Jordan Price
The Leap Into Digital
For those of us still hesitating on the cusp of the tangible world and the digital, ePortfolios may seem like a leap, rather than a step, into the latter. Some may consider ePortfolios to be a glorified Facebook page, and prefer a concisely built résumé or cover letter. However, the age of paper may be coming to a close; giving way to an interactive, stylish and uniquely personalized showcase of achievements for the purpose of finding (and scoring) a fulfilling career. It is more than an about me page – it’s self-marketing. And it’s about time we took advantage.
The ePortfolio is a space where you can be the most open-minded, well-informed and well-organized critical thinker in the professional writing job market. Yes,you.
UAB Global Partners can help make this process, this jump into digital branding, a little smoother – maybe even less daunting. While this new student life org’s first priority is supporting the Office for Study Away and networking future and present alumni study abroad students, career development comes in close second.
Polishing Your Online Portfolios
In technical workshops, Global Partners collaborates with UAB Career and Professional Development to guide students through the construction process, keeping their service or study experiences attached to their innovative and adaptive capacities. But this doesn’t exclude those who’ve never studied away, or even those who’ve never even left the southeast.
Learning how to market yourself is a valuable tool we all should learn, and the hope is that, by being engaged with Global Partners, having a universal perspective as a character trait and career qualification will become a reality.
The very first workshop featured UAB alumni and current coordinator for Auburn Abroad, Abbie Naglosky. With her handy-dandy Prezi, she mapped her study abroad experiences and her job-hunting journey, which coalesced into an ardent endorsement for ePortfolios. She shared Auburn’s perspective on different styles and structures, which is useful to keep in mind when considering your goals. An expanded version of this list can be found here.
Types of ePortfolios
- Professional ePortfolios: A Professional or Career ePortfolio is a website that is made up of documents or media (artifacts) that show evidence of experiences, skills and knowledge. It is structured and organized for a professional audience whether it is for graduate school or for a potential employer.
- Learning ePortfolios: The purpose of these ePortfolios is to show growth instead of skills. It may include lots of document drafts or have comments embedded in the ePortfolio. The Learning ePortfolio can be used both at the course level and for whole programs.
- Course ePortfolios: These are Learning ePortfolios that give students the opportunity to practice with document creation and technology during a single course. They often give students a starting point to continue their work with ePortfolios.
- Assessment ePortfolios: Assessment ePortfolios are often created with the sole purpose of assessing learning outcomes. They’re created in LMS-like (Learning Management Systems) platforms, which track the student’s data.
For more information and future workshop dates, please email globalpartners@uab.edu and like us on Facebook!
