Using e-portfolios to help undergraduates understand their skill set
Some of the work carried out in our lab suggests that undergraduates' understanding of their skills - and where those skills are developed - is somewhat limited (see Martini, Judges, & Belicki, 2015; Martini, Rail, & Norton, 2015).
One of the things that's of interest in our lab is how we might go about improving what undergraduates know about their skills, so that they will be in a better position to articulate them during a job interview or on an application for post-graduate programs.
In a course-based project carried out with fourth-year psychology majors, we examined whether the creation of an e-portfolio would help these students to improve their performance during a mock job interview.
Students taking the Transition to Work course (PSYC 4P07) completed mock videotaped interviews at the beginning and end of the course. During the 12-week course, they completed a number of assignments designed to improve what they knew about securing a job in a field that was of interest to them. These assignments included the completion of a LinkedIn profile, a Job Resource assignment (for which students carried out research about a psychology-related career) and an e-portfolio. Although students' interview performance improved from the beginning to the end of the course, the only significant predictor of their improvement was the quality of their e-portfolio assignment.
Student e-portfolios were developed as a personal webpage that could be distributed to potential employers as a supplement to a traditional resume. On their website, students described five key learning experiences from a variety of areas (e.g., academic or non-academic courses, paid or volunteer work, travel, sports teams, etc.). For each experience, students documented its importance, tasks that they were responsible for, skills that they developed, and lessons that they learned. Other aspects of the e-portfolio included a homepage that described students’ personal philosophy (i.e., the values and goals that motivate them), and an endpage that described their plans for ongoing learning (i.e., skills or personal characteristics they wished to further develop and their plans for doing so).
The paper documenting these findings (Lackner & Martini, 2016) is currently under review.
One of the things that's of interest in our lab is how we might go about improving what undergraduates know about their skills, so that they will be in a better position to articulate them during a job interview or on an application for post-graduate programs.
In a course-based project carried out with fourth-year psychology majors, we examined whether the creation of an e-portfolio would help these students to improve their performance during a mock job interview.
Students taking the Transition to Work course (PSYC 4P07) completed mock videotaped interviews at the beginning and end of the course. During the 12-week course, they completed a number of assignments designed to improve what they knew about securing a job in a field that was of interest to them. These assignments included the completion of a LinkedIn profile, a Job Resource assignment (for which students carried out research about a psychology-related career) and an e-portfolio. Although students' interview performance improved from the beginning to the end of the course, the only significant predictor of their improvement was the quality of their e-portfolio assignment.
Student e-portfolios were developed as a personal webpage that could be distributed to potential employers as a supplement to a traditional resume. On their website, students described five key learning experiences from a variety of areas (e.g., academic or non-academic courses, paid or volunteer work, travel, sports teams, etc.). For each experience, students documented its importance, tasks that they were responsible for, skills that they developed, and lessons that they learned. Other aspects of the e-portfolio included a homepage that described students’ personal philosophy (i.e., the values and goals that motivate them), and an endpage that described their plans for ongoing learning (i.e., skills or personal characteristics they wished to further develop and their plans for doing so).
The paper documenting these findings (Lackner & Martini, 2016) is currently under review.
