Mahara+Purpose

While an ePortfolio may be an arduous project to set up, in the digital age they are vital to the success of their users. An ePortfolio is a trendy substitute to display one’s accomplishments in a more visual, modern format, in stark contrast to a traditional resume. Typically on an ePortfolio students decide what past works and accomplishments to display on the portfolio. These pieces clearly express their best capabilities in a particular field.
 * Purpose **

According to the Northern Virginia Community College’s Workbook, the ePortfolio has two main purposes: “It provides an opportunity for students to demonstrate their accomplishments, to showcase their competencies, and to collect samples of work for prospective employers or further graduate work; and a vehicle to describe and document prior experiential learning to be read by faculty persons who will evaluate their work. A much more subtle purpose, and a potentially enriching one, is the portfolio as a means of personal discovery and actualization” (PLACE Workbook).

Accordingly, the ePortfolio should be a display of students’ scholastic and extracurricular activities that is more in-depth, better presented, and better contextualized than a traditional resume.

By: DeAnna Croner, Mamaille Maina, Michael Durao, majors in Science, Technology, and Society