Making Connections Community

Drs. Aliya Holmes & Brenda López Ortiz, Assistant Professors of Educational Technology, School of Education

The ePortfolio Project is an effort led by Drs. Aliya Holmes and Brenda López Ortiz to integrate ePortfolios in the Teacher Education Program at St. John's University.   The initial effort was funded in 2007 by the Making Connections Mini-Grant administered by LaGuardia Community College and FIPSE.  As a result of research and development surrounding ePortfolios, the School of Education launched a pilot project in 2008 and adopted the venture for the Undergraduate Education Program in 2009.  All undergraduate students in the School of Education receive TaskStream accounts and have the opportunity to start working on their Program ePortfolio. The Program ePortfolio catalogues the products and valuable lessons drawn from the academic and service related experiences at St. John's.  In addition, graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in Associate Teaching Courses will also have an opportunity to develop a Professional ePortfolio as a part of their course work and final project.  Although the Program ePortfolio utilizes the same structure, the Professional ePortfolio serves more as a digital resume and highlights exemplary work in the following areas selected by the School of Education:

·         Subject Knowledge

·      Pedagogical Knowledge

·      Caring & Teaching Skill

·      Learning to Learn

·      Diversity & Multicultural Understandings

·      Technology Integration

From the initial pilot in 2008, our ePortfolio community has grown from approximately 50 to 480 students, and though we notice room for improvement, the results are promising.  As a community, we continue to explore ways for integration, faculty development, training, support, funding, assessment, and satisfaction.