My Goals as I Implement ePortfolios in ENG-W131: Reading, Writing & Inquiry

Make Integration and Growth Visible Through Scaffolded Reflection

Help students explicitly recognize how their learning connects across the semester. Students already develop impressive reading, writing, and inquiry skills through embodied practices and multimodal composition. I want them to see these connections in real-time, capture learning as it happens, and articulate growth with specific evidence—not retroactively at semester's end.

Transform Student Perception of First-Year Writing

Shift how first-generation students, especially those in health sciences and STEM, perceive W131: from "just a requirement I have to get through" to "foundational professional development that prepared me for my career." This mindset shift matters deeply. When students see their writing as career preparation—complete with published portfolio and portable credentials—they invest differently.

Create Authentic Audience and Real Stakes

Give students genuine reason to care about revision, reflection, and polish. When work is published in The Inquiry for peers, faculty, families, and potential employers to see, students write with purpose. Authentic audience transforms motivation.

Why I Chose to Integrate ePortfolios

W131 already involves significant reflective and integrative work. Students complete three major projects (narrative, research, reflection), engage in embodied reading practices, write multiple They Say/I Say responses, and develop as writers across 16 weeks. It's authentic, rigorous, transformative work.

Yet traditional portfolio assignments create predictable problems:

• The End-of-Semester Crunch: Students scramble to compile 15 weeks of work and write reflections about learning they can barely remember. Reflection becomes performative rather than genuine.

• The Private Submission Problem: Students write for an audience of one (me). There's no authentic reason to revise carefully or present professionally. No one beyond the instructor ever sees the work.

• The Missing Career Connection: First-generation students finish without recognizing they've developed Communication and Critical Thinking competencies. They can't articulate these skills when employers ask "Tell me about your writing experience" or "How do you approach complex problems?"

I'm not inventing new assignments. I'm making existing learning visible, integrated, and portable.

What Questions Will This Address?

For Students:

• How do I connect my narrative writing, research work, and reflections into a cohesive learning story?

• What professional skills am I developing in this "writing course" that matter for my career?

• How do I translate what I learned in W131 into language employers and graduate programs understand?

• What evidence can I provide when asked about communication or critical thinking skills?

• Why does this published work matter beyond getting a grade?

For the Field:

• How do we scaffold ePortfolio reflection throughout a semester instead of dumping it at the end?

• What does authentic audience look like in first-year writing courses?

• How can collaborative digital publication deepen student engagement with course goals?

• How do we help first-generation students recognize writing courses as career preparation?

• What role do portable credentials (published ePortfolios, digital badges) play in student motivation?

Connection to Course SLOs and PLUS Profiles

W131 Course Goals (SLOs):

Goal 1: Develop strategies for reading rhetorically
Goal 2: Develop strategies for writing rhetorically
Goal 3: Develop meaningful questions to engage in inquiry
Goal 4: Identify yourself as a writer who controls your own processes

ePortfolio Integration: Students write individual reflections addressing each goal as they develop the skill (not at semester's end). Final ePortfolio synthesizes growth across all four goals with specific evidence from projects.

NACE Career Readiness Competencies (Primary Focus):

Communication: Clearly exchange information, ideas, and perspectives
Critical Thinking: Identify and respond to needs based on situational context and logical analysis

ePortfolio Integration: Students write dedicated reflections with concrete evidence of how they developed each competency through W131 work. Published ePortfolio becomes evidence they can share with employers.

IU Indianapolis PLUS Profiles:

✚ Communicator: Students express learning in multimodal formats, adapting for different audiences
✚ Problem Solver: Students articulate integration of learning to solve complex problems
✚ Innovator: Students demonstrate investigation and problem-solving processes
✚ Community Contributor: Students show contributions through curated artifacts and cohesive reflections

ePortfolio Integration: The Inquiry as collaborative publication positions students as contributors to scholarly community. Published work demonstrates all four PLUS dimensions.

Explain why you chose to integrate ePortfolios? What questions will they address? How will they connect to SLOs and The Profiles?

What expectations did you have going into this experience?

What did you wish to gain from this experience?

Faculty Annual Review Elements

Professional Development: Certificate of Workshop Completion