfolio/s
Higher Education Futures: The Transformative Potential of using Critical Foresights Practices & Arts Based Research in our Brittle, Anxious, Non-linear, and Incomprehensible (BANI) World
https://pebblepad.com/spa/#/public/GctzZ7HncqcRngt6WGxzdcbsfy
Was this your first academic conference?
This was not my first academic conference. It was, however, the first conference I participated in after completing my Ed.D. in Postsecondary Educational Leadership & Policy at Portland State University June 2022. It's also the first opportunity I've had to think, and now say to you, I'm an independent academic--for now.
As someone experiencing a mid-career pivot, I'm grateful for all the opportunities I've had to participate in different academic and professional conferences (e.g., AAEEBL, TESOL, ORTESOL, NAFSA, CRLA, CRLANW, ASHE, OWHE)--in person and virtually-- through many different roles (e.g., student, volunteer, presenter, panelist, audience-participant, conference planning leadership roles, silent auction lead organizer, Miro board/jam board facilitator, Zoom break out room facilitator, affinity space moderator).
What was it like sharing your ePortfolio to university faculty and ePortfolio pros?
Sharing my Ed.D. ePortfolio with the AAEEBL community of educators, scholars, and researchers was validating, supportive, and inspirational. Presenting with our student panel enriched the academic dialogue, intergenerational connections, and personal, pragmatic, and theoretical reflections--truly praxis in action.
Share your thoughts on the experience.
As a recent PSU COE graduate, the invitation to share my educational experience with ePortfolio use in my doctoral program was particularly meaningful and timely. In terms of my role as a graduate student--now that school is out forever--I find myself still processing the 5-year educational journey I just completed, in transition from graduate school to my next career moves, and eager to return to the classroom as a teacher. This AAEEBL panel experience was a wonderful opportunity to network, mentor, be mentored, and gain more insight into panel facilitation. Creating an artifact to be used by future AAEEBL student panel facilitators and participants was empowering and supportive of academic and professional identity development.
How might the panel experience influence your ePortfolio use and/or thoughts on ePortfolios?
Let me count the ways. First, I plan to revisit the portfolio created to accompany our AAEEBL student panel discussion. In addition to having a closer read, I will probably end up tinkering with my page. I am, in fact, doing so right now as I write these reflections.
During our panelist and facilitator group debrief chat today, we discussed sharing our portfolio with others as a roadmap for future conference organizers and facilitators. We considered looking for relevant academic opportunities to present and co-author about the experience too.
Here are some take-aways about the student panel ePortfolio experience Debbie designed and masterfully executed. ePortfolio thinking and use facilitated: accessibility of content, ease of planning, transparency, co-authorship, creativity, career prep/spotlight, networking, collegiality, authenticity, and learning transfer (i.e., as panelist, as conference participant, as emerging academic identities). For more questions than answers about The Future of ePortfolios.
Michael Peck: Junior, Psychology, IUPUI
ePortfolio Experiences: Course-based ePortfolio and project-based ePortfolio with a community client
Link to our Team Recommendation Report ePortfolio for our community client: Copper Trace
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?
Yaqoub Saadeh: Junior, Psychology, IUPUI
ePortfolio Experiences: Course-based ePortfolio and Internship-oriented Research ePortfolio
Link to Life Health Sciences Internship ePortfolio in 2021 the Institute for Engaged Learning Showcase https://getengaged.iupui.edu/showcase/2021/pbl/w131/saadeh-yaqoub.html
Link to first year writing ePortfolio in 2021 the Institute for Engaged Learning Showcase https://getengaged.iupui.edu/showcase/2021/pbl/w131/saadeh-yaqoub.html
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?
Jada White: Sophomore, Biology and Forensic Science, IUPUI
ePortfolio Experiences: Course-based ePortfolio and project-based ePortfolio with a community client
Link to Professional Writing Skills ePortfolio created for our semester assignments (course-oriented ePortfolio)
https://jw1416.wixsite.com/w23-eportfolio
Link to Professional Writing Skills ePortfolio created for our community client: IU School of Medicine (project-oriented ePortfolio)
https://jw1416.wixsite.com/my-site
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?
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OTHER RESPONSES/REFLECTIONS
Debbie Oesch-Minor
The panelists did a great job commenting on their ePortfolios and sharing ideas in the Zoom Chat.
Special thanks to the Zoom Moderator: Tracy's work behind the scenes kept everything flowing smoothly.
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.
Here's a copy of the email "Thank You" and invitation to debrief via Zoom
Oesch-Minor, Deborah Jayne
To:
White, Jada Elizabeth;
Carrison, Sophie;
Inge Mares
Sheila Mullooly
Peck, Michael X;
Saadeh, Yaqoub Ahmad
Thu 7/21/2022 4:58 PM
THANK YOU, Thank You, thank you!
You all were amazing. I appreciate your time and the hard work you put into preparing and sharing your materials on our Google Site.
Here's a link for quick access: https://sites.google.com/d/1aF049qro-...FAKELINKHEREONPURPOSE...7/p/17kBYcBDB-8OuZRwW77SRNJGECGU713Zr/edit
Now that the panel is behind you, are you comfortable reflecting on the panel, then sharing that reflection at the bottom area of your tab? You might point to your favorite question + share your response, then comment on what it was like to talk about your ePortfolio. How did this affect your ideas about what you did and what you might do with ePortfolios in the future?
A couple of you texted to ask if we could have a Zoom debrief.
Absolutely, yes!
How many of us could attend Thursday, July 28 around 12Pacific, 3PM Eastern?
[zero obligation here--just a time to talk through the panel experience and consider how it fits into your resume].
Thank you again and have a wonderful weekend!
Sincerely,
Debbie
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Ideas? Questions? Comments?
