While the job market for new college graduates continues to improve, many companies are specifically seeking out candidates who possess excellent communication and teamwork skills as well as critical thinking and analytical abilities. (See both the recent New York Times article and AAC&U’s own recent survey of employers.)

In the current climate and given these employers’ expressed needs for talent, how can new graduates demonstrate to a prospective employer what they know and can do as a result of their college experiences?  The traditional records of a student’s education are the academic transcript and his or her resumé, but both of these documents are limited in their ability to describe the effect of meaningful experiences such as project-based work, leadership in extracurricular activities, internships, and studies abroad.   In a 2007 national survey, AAC&U discovered that more than two-thirds of employers found the college transcript either “not useful” (33 percent) or “just somewhat useful” (34 percent).  In contrast, a majority of employers thought that e-portfolios would be “very” or “fairly useful” in evaluating college graduates’ potential for success.

In contrast to transcripts, e-portfolios (with their added value of the “e” or electronic nature) allow students to gather in one place a range of digital artifacts that can be used to demonstrate presentation skills (e.g., a video of a presentation and accompanying slides), inquiry and analysis (e.g., a paper that includes instructor feedback and is annotated by the student to highlight key points), or intercultural knowledge (e.g., reflections on a term spent abroad illustrated with photos and reflections).  The representations of learning in an e-portfolio reflect the individual student’s view of the breadth of his or her education—including what was learned both inside and outside the classroom and as the learning was experienced by the student and not just as it was delivered or packaged by the college or professor.

As I discuss with my coauthor, Tracy Penny Light, in the new AAC&U publication, Electronic Portfolios and Student Success students benefit from engaging in the process of creating e-portfolios, but faculty, alumni, employers, and other stakeholders can also gain insights from e-portfolio artifacts and accompanying student reflections.  Faculty members, for instance, can discern what types of formal and informal experiences foster specific skills or learning outcomes.  Whereas many institutions in the United States are exploring how e-portfolios can be used for assessment and institutional accreditation, international interest in e-portfolios in Australia, Europe, and the United Kingdom has centered on issues related to workplace and professional development, reflective thinking, and lifelong learning.  It is clear that while the concept of a portfolio is not new, now that they are being created and shared electronically, the portfolio framework is resonating with students and educators more and more.  A 2009 survey of AAC&U members found that more than half were already using e-portfolios in at least some programs.  Penny Light and I discuss in our new book how various institutions are developing e-portfolios for multiple uses and how they are designing, redesigning, and reinventing them to meet the needs of today’s students and institutions.

Tags: economy, eportfolio