Using Digital Portfolios: Reflection, Assessment and Employment

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-1-2018

Publication Title

TechTrends

DOI

10.1007/s11528-018-0262-0

ISSN

1559-7075

Abstract

Many programs utilize digital portfolios for students to archive assignments. This manuscript highlights how one counselor education program implemented digital portfolios as a means for fostering student reflection, and subsequently evolved the portfolios towards satisfying both comprehensive exam and student employment goals. The author introduced a digital portfolio component to a core curriculum course in hopes of fostering students’ reflection. Simultaneously, counselor education program faculty were addressing inadequacies of norm-referenced testing employed for students’ comprehensive exam. Together faculty pursued building assessment components within the reflection blogs, utilizing the platform as digital portfolios. This effort was aimed at meeting three goals: (1) fostering student reflection; (2) satisfying program comprehensive exam/assessment requirements; and (3) serving as a professional website for students’ post-program employment searches/interviews. Students receiving formative feedback on their digital reflections demonstrated significantly higher mean reflection scores than students only utilizing portfolios as a “digital journal”. This manuscript presents an overview of the initiative in its first year of implementation, resources and obstacles experienced, and preliminary findings from data collected. Technology platform information and student work samples are highlighted.

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