Portfolios

There are two important reasons we use ePortfolios.

First, the ePortfolio will help you integrate. Integrative Studies requires the integration of resources and insights from different disciplines. This will happen in your capstone project, where you apply your research from different disciplinary perspectives to a special complex problem.

Along the way you are taking courses from different disciplinary programs in your Integrative Studies major. The ePortfolio is a place where you reflect on the connections between those areas as you make progress in your program. You can mark your growth along the way by reflecting on how different experiences in different disciplines contribute to your programs meeting program and personal goals.

Second, the ePortfolio will be a place to showcase your best work. The American Association of Colleges and Universities published a report titled It Takes More than a Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student Success. There they point out that "[i]n addition to a resume or college transcript, more than 4 in 5 employers say an electronic portfolio would be useful to them in ensuring that job applicants have the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in their company or organization.”

It is not unusual in the arts--like theater, dance, or painting--for students and job seekers to create a portfolio of their best work, work that demonstrates to others (perhaps employers) the breadth and depth of their work and abilities. You want to leave NKU with such a portfolio. It will contain your resume, but it will also display your best work and demonstrate your success as an Integrative Studies student.

Integrative Studies will host a Showcase of student ePortfolios every semester. Since your ePortfolio will be shared publicly, identify documents you don't want to share and adjust the permissions level. Still, this is your best work so include as much as you can. Write for a public audience whenever possible.

Your portfolio will consist of reflections and artifacts. Students who declared the Integrative Studies major prior to fall 2020 can follow the previous guidelines, which required artifacts from the IST courses and two additional artifacts with reflections. Students who started the program in fall 2020 or after will follow the guidelines described here. ePortfolios are required in both the undergraduate (UG, both AAIS and BAIS) and the graduate (GR, MAIS) degree programs.

Required and Recommended Elements For All ePortfolios

The required and recommended elements are listed below. Apart from the required material, include items (papers, projects, experiences) that you are proud of and want to use to illustrate your growth and achievements in college. Share your best work and your most impactful experiences. How you want to organize this material in your portfolio will be up to you.There are some items we want to see in every ePortfolio.

ABOUT ME (all ePortfolios)

Tell the world about yourself. What should we know about your background and who you are? Do you have any favorite books, or movies? Do you have hobbies or interesting travel experiences? Finally, what is your mission statement? This is a brief statement about what matters to you and that you want your college education to prepare for.

• Background

• Mission statement or a statement about your passion

• Favorite books, movies, hobbies, travel, etc.

INTELLECTUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY

You write or revise an intellectual autobiography in every IST class. Include the most recent version in your ePortfolio.

A CURRENT RESUME

Include an up to date resume that includes reference to the skills, knowledge and experiences acquired in your areas of interest and that would be of interest to potential employers.

A CONTACT PAGE

Create a Contact Me page in Google Forms (or something similar) that will allow people to contact you with questions or comments.

IMPACTFUL EXPERIENCES

Describe and reflect on the value of experiences like internships, travel, volunteer service, leadership opportunities, clubs and organizations, work experiences. What awards and accolades have you received?

Program Requirements

Other items will include artifacts and reflections on assignments in your classes, depending on what program you are in.

Associate of Arts in Integrative Studies (AAIS)

You begin your ePortfolio in IST 185 and finish with IST 397. Include artifacts and reflections from these courses, and also include two artifacts and reflections from your other course work.

ARTIFACTS FROM IST 185 and IST 397

Include artifacts and reflections from your most impactful IST 185 and IST 397 assignments. Consider using the Disciplinary essay in IST 185 and the Prospectus in IST 397 as work that best demonstrates your efforts. How does the assignment or experience contribute to the development of your program goals? How does the assignment or experience contribute to your growth in one of the SLOs: Integrative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Effective Communication, or Information Literacy?

ARTIFACTS FROM YOUR OTHER CLASSES

You are also taking advanced courses in what are called "meta-major" areas. Include two artifacts from different classes with some reflection. How does the assignment or experience contribute to the development of your program goals? How does the assignment or experience contribute to your growth in one of the SLOs: Integrative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Effective Communication, or Information Literacy?

Bachelor of Arts in Integrative Studies (BAIS)

You begin your ePortfolio in IST 185 and finish with IST 397 and IST 497. Include artifacts and reflections from these courses, and also include two artifacts and reflections from your other course work.

ARTIFACTS FROM IST 185, IST 397, AND IST 497

Include artifacts and reflections from your most impactful IST 185 , IST 397, and IST 497 assignments. Consider using the Disciplinary essay in IST 185, the Prospectus in IST 397, and your final project in IST 497 as work that best demonstrates your efforts. How does the assignment or experience contribute to the development of your program goals? How does the assignment or experience contribute to your growth in one of the SLOs: Integrative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Effective Communication, or Information Literacy?

ARTIFACTS FROM YOUR OTHER CLASSES

Include at least one artifact and reflection each semester you are taking these advanced courses between your introduction (IST 185) and capstone courses (397 and 497). How does the assignment or experience contribute to the development of your program goals? How does the assignment or experience contribute to your growth in one of the SLOs: Integrative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Effective Communication, or Information Literacy?

Honors students who are substituting Honors courses for the IST Introduction and Capstone classes should follow the guideline here, but include artifacts and reflections from their Honors substitute classes, and other artifacts and reflections each semester as described above.

Master of Arts in Integrative Studies (MAIS)

You begin you ePortfolio in IST 585 and conclude with IST 793. Include artifacts and reflects from each semester in which you take classes between those courses.

ARTIFACTS FROM IST 585 and IST 793

In IST 585 you will learn to develop a prospectus, annotated bibliography, and short research project. In your capstone you are developing a final research project. How does the assignment or experience contribute to the development of your program goals? How does the assignment or experience contribute to your growth in one of the SLOs: Integrative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Effective Communication, or Information Literacy?

ARTIFACTS FROM YOUR OTHER CLASSES

Include at least one artifact and reflection each semester you are taking courses between your introduction (IST 585) and capstone courses (793). How does the assignment or experience contribute to the development of your program goals? How does the assignment or experience contribute to your growth in one of the SLOs: Integrative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Effective Communication, or Information Literacy?

We have checklists available for ePortfolios in each degree program.

Examples

Artifacts and reflections can include a variety of assignments or experiences. Be sure to talk about the impact of these artifacts on your progress in the program with respect to our four learning objectives: Integrative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Effective Communication, and Information Literacy.

1. You include a research paper from your journalism class that you are rather proud of. In your reflection essay you describe the assignment, and the topic and thesis of the paper. You believe that the paper represents progress in your ability to communicate effectively (it was well-organized and mechanically sound). You also think it demonstrates your ability to use various and relevant sources of information and you included a properly formatted bibliography (information literacy). You embed the paper, which is stored in Google Docs.

2. You were involved in an internship this semester. You have no particular object to share but in your reflection essay you describe the work and your responsibilities. What did you learn and what did you contribute? You describe how the work involved lots of problem solving (critical thinking) opportunities, which you describe and give examples of.

3. You took a study abroad trip during spring break. In you reflection paper you describe the travel, destination, and objectives of the experience. What did you learn? How did you benefit? You realized that you were applying knowledge from several disciplines and courses (integrative thinking), perhaps including a language class, a sociology class, and some history. You include some photographs from your travel.

4. You worked on a group project in your environmental science class. It involved working with community partners of a project of social significance. In your reflection you describe the project and your contribution. What did you learn? Your contribution to the final report was well-written, designed to be understood by the community audience (effective communication). The work required you to include science and some understanding of the social context (perhaps from economics and organizational leadership) and so you reflect on the integrative thinking involved. You link to the report and add a map of the community you worked with.

5. You are part of a leadership team for a campus student organization. Recently you helped organize a food drive in the community. You include a flyer and reflect on how the experience contributed to your ability to solve problems and communicate effectively.

LOOK AND FEEL

We want the ePortfolios to be creative and personal, but also respect the conventions of professionalism. The organization can be up to the student.

• Design an ePortfolio that is clean, simple, easy to read and navigate, professional, and intentionally directed at the appropriate audience.

• Your ePortfolio should reflect your character and strengths; be creative, be yourself, stay professional.

• Balance text, graphics, media and white space. Take advantage of the suite of inserts that Google (or another platform) provides.

• Your audience will be both your instructors and prospective career and community partners.

ASSESSMENT

Your ePortfolio will be evaluated in your capstone course (IST 397 for AAIS degree, IST 497 for the BAIS degree, and IST 793 for the MAIS degree). The ePortfolios provide an ongoing vehicle for feedback and assessment for learning, The are also an assessment of learning. What do we want ePortfolios to show?

• Progression to an appropriate level of competence along our four program learning objectives: Integrative thinking, Critical thinking, Effective Communication, and Information literacy. And this is in service to

• Growing intellectual maturity preparing students for successful professional and civic engagement.

On display are artifacts of your best work, reflective essays, and the overall composition of the ePortfolio. An overall rubric might look something like this.

1. Look and Feel. The ePortfolio is complete, professional-looking, well-organized, and easy to navigate.

2. Through the artifacts and reflections included the student has demonstrated adequate progress on our four student learning objectives (Integrative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Effective Communication, Information Literacy).

We are asking you to add an artifact and reflection each semester in which they take a course in one of their focus areas. Remember that artifacts can include written work, research, projects, and important experiences. Reflections should be at least one or two paragraphs long and include a brief description of the artifact (what was the assignment? For what class? For what purpose?), a reflection on why this artifact represents good progress on one or more of the learning objectives, and a reflection on the value of the artifact for the individual’s personal or academic goals or interests. For each artifact and reflection we will consider the following aspects.

3. Choice of Artifact. Does the artifact clearly reflect the SLO(s)? Does the artifact directly relate to the specified learning outcome?

4. Brief Description. Is the reflection paper complete with a description of the artifact? Does the reflection thoroughly describe the artifact and the context in which it was produced?

5. Making Connections. Is the reflection paper complete and does it address the connection between the artifact and the learning objectives(s)? Does the reflection completely and explicitly demonstrates a connection to the outcome(s) selected.

6. Value. Does the reflection paper address the value of the artifact to the student’s program of study?

CHOOSING A PLATFORM

We recommend Googles Sites as the platform on which to build your portfolio. But there are other site building platforms available as well. (Note that some sites, like WIX, might be blocked by NKU.) If you are comfortable using another platform, you can do that provided that we can view it. SquareSpace works well, as does the Adobe platform. We will look at setting up a Google Sites portfolio.

We believe the new Google Sites platform is easier to use and offers you nicer templates. The platform is integrated with other Google applications like Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, YouTube and Maps, making it very easy to add these elements to your site.

CREATING YOUR SITE

You'll need a google account. If you don't have one already, go to Google and create one. We recommend choosing a username that will serve you well in professional settings since you might want to share your portfolio later with potential employers or organizations.

Once you have a Google account, go to Google Sites (not the classic version) at https://sites.google.com/new.

To create your new site click the red PLUS button in the bottom right corner.

SETTING UP THE SITE

You are now working on an unpublished site. Nothing will be visible to the public until you Publish the site, which you can do in the upper left of the site window.

When you publish the first time, it will ask you to type in a site address. Keep it short and simple! Google will tell you if the address is available or not. When you have an address that is good to go, hit Publish. After you publish, the Publish button will give you three options, including View Publish Site.

Even after you Publish the site, you can make changes, but you will need to Publish again before the changes become public.

Site Title and Page Title. Give your site a title in the upper left-hand corner. Keep it very short, direct, and professional. This title will appear by default on all the pages of the site (although you can also choose to suppress it). Then add a title to the home page itself. Page titles can be changed later.

You can see the difference between the site title in the upper left-hand corner (which appears throughout the site) versus the individual page title on this page: "The Integrative Studies Portfolio" is the site title, and "How to Create Your Portfolio" is the page title.

You can also change the header type and add your own image or a stock image. A box with options appears in the bottom left of the image. This, too, you can change later.

Choose a theme. You will find different themes in the right sidebar under the Themes tab. We are using Impression with a yellow line and a Narrow font style.

DESIGNING YOUR SITE

As you prepare your ePortfolio, keep in mind that your audience includes

• the instructors and advisors in Integrative Studies, who are interested in your progress toward your degree;

• faculty and others across those university with whom you want to share your best work so they can write you letters of recommendations or consider you for awards or special academic experiences; and

• potential employers considering you for a job or actual employers considering you for a promotion.

Also remember that your are showcasing your best work, your skills and talents, and your experiences and achievements,

ADD CONTENT

You will see in the right sidebar a "Pages" tab that will allow you to create (and manage) pages. There is also an "Insert" tab that gives you options to add content, including text, images, video, and other elements. We will discuss this in more detail later. Please note that if you embed pages from Google (like a Google Doc) you will need to make that page public by sharing it. See the available tutorials for help and ideas.

SHARING YOUR SITE AND DOCUMENTS

You have control over who can see your ePortfolio and its contents. You will need to publish your Google Sites page. At the top of the page, click Publish. Enter the web address for your site. Click Publish.

Now that it's published, you can still decide who you want to share it with. You will want to share it with the Integrative Studies faculty. So on the bar at the top of the page, click on the sharing icon and add nkuist@gmail.com as an editor. We can then review your work and provide feedback. If you are embedding documents or items from Google, you must also share those as well, using the same procedure for each embedded document.

For example, suppose I create my Intellectual Autobiography essay on Google Docs and then embed that document on a page in my ePortfolio. I need to share that Google Doc with nkuist@gmail.com as well.

You might want to share your ePortfolio and its contents with the larger world. It is, after all, meant to be a showcase of your best work, along with your resume, for others to see. Under the sharing icon again go to Links, where you can determine whether the site URL will allow the public to view the published ePortfolio or only those who you listed to have access.

As you continue to edit your ePortfolio, new revisions will not be published until you select the Publish button.