This session will provide an overview of ePortfolios, review how they can be used to deepen and enrich learning and assessment, and provide a hands-on introduction to cuPortfolio.

During the hands-on portion of the session, participants will learn the basics of cuPortfolio, such as how to create a portfolio, how to design a portfolio template, and how to use the features available in the tool to help assess ePortfolios.

In English as a Second Language for Academic Purposes, students now have the ability to better understand the process of learning itself, thanks to 杏吧原创鈥檚 electronic portfolio system, cuPortfolio.

Instructors in the School of Linguistics and Language Studies, Peggy Hartwick and Julie McCarroll (Lepine), began experimenting with cuPortfolio when the tool became available as part of a pilot project in 2014. They decided to use the new technology to replace the term鈥檚 research project.

鈥淸Students] were so tired of doing the same type of research project over and over again for every professor that they鈥檝e ever had,鈥� McCarroll says.

Because of the way the tool is designed, McCarroll says it makes connections between different assignments more visible to students, allowing them to see how they are working towards a goal, which helps counter procrastination.

鈥渆Portfolios have really helped show my students that research is actually a process. And if you treat it like a process, your vested interest is you鈥檙e going to get a better grade,鈥� she says.

Hartwick says both she and McCarroll want students to know that they value their work, so they put a lot of emphasis on the cuPortfolio project, giving it an overall weight of 35-40 per cent.

However, McCarroll adds that the project is structured with a number of smaller assignments throughout the term, cumulating in a major paper and a presentation, worth 10 and 15 per cent respectively.

McCarroll and Hartwick say the rubric continues to evolve each year, and does take time to learn to assess.

鈥淚t鈥檚 work for sure, but assessing anything new, any new pedagogy is going to be work,鈥� Hartwick says.

Students do a few reflections each term, and Hartwick says that while finding the right prompt is challenging, the results are rewarding.

鈥淸Reflection is] really important for learning, not only in terms of being a student, but also in their future careers and whatever they鈥檙e doing,鈥� says McCarroll.

For instructors planning to use cuPortfolio, Hartwick says the EDC is an invaluable resource, but McCarroll adds that if you don鈥檛 articulate to students why you鈥檙e using the tool, they won鈥檛 buy in.

鈥淒on鈥檛 just put ePortfolios into your classroom pedagogy or your lesson plan because you think it鈥檚 the cool, new hip thing to do,鈥� McCarroll says. 鈥淢ake sure that that the technology has a valid place in what you鈥檝e chosen to do.鈥�

To find out more about Hartwick and McCarroll鈥檚 experience with cuPortfolio, watch their full interview below. You can also watch interviews with a variety of other instructors on the cuPortfolio instructor peer support site.

Below is a list of time codes related to the start of a new question in the video. You can jump to a new topic by moving the video time bar to the respective time codes.

1:26聽鈥� What value does using cuPortfolio add to your course?
4:16聽鈥� How much is the ePortfolio assignment worth in your course?
6:02聽鈥� How do you assess student ePortfolios?
8:44聽鈥� How do you use reflection in your ePortfolio assignments?
10:53聽鈥� What advice do you have for an instructor who is thinking about using cuPortfolio in their teaching?

cuPortfolio is an online learning tool that students can use to record and showcase their academic and co-curricular experiences using rich multimedia content, such as images, videos and documents.

The tool also encourages reflective thinking 鈥� students can make connections between different experiences they鈥檝e recorded in cuPortfolio and articulate the skills and knowledge they developed as a result.

Additionally, students can use their portfolios when applying for a job to provide a potential employer with concrete evidence of their abilities and to set themselves out from the crowd with a unique application.

During its three-year pilot phase, over 5,500 users accessed cuPortfolio in more than 150 classes. It was incorporated in a variety of courses in each of the five faculties at both the graduate and undergraduate level.

Watch more interviews about how instructors in the pilot program thought cuPortfolio enhanced the student learning experience here.

You can learn more about tool on the or attend one of our upcoming Introduction to cuPortfolio workshops.

If you are interested in incorporating cuPortfolio into one of your upcoming courses or at the program level, please contact the Educational Development Centre at edc@carleton.ca and we鈥檇 be happy to work with you.

During the hands-on portion of the session, participants will learn the basics of cuPortfolio, such as how to create a portfolio, how to design a portfolio template, and how to use the features available in the tool to help assess ePortfolios.

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Join us as we explore the benefits and challenges of implementing course-level ePortfolio assignments. Discover effective practices and learn how to leverage cuPortfolio to deepen and enrich student learning.

Topics covered include:

• Designing ePortfolio assignments
• ePortfolio assessment
• ePortfolios and peer review
• Creating templates in cuPortfolio

You can also attend an optional workshop add-on from 1-2 p.m. where you can work with the session presenters to explore the cuPortfolio technology and/or design an ePortfolio assignment for your course.

Space is limited, so !

In Janne Cleveland鈥檚 first-year English course on how to write an essay, she says she鈥檚 seen some students who have been challenged by the course content improve over the semester. One of the reasons behind the improvement? cuPortfolio, 杏吧原创鈥檚 new learning tool for students.

Cleveland uses the online portfolio system for her students to submit reflection-based assignments on what they鈥檝e learned over the past week and what they believe they need to improve upon, though she says there鈥檚 more learning happening than meets the eye.

Cleveland says that with cuPortfolio, students have an easily accessible way to see their own progress throughout the term. Students control the content, unlike in other online learning formats where they can鈥檛 engage with the process of learning.

鈥淕iving students the feeling of having something over which they have direct input and a sense of ownership really helps to instill greater confidence in them, as well as a deeper recognition of their own responsibility in the learning process,鈥� Cleveland says.

鈥淚 have ESL students, international students, mature students, and students from different programs who have no idea how to write a humanities paper; a real mix of people in the room,鈥� she says. 鈥淧lus, if students are held responsible to go and comment on what they鈥檝e learned and what they鈥檝e picked up, then that gives me feedback when the course is on, not just when it ends.鈥�

Trevor Lapointe, a student in Cleveland鈥檚 course, is a new user to cuPortfolio. He鈥檚 able to submit his reflection pages as well as essays and annotated bibliographies through the system, which he finds convenient.

鈥淏eing a part-time student, and not having a lot of time outside of work, the convenience of being able to submit everything electronically has been very much appreciated,鈥� Lapointe says.

Political science professor Melissa Haussman also has students use the tool for reflection on issues discussed in her class, which is centered on electoral reform around the world and how it relates to Canada.

鈥淪tudents submit responses to readings and because of the format, it transmits it to me and I can get back to them almost immediately without waiting for a piece of paper to be dropped on my desk the next day. It actually makes the experience much more responsive and more immediate,鈥� Haussman says.

One student from Haussman鈥檚 class, Liliane Langevin, has used cuPortfolio for her weekly responses, as well as to prepare and report on her job shadowing experience that is facilitated through the course.

Langevin says that cuPortfolio was 鈥渧ery intuitive and convenient鈥� for her to embed a PDF resume as well as to look back through the work she archived through her job shadowing.

Haussman finds that in general, the reflection papers and assignments students submit through cuPortfolio are better than those submitted in hardcopy.

鈥淚 think the quality is actually better, to be honest. It鈥檚 a more condensed format. Maybe it鈥檚 because it鈥檚 more of a job to put it online so there鈥檚 less filler and students get to the main points, thinking about what they鈥檙e writing,鈥� Haussman says.

Another key aspect of cuPortfolio, according to Haussman, is the option of making student portfolios and the associated instructor comments public.

鈥淸Students] have a bigger stake in the quality and relevance of their weekly responses . . . It鈥檚 really made the course more immediate. Students can see the implications much more,鈥� she says.

To learn more about cuPortfolio and how it can be used to promote student-centered learning in your courses, visit the .

For numbers and equation-based courses such as engineering, physics or math, handing in printed sheets of paper with page after page of computer-drawn graphs or equations is not always the best use of time and resources. For the ease of both student and instructors, many have turned towards more advanced technology to get their message across.

For physics professor Etienne Rollin, moving class submissions to a dynamic, online setting is a no-brainer.

鈥淸Hardcopies] are static. They aren鈥檛 very pretty. While on the computer, students can use colours and animation . . . It鈥檚 very easy, especially for physics students who are in general technologically inclined,鈥� Rollin says.

Rollin uses cuPortfolio with his students, a relatively new electronic portfolio system for 杏吧原创 students to submit and showcase their assignments in an exciting, interactive way.

Rollin鈥檚 students, who are in a second-year lab-based course on optics, can record data and display graphs with different conditions that the viewer can toggle through. No longer do students have to submit a printed lab report with pages full of graphs. Instead, they are now condensed into one interactive image on cuPortfolio, which Rollin says he appreciates.

Liam O鈥橞rien, an assistant professor of engineering, uses cuPortfolio鈥檚 capabilities in a unique way. His fourth-year students who are completing a large group project must submit memos, notes and presentations through cuPortfolio to demonstrate what parts of the project they鈥檙e contributing to.

With six professors all supervising the course due to the large number of students, O鈥橞rien found that even though his students had used an online format previously to submit their work, cuPortfolio injected well-needed organization and reflection into submissions.

鈥淲e find it extremely useful to evaluate their work. Before they used to upload to a big Dropbox and it was a real nuisance to the professors,鈥� O鈥橞rien says. 鈥淣ow, it forces them to think about the value of their work. They can comment on what they鈥檝e learned and their individual contribution to the group project.鈥�

Both professors highlighted that their students can easily show future employers, friends or family their work in a condensed, visually appealing way rather than emailing separate Word or PowerPoint documents.

Leah Morrell, a fourth-year engineering student in O鈥橞rien鈥檚 class, says it鈥檚 her first time using cuPortfolio and she found it to be an excellent way to demonstrate her knowledge to employers as she approaches graduation.

鈥淢y favourite aspect of cuPortfolio is that I can use it as an addition to my job applications. Rather than attempting to put eight months鈥� of work into two sentences, I can put a link to my cuPortfolio.鈥�

If you’re interested in learning more about how cuPortfolio can be used in a science course, Rollin will be presenting about聽his experience at our 聽on May 10.

For more information聽about cuPortfolio and how it can be used to promote student-centered learning in your courses, visit the .

Join us on Nov. 9 from 1-2 p.m. for your introduction to 杏吧原创鈥檚 ePortfolio technology.聽The session will provide an overview of ePortfolios, review how they can be used to support learning and assessment in your course(s), and provide a hands-on introduction to cuPortfolio.

During the hands-on portion of the session, you鈥檒l learn the basics of cuPortfolio, including how to:

• create a portfolio
• design a portfolio template
• use the features available in the tool to help assess ePortfolios

Space is limited, so .

In its first year as a pilot project, instructors have successfully used cuPortfolio in their courses to support reflective and integrative learning. Discover what all the buzz is about at our Introduction to cuPortfolio workshop on Thursday, May 28 from 1-3 p.m.

The session will explore how 杏吧原创鈥檚 ePortfolio technology can be used to support learning and assessment in your course(s). During the hands-on portion of the workshop, participants will learn the basics of cuPortfolio, including how to create a portfolio, how to design a portfolio template, and how to use the features available in the tool to help assess ePortfolios.

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杏吧原创 instructors, students, and alumni will share their teaching and learning experiences and showcase their inspiring projects. The event will also feature keynote addresses from , president and vice-chancellor of Kwantlen Polytechnic University, and , 杏吧原创 music professor and award-winning composer.

The event will run from 8:30 a.m. 鈥� 4:45 p.m. in Residence Commons, followed by a social in the 杏吧原创 University Art Gallery alongside its .

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