You Can Take it with You? Student Library Employees’ use of ePortfolios for Assessment and Professional “Edentity” Building Brian McManus and Gabriella Reznowski, Washington State University Libraries Introduction ePortfolios have become an important tool for assessing and tracking employee development. As an electronic inventory of one’s professional and academic growth, university libraries can use ePortfolios to monitor and evaluate an employee’s progress over time. In 2008, the Washington State University Libraries became involved in the institution’s ePortfolio initiative. Library supervisors hoped that as a dynamic online tool, the ePortfolio concept would provide an effective method for assessing the library’s body of student employees. Collaborating with the Center for Teaching and Learning Technology (CTLT), Student Career Services, Student Computing Services, and the WSU Libraries explored the possibility of using ePortfolios to drive employee assessment. The Access Services unit, with the assistance of the Library Instruction and Humanities and Social Sciences units, piloted ePortfolios as an assessment tool that would engage student workers. Conclusion ePortfolios offer advantages to both library unit supervisors and student employees. For student employees, ePortfolios provide a dynamic tool for marketing skills gained during their library employment, and indeed their university career. For supervisors, ePortfolios not only provide an effective assessment tool, but also a way to archive a student’s work history so that it can be effectively referred to in the future. Since ePortfolios can be personalized in a “Facebook©”- like manner, students may feel a stronger sense of ownership and motivation toward this approach, versus traditional assessment methods. Personalization also allows students to use the ePortfolio as a multipurpose tool: for assessment, skill marketing, collecting evidence of growth, and campus networking. By offering storage and access options through the university, ePortfolios give the permanency needed to be used as a tool for lifelong learning; one that can be further developed beyond a student’s college years. Advantages of the ePortfolio for Assessment Allows students to participate in the assessment process in a way that is reflective of their individual personality, abilities and interests. Promotes student ownership of the assessment experience. Allows students to easily gather and analyze evidence of their progress. Easily revisable and allows students to create a dynamic “Edentity” reflects their individuality and is designed toward their career and life goals. Multimedia and a variety of online artifacts can be incorporated. Allows students to interface and market technology skills, work experience, academic experience and life experience, to potential employers. The Assessment Process Student employees answered 23 questions related to how they view their work environment and how they feel they fit into this environment. Employees were asked to ‘reflect’ on their progress toward becoming more adept at their position’s core competencies. The student’s reflection and assessment were reviewed by the Access Services supervisor. The supervisor and student met to discuss their differences of opinion and to set new goals, as well as to develop a strategy for meeting their current goals. Facebook is a social networking software and the content may not be conducive to marketing oneself to a potential employer; Facebook does not allow for the uploading of certain artifacts, such as MS Word docs and Powerpoint presentations to evidence student growth Why not just use Facebook©? Students can designate portions of the ePortfolio as “public” and viewable across the World Wide Web. Can students “take it with them”? WSU servers maintain the ePortfolios for 3 years; students will be able to login during this same period, with the option to extend access for a longer period of time What about long term storage and access post graduation? Train the trainer, continue to maintain and pursue collaboration with other departments, Incorporate into the organizational culture How can we implement year after year? Employers who use the ePortfolio platform include Boeing, Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL. Are employers currently using ePortfolios to assess their employees? How to promote “buy-in” and implement continued development of the ePortfolios? How to manage implementation each year? How to ensure continued promotion of the ePortfolio concept to students as a useful tool for marketing both their work and academic experience? Supervisor assesses the student Supervisor and student compare their assessments Modify outcomes, criteria and practices to better the organization Student self- assesses their work Libraries: Provide ePortfolio orientations, workshops and support to library student employees Assess student employee performance and provide feedback Encourage students to make connections between their current employment, their academic aspirations, and lifelong learning Center for Teaching and Learning: Promote ePortfolios to integrate work experience, academic experience and life experience through artifacts and reflection to evidence growth Provide support and education to the Libraries in integrating ePortfolios into the organizational culture Student Career Services: Support students in promoting their work experience to potential employers Promote ePortfolios to potential employers, as a tool for evaluating an applicant’s skills and abilities Student Computing Services: Provide technical support to ePortfolio users Facilitate long term data storage and post- graduation access issues Assist the Libraries in implementing the ePortfolio software as an assessment tool Student ePortfolios Project rationale communicated to library managers by CTLT A cross-campus, inter-departmental support team identified Conceptualization of the ePortfolio vis-à-vis this project: what it is and what it is not. Project tasks and responsibilities delegated; expectations and parameters defined. CTLT present a series of tutorial workshops. Content covered includes a statement of purpose, ePortfolio promotion, and technical instruction Libraries provide workshops to student employees based on CTLT model References Batson, T. (2002, November 26). The electronic portfolio boom: what’s it all about? Campus Technology. Keller, C. (2006). Keeping current: the “Buzz” about creating a professional E-Portfolio. School Library Media Activities Monthly, 22 (7), 56. Lewis, J.S. (2008, June 20). Student workers can learn more on the job. Chronicle of Higher Education. Ring, G., Weaver, B., & Jones, J. H., Jr. (2008). Electronic portfolios: engaged students create multimedia-rich artifacts. Journal of the Research Center for Educational Technology, 4 (2), Skiba, D.J. (2005). E-portfolios, webfolio, and E-dentity. Nursing Education Perspectives, 26 (4), Ittelson, John C. (2001, November 4). Building and E-dentity for each student. Educause Quarterly, Future Considerations ePortfolio FAQs “Edentity” Defined Increasingly, employers are using electronic tools to research a potential employee’s background, personality, and skills. Job applicants can assume that an employer will “Google” their name, and potential employees have little control over the information available about them over the Web. The ePortfolio provides the student with an alternative online environment for marketing their skills and accomplishments. This controlled record of their lifelong learning can assist a student employee in crafting a marketable online identity. An “Edentity” is basically an electronic amalgamation of one’s social, professional, personal, and academic history and growth. Personal web pages, resumes posted online, blogs, past publications, etc., can all contribute to one’s Edentity. The Assessment Cycle Planning and Implementation Collaboration Rationale and Conceptualization The ePortfolio software allows students to designate public and private areas by creating permissions specific to the individual portfolio artifacts. A student can set permissions so that a potential employer has one view of their ePortfolio, and a supervisor another, thereby controlling who has access to the evidence collected. The ability for students to personalize their ePortfolios, and in effect, “tell their stories” contributes to student buy-in by fostering a sense of ownership. In order to foster reflection of their academic growth, student employees were encouraged to upload artifacts, such as term papers and projects. A holistic approach to implementing ePortfolios for employee assessment positions the ePortfolio as a multifaceted tool. To promote employee accountability and allow for the ePortfolio to be used in assessment, library supervisors stipulated that the following elements be incorporated and accessible by the Access Services supervisors: Reflection questionnaireAssessment templateCurrent resumeLink to the WSU Libraries Homepage Link to student’s major department Website Current position descriptionAn appropriate personal photo