Create. Share. Engage.

Professor Dr Candyce Reynolds, Director of University Foundations (General Education) at Boise State University, and Dr Sonja Taylor, Director of Senior Inquiry at Portland State University (PSU) talk about one of their projects in which they use social media to teach their students reflection, digital citizenship, and digital literacy skills. Tune in to learn why folio thinking, the process, is important to them, and how they bring their students along on the journey.

Connect with

• Candyce on LinkedIn
• Sonja on LinkedIn

Resources

• Reynolds, C., Pirie, M. S., & Taylor, S. (2024). Folio thinking and digital literacy: Integrating social media and ePortfolios. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 1–10.
• Reynolds, C., & Pirie, M. S. (2022). Growing the garden of integrative learning: Composting as a metaphor for folio thinking. AAEEBL ePortfolio Review, Fall/Winter, 46–50.
• Sonja's portfolio
• Candyce's portfolio
• Summer Bridge programme at PSU
• Swordfisk, K. (2024, August 22). Inquiry for Justice at Portland State bridges gap for historically excluded students.
• Taylor, S. (2024). Teaching to a different test. Presentation at Pebblebash 2024.
• Taylor, S. (2024). Public reflection as a classroom tool. Presentation at AAEEBL Annual Meeting 2024.
• Funds of Knowledge Alliance
• Penny Light, T., Chen, H. L., & Ittelson, J. C. (2011). Documenting learning with ePortfolios: A guide for college instructors. Jossey-Bass. (Helen developed the idea of 'folio thinking' in this book)
• Suter, V. (2013, June 5). Folio thinking. Vicki Suter.
• Reynolds, C., & Patton, J. (2014). Leveraging the ePortfolio for integrative learning: A faculty guide to classroom practices for transforming student learning. Routledge.
• AAEEBL Digital Ethics in ePortfolios principle of DEIBD
• Sonja's PebbleBash presentation
• Distinguished Professor Dr Sylvia Spears from College Unbound

Click through to the episode notes for the transcript.

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Production information
Production: Catalyst IT
Host: Kristina Hoeppner
Artwork: Evonne Cheung
Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Honorary Senior Lecturer Tom Worthington, MEd FHEA FACS CP, from The Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, Australia, teaches computer science students. He uses authentic learning tasks, in particular around the topic of job applications to engage his students in portfolio practice.

In this interview, Tom shares his own journey from a design portfolio to one for his Master's in Education and what he has learned along the way that is helping him support his students in their own reflective practice without employing portfolio language, but rather using language that has more meaning to his students.

Connect with Tom on LinkedIn

Resources

• Tom's blog posts on his portfolio course ideas
• Presentation 'A job application as the capstone for work integrated learning'
• Professor Dr Stephen Dann
• LEGO SERIOUS PLAY
• Professor Dr Charles Gretton
• ANU TechLauncher
• Awasthy, R., Flint, S., & Sankaranarayana, R. (2017). Lifting the constraints—Closing the skills gap with authentic student projects. 2017 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), 955–960.
• Worthington, T. (2019). Blend and flip for teaching communication skills to final year international computer science students. 2019 IEEE International Conference on Engineering, Technology and Education (TALE), 1–5.

Related episodes

The Master in Education at Athabasca University:

• Dr Rita Zuba Prokopetz: Building a learning community
• Professor Dr Debra Hoven: The value of self-reflection and peer feedback

Mike Joiner-Hill: Represent yourself through a portfolio

Click through to the episode notes for the full transcript.

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Production information
Production: Catalyst IT
Host: Kristina Hoeppner
Artwork: Evonne Cheung
Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Professor Dr Cathy Elliott is Vice Dean (Education) in the Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences at University College London (UCL), UK. She teaches a political science class on nature and supports over 1,000 faculty and 7,000 students in the Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences at UCL.

In this episode she gives an update on what she has achieved since her first episode in May 2023 and what she's excited about in regards to portfolios. She shares how the Geography Department is going to use portfolios in a programmatic approach, starting in an overhauled first year and making the work in the portfolio the centre of the assessment strategy.

Connect with Cathy

• Bluesky
• UCL researcher profile

Resources

• Associate Professor Dr Fergus Green
• Professor Dr Jan Axmacher
• Campaign of the National Union of Students 'Mark my words, not my name'
• Pitt, Edd, & Winstone, Naomi (2018). The impact of anonymous marking on students’ perceptions of fairness, feedback and relationships with lecturers. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 43(7), 1183–1193.

Related episodes

• Prof Dr Cathy Elliott: Creativity and feedback in assessment portfolios
• Kate Mitchell, MEd: Deliberate and programmatic design
• Dr Mark Glynn, PFHEA: Take a programmatic approach to assessment with portfolios

Click through to the episode notes for the transcript.

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Production information
Production: Catalyst IT
Host: Kristina Hoeppner
Artwork: Evonne Cheung
Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Jonathan Murphy, FCA, is Head of the Apprenticeship Department at Griffith College in Ireland and is passionate about portfolios for his degree apprentices but would also take it beyond his own department. In his interview, Jonathan outlines who students at Griffith College use portfolios, demonstrate and track their skills and competencies and how the portfolio helps bridge the apprenticeship with the academic rigour.

Click through to the episode notes for the transcript.

Connect with Jonathan on LinkedIn

Resources

• Griffith College case study
• Universal Design for Learning
• Fundamentals of SmartEvidence
• More power to assess competencies with SmartEvidence version 2
• QQI: Quality and Qualifications Ireland
• NFQ: National Framework of Qualifications

Related episodes

• Derrin Kent: Portfolios in degree apprenticeships
• Kathleen Blake Yancey: Heuristics for meaningful portfolios

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Production information
Production: Catalyst IT
Host: Kristina Hoeppner
Artwork: Evonne Cheung
Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Dr Sheetal J. Patel from the Integrative Learning Portfolio Lab (ILPL) at Stanford University wears several hats besides the one of being founding member and contributor to the lab. She runs her own company, Aha! >> Opportunities, co-founded the facilitation company Ninety-Five Z, works for LinkedIn Learning, and is a mom.

In this episode, Sheetal shares why diversity, equity, and inclusion (and belonging and decolonisation - DEIBD if talking about the AAEEBL Digital Ethics Principles) are at the forefront of her thinking, what frameworks the ILPL has developed that the student ambassadors and workshop facilitators at the ILPL work with, what impact generative AI is having, and why she thinks reflection is key, not just to portfolios.

Connect with Sheetal on LinkedIn

Resources

• Workshop 'Addressing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging in Student Showcase ePortfolios' in 2020
• ILPL video series
• ILPL LinkedIn page
• Interview with Naomi Pitts (Auburn University)
• Bloom's taxonomy
• AAEEBL Digital Ethics Principles

Related episodes with other members of the ILPL

• Dr Helen L. Chen: Reflect through conversation to tell your story
• Mike Joiner-Hill, MSW: Represent yourself through a portfolio
• Mario A. Peraza, MS: Use AI to help curate your digital presence

Click through to the episode notes to access the transcript.

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Production information
Production: Catalyst IT
Host: Kristina Hoeppner
Artwork: Evonne Cheung
Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Professor Dr Patsie Polly (SFHEA), Director and Fellow of the UNSW Scientia Education Academy at University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, has been using portfolios in biomedical sciences since 2011/12. In this episode she shares how she started with the practice, and why she is a strong advocate for using portfolios not just for authentic assessment tasks.

Connect with Patsie on LinkedIn

Resources

• Patsie's research and publications
• Blog post 'Can portfolio pegagogy be shaken by AI' with Kate Coleman
• Field Guide to ePortfolio
• Presentation 'Linking learning to employability through ePortfolios' with Dr Beth Gordon, Roger Emery, Kristina Hoeppner, and Sibylle Würz
• Riff: AI reflection bot
• AAC&U's High-Impact Practices
• HERDSA - Higher Education and Development Society of Australia
• ePortfolios Australia
• Eportfolio Forum 2024
• AAEEBL - Association for Authentic, Experiential, and Evidence-Based Learning

Related episodes

• Kate Mitchell: Deliberate and programmatic design
• Mark Glynn: Take a programmatic approach to portfolio assessment
• Allison Miller: The portfolio is a process

Click through to the episode notes to access the transcript.

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Production information
Production: Catalyst IT
Host: Kristina Hoeppner
Artwork: Evonne Cheung
Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Associate Professor Dr Zala Volcic is Director of Teaching Innovation within the Faculty of Arts at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. She shares how her students in the Bachelor of Media Communication (BMC) in the School of Media, Film, and Journalism use portfolios in different ways in their studies.

Zala shares what is important to her in teaching students and how she and her colleagues assist them become humans with personal, professional, and social responsibilities. She has a lot of tips for educators, and the biggest one is to work with the learning / educational designers at their institutions.

Zala's work was supported by the Australian Research Council [DP230103037].

Resources

• Press release on Zala being awarded the Australian University Teacher of the Year 2023 Award in February 2024
• Bachelor of Media Communication students on their portfolio work
• D’Souza, I., Volcic, Z., & Sapsed, C. (2023a). Connecting through eportfolio practice: Trust, relationships & expertise. eBook of Shortened Peer Reviewed Papers, Eportfolio Forum 2023, 15–19.
• D’Souza, I., Volcic, Z., & Sapsed, C. (2023b, October 11). Connecting through eportfolio practice: Trust, relationships & expertise. Eportfolio Forum 2023, Darwin, Australia.
• Volcic, Z., Tran, I., Palepu, V., & Baath, R. (2024). Intercultural communication during pandemic: New ways to build intercultural dialogue and relationships. Intercultural Communication, 35(1), 42–61.
• Ingrid D'Souza's episode on creativity and lifelong learning
• Joanne Painter from the ICON Agency
• Zala's publications
  
  

Click through to the episode notes for the transcript.

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Production information
Production: Catalyst IT
Host: Kristina Hoeppner
Artwork: Evonne Cheung
Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

In this episode, Derrin Kent, Founder of The Development Manager (TDM) in the UK, talks about how his company supports degree apprentices on their learning journey with portfolios. He details the difference between a degree and an apprenticeships and how together they are very complementary. He points out the importance of the portfolio and the reflection process.

Connect with Derrin on LinkedIn

Resources

• Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE)
• Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted)
• Bloom's taxonomy
• Derrin's episode on Skills Bootcamps
• SmartEvidence and SmartEvidence version 2
• TDM's degree apprenticeships
• TDM's Skills Bootcamps

Click through to the episode notes on the website for the transcript.

Subscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.

Production information
Production: Catalyst IT
Host: Kristina Hoeppner
Artwork: Evonne Cheung
Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Allison Miller, MLD, Director and Lead Consultant at Digital Capability in Adelaide, Australia, talks about her passion: ePortfolios. She also leads the ePortfolios Australia Organising Committee that offers events, research, and practice opportunity for portfolio researchers and practitioners, primarily in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

In this episode, Allison shares some of her practice and projects she's involved in and explains what the main components of a portfolio are for her and how to get started.

Connect with Allison on LinkedIn

Resources

• Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA)
• Tall Poppy Syndrome
• EmPr Beverley Oliver
• ePortfolios Australia community website
• ePortfolio Australia PARE sessions
• Eportfolio Forum, 10-11 September 2024
• Kate Mitchell's episode on programmatic design
• Shari Bowker's episode on feedback
• Flyer for one of the 'Shut up and ePortfolio' sessions with Sandra Stewart in 2020
• Brown, G., Chen, H. L., & Gordon, A. (2012). The annual AAEEBL survey at two: Looking back and looking ahead. International Journal of ePortfolio, 2(2), 129–138.

Click through to the episode notes for the transcript.

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Production information
Production: Catalyst IT
Host: Kristina Hoeppner
Artwork: Evonne Cheung
Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Assistant Professor at Tallahassee State College Amanda B. Wallace, MA, and Kylie Pugh, MA, Adjunct Faculty at the University of West Florida and Customer Success Manager at Instructure talk about their experience with portfolios that they designed around student well-being. Together with Dr Bre Garrett (University of West Florida), they conducted research in that area and published that at the end of 2023.

Kylie and Amanda share their own learning journey, filled with trials, errors, and lots and lots of reflective work. They showcase beautifully portfolio work themselves.

The majority of their work that they share happened during the COVID-19 pandemic. In one part of the interview they share some of the difficult situations that they experienced. This section is prefaced with a content warning so you can skip to the next chapter if this may be difficult for you to listen to.

Connect with Amanada and Kylie

• Amanada on LinkedIn
• Kylie on LinkedIn

Resources

• Garrett, B., Pugh, K., & Wallace, A. B. (2023). ePortfolio Composition: Fostering a Pedagogy of Well-Being. Across the Disciplines, 20(3–4), 87–109.
• Webinar recording for 'From research to application: ePortfolio practice across the disciplines' on 28 June 2024

Click through to the episode notes to access the transcript.

Subscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.

Production information
Production: Catalyst IT
Host: Kristina Hoeppner
Artwork: Evonne Cheung
Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward