Embedded Files
Effective Artifact Inclusion
Effective Artifact Inclusion
Displaying your work to maximize its impact
Tips to portray your work in the best light
What does effective artifact inclusion mean?
What does effective artifact inclusion mean?
Effective artifact inclusion requires that you not only provide the artifact in your ePortfolio, but also give your audience context on the experience and how that experience impacted you. To achieve this you should include three elements to effectively display your artifact: the artifact, a description, and a reflection. Your goal with each artifact is to clarify the meaning you are trying to express by including the artifact.
Clarifying the Meaning
Clarifying the Meaning
Contextualize the experience or artfact.
Explain what you accomplished or contributed.
Document what you learned.
State the importance of the experience to your development.
Describe the impact it had on you and why it had that impact.
Comment on what you learned and how you can transfer those skills to your field of study.
Example of effective artifact display
Description that provides context for the project
Artifact links to completed project meant for audience consumption
Reflection touches on artifact accomplishment and skills learned as well as how those skills transfer
Artifact links to completed project meant for audience consumption
Reflection touches on artifact accomplishment and skills learned as well as how those skills transfer
"ePortfolios can offer students an effective means to synthesize the lessons of a course or program by not only asking them to showcase their work but also to draw out the connections between artifacts in an effort to reinforce their learning and, perhaps, even spur on the creation of knowledge." (Sanborn, 2020)
"ePortfolios can offer students an effective means to synthesize the lessons of a course or program by not only asking them to showcase their work but also to draw out the connections between artifacts in an effort to reinforce their learning and, perhaps, even spur on the creation of knowledge." (Sanborn, 2020)
Click here to read more about ePortfolios use of artifacts as Linkages of Learning
What does this mean?
What does this mean?
Your artifact inclusions help you to demonstrate knowledge and growth by reflecting on your experiences and connecting that to your larger identity as an honors scholar.
How then do you include both the clarification of meaning and connection to the larger narrative of your growth in your presentation of the artifact?
How to Effectively Include Artifacts
How to Effectively Include Artifacts
Through the inclusion of the three elements we disscussed above, you can incorporate context and connection to your larger narrative of growth.
Description
Description
Providing context and promoting audience understanding
Artifact
Artifact
Effectively embedding artifacts for visibility and audience experience
Reflection
Reflection
Connecting your experience to your growth and development as an honors scholar
Description
Description
If your artifact inclusion was a paper, the description would be your introduction section. The goal of your description is to provide context for the artifact and its creation as well as aiding in audience understanding of the artifact's purpose or goal. Keep the description short and information dense.
What makes a good artifact description?
What makes a good artifact description?
A good description allows the audience to
Understand what the artifact is.
See the goal of the artifact's creation.
Experience the artifact in the manner you intended.
Be engaged and interested in the artifact.
Contextualize the artifact into the greater setting in which the artifact was created.
Artifact
Artifact
In the paper analogy your artifact is your body section, it provides evidence and persuades your audience that you did the work and that your artifact achieved its goal. To effectively achieve this your artifact must be embedded in a manner that displays the artifact in a way the audience can interact and engage with.
Goal of embedding artifact is to make the product and any elements of the process included availible to the viewer.
Goal of embedding artifact is to make the product and any elements of the process included availible to the viewer.
Keep your audience engaged!
Keep your audience engaged!
Avoid copying and pasting your work into your ePortfolio, try to make the content more engaging by including the artifact in an seperate format.
Keep eyes on your work; provide engaging content
How do you effectively embed the artifact?
How do you effectively embed the artifact?
Effective embedding of the artifact varies based on what type of artifact is being included. However the goal of all artifact embedding is to provide the artifact in an accessible, engaging, and understandable way.
Examples:
Text documents should embed a viewer ready version of the document
Longer documents with structure should include a table of contents
Videos should include captioning if possible and be publically availible
ePortfolios or webpages should be hyperlinked, site must be publically viewable
Projects including multiple phases do not need to include all aspects, select important highlights for inclusion and the final product
Real world projects shoudl include photos of the process and final product
For any niche cases, use your best judgement to achieve good user experience. If you're lost consider consulting the ePortfolio studio for assistance.
Reflection
Reflection
To close out the paper analogy, your reflection is your conclusion section. This is where you reiterate the knowledge and skills your artifact required and connect that growth to your larger narrative about your identity as an honors scholar. Reflections should also comment on the impact the artifact's creation had on you and highlight any elements of the process that were particuarly important to your development.
What is Reflective Writing?
What is Reflective Writing?
Reflective writing is writing that demonstrates critical analysis of an experience. It requires you to think back to your involvmenet and actions within the context of the experience to introspect on how the experience affected you. After introspection is complete, you must be able to carry the discussion into what your findings mean and how they are going to affect your future experiences. It is a complex process that requires deep introspection and a strong understanding of your sense of self.
Reflective writing is a skill and must be learned and practiced. This will likely be the most difficult part of your artifact inclusions and multiple drafts are recommended. Developing your ability to write reflectively is an investment in your future self. Both reflective writing and reflective thinking are valuable skills for any career or academic oppurtunity.
Video on reflective writing
How do you write reflectively in your ePortfolio?
How do you write reflectively in your ePortfolio?
The goal of your reflections in the ePortfolio is to introspect on your identity and goals as an honors student. Effective reflection of these topics requires that you connect your experiences back to a larger narrative about your academic and professional goals.
To do this try focusing on connecting your growth in knowledge and skills to your academic and career goals. This will put your experiences into the larger context, while also demonstrating intentional engagement to prepare yourself for oppurtunities like graduate school, a post-undergraduate career, or other oppurtunities within your field.
"We do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience"
"We do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience"
-John Dewey
-John Dewey
Want more help?
Want more help?
Visit the IU ePortfolio studio and schedule an appointment!
Visit the IU ePortfolio studio and schedule an appointment!
The ePortfolio studio offers in-person and virtual consultation appointments with student ePortfolio experts. Any format, any course, almost any time, and at no cost! If you don't know where to start, schedule your appointment ASAP. Whether your stuck on a draft you don't love or starting from scratch, the ePortfolio studio can help.
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