At UNE, undergraduate students often begin working on their ePortfolios in their first year during an English Composition course. As more faculty adopt ePortfolio as a valuable digital literacy tool for 21st century learners, it’s important to recognize the good work students are accomplishing. This collection is intended as a set of models for students who are in the process of developing their digital identities through building an ePortfolio. The featured students have agreed to have their ePortfolio sites included in our collection, and they have a variety of majors and minors, highlighting the versatile of their site to encompass not only the course work they are completing but also their creativity, interests, and experiences at UNE and beyond.
The collection includes student ePortfolios in development, known as working or “process ePortfolios,” and those more purposefully curated, referred to as “showcase ePortfolios.” Click here to learn more about the differences.
Use the links or browse the whole collection!
Animal Behavior Student Profile
Pre-Dental Biological Science Student Profile
English Major Student Profile
Education Major Student Profile
HuMed Major Student Profile
Multimodal Badge Recipient Student Profile
Nursing Major Student Profile
Showcase ePortfolios
Jordyn, an Education major and writing minor, created her ePortfolio to demonstrate that she met the Maine State Teaching Standards to be certified and also to highlight her additional course work and skills. She included Communications, English, and Writing course work as well as highlighting her digital skills, and she graduated in May 2023.
In 2022, Jordyn shared her experience building her ePortfolio: Being able to look back at everything I’ve done in education from freshman year to now really reminds me that I do know what I’m doing, and I’ve taken so many steps towards becoming a great teacher.
To learn more about Jordyn’s experience with ePortfolio, view her profile or watch the video below, where Jordyn describes her curation approach.
Mikayla, a HuMed major and winner of the 2021 Outstanding Interdisciplinary Studies Award, started her ePortfolio as a first-year student in English Composition. As a HuMed major, Mikayla has developed her ePortfolio to include not only for course work, such as her Annotated Digital Edition English project and senior capstone work, but also to collect and highlight her research, her medical writing, her participation in inter-professional events, and her semester in Tangier, Morocco. She curated her ePortfolio as part of her Liberal Learning (LIL) capstone course and graduated in 2021. Her responses were given during her final semester.
In 2021, Mikayla reflected: My ePortfolio has become my favorite thing I have worked on at UNE. It is a great asset that I can use in professional settings to give a more comprehensive outlook of me. I look at it as an expanded resume; it gives others a chance to not only learn more about me as a person, but my ePortfolio also serves as a way for me to display the different skills and knowledge I would bring into a professional setting. When I think back to when I first used it in ENG 110, my second semester of college, I remember not really enjoying the platform; I didn’t see its potential yet. However, this past summer especially, I was looking for a place to keep all of my favorite projects and remembered my ePortfolio. Now, my ePortfolio has become a fun space where I can be creative and also show my professional side with research projects, coursework, and my resume. The extra work I have done in my senior capstone class has been really beneficial in creating a digital portfolio of my undergraduate career.
Mikayla continued: I get so caught up in the day-to-day stress of the semester that I often don’t realize how much work I am actually accomplishing. EPortfolio allows all of the work I do to be collected into one place, leaving me with something tangible to show for the past four years. It also gives me and my peers a space to collaborate and learn from each other, something that has become even more important during the pandemic. EPortfolio has been something that has been really beneficial during my time at UNE, and I plan to continue using it even after I graduate. It has made me proud to look back at all of the work I have accomplished over the past four years.
Mikayla selected the Nisarg theme for her ePortfolio, and she is curating it toward a showcase ePortfolio as she prepares for graduation.
When asked to discuss the value of using ePortfolio’s capacity for sharing with an audience beyond one course, Mikayla responded: In my opinion, ePortfolio is a more user-friendly platform than Blackboard. It is a much easier way to connect with my peers about projects we are working on via the comment feature, but their sites also serve as inspiration for mine. EPortfolio sparks great conversations about work that my peers have done in other classes, outside of the course we have in common, that I wouldn’t have seen on a traditional Blackboard course site. It also allows for a richer dialogue between professors and students as professors can help their students make connections between previous and current courses. Additionally, I have already started using my ePortfolio site as an extra resource for interviews, like one that I did for Angela Coulombe at Institutional Advancement, and for those who have written me letters of recommendation for medical school. I am looking forward to expanding my ePortfolio to all of the experiences I can use it for in the future.
Carolyn began her ePortfolio during her English Composition course in 2017. She graduated with a degree in Animal Behavior in 2020. Carolyn has built her ePortfolio to highlight her internship experiences and digital literacy. She is the first recipient of UNE’s Multimodal Badge.
Carolyn selected the Accelerate theme for her ePortfolio, curating it as a showcase ePortfolio.
In 2020, Carolyn reflected: For me, ePortfolio at first seemed like something I just had to keep updated for a class, but now I see it as being an incredibly flexible medium that I can make my own space to show anything I want. ePortfolio has helped me organize what classes I have taken and kept me on track for my graduation. It also served as a way to draft anything I wanted to bring up for discussion points in my classes.
Outside of my classes, I’ve added a lot of work in my ePortfolio, including my art work and my internship…”
Click here to listen to an interview Carolyn gave to her fellow digital literacy consultant Amy Bhagaloo about developing her ePortfolio. This audio project is shared in Amy’s ePortfolio and will help Amy to earn her Multimodal Badge.
Carolyn concluded: I have moved my ePortfolio into being a platform to show potential employers what I have done in the past. In the future, I might use it to document the animals I’ve worked with and their journey through rehabilitation.
Ally began her ePortfolio during her English Composition class in 2016. She is now a 2020 graduate with a degree in Aquaculture and Aquarium Sciences. Ally has built her ePortfolio to highlight her work with Digital Literacy Consultancy and showcase several projects to reflect on her progress to receive her Multimodal Badge. She was a Digital Literacy Consultant for the DigiSpace at SASC from 2019-2020.
Ally selected the West theme. Her ePortfolio features her resume, blog, some classwork as well as the audio podcasts, video, and images about her dog Bella, which she created to earn her multimodal badge.
In 2020, Ally reflected: When I started off using my ePortfolio, I was seeing myself use it in the educational setting where we collected and sorted through all of our papers to then post our final drafts onto our class page. But now, after years of having my learning experience in this medium, I can say that it isn’t just for showcasing schoolwork. I have gone as far as to only showcase certain semester classes on my front page to show that the work done in those classes was important but is not the main takeaway you should see with my portfolio. Not only has having an ePortfolio shaped my way deeper into the digital environment, but it has helped me become more passionate and want to help those learn in a better way that I had done myself.
Ally continued: I was part of one UNE’s first classes to integrate ePortfolio into everyday students’ daily lives and a research project about the use of ePortfolios in my class. My experience with ePortfolio has been good. EPortfolio use is just getting started in the digital world. We should start embracing the change into the digital environment more and take on the knowledge that others have to offer rather than missing the opportunity to grow and develop into a better person. Isn’t it quite crazy that my life would be changed so much, simply from joining a class? Who knew. Maybe yours could, too.
Ally concluded: In the future, I plan to shape my portfolio to showcase my class works that are specific to my major. By doing this, I open the doors to show future employers the growth I have experienced at college. If I hadn’t begun using an ePortfolio in 2016, I wouldn’t have been able to track my experiences as much as I have. Having this ePortfolio makes for a wonderful conclusion and a way to round out all my years at UNE.
Hope started constructing her ePortfolio in 2018 in English Composition. She graduated in 2021 with a degree in Nursing, and her ePortfolio highlights her course work and interests. She was a Digital Literacy Consultant for the DigiSpace at SASC from 2018-2019, where she has created instructional audio projects and written guides.
Hope chose the Nisarg theme for her ePortfolio. Her ePortfolio includes samples of videos created using iMovie and green screen.
In 2020, Hope reflected: In all honesty, my first impression of ePortfolio caused a great amount of fear. I remember staring at a blank website and thinking, “I have no idea where to start!” However, I found that this website was very easy to design and figure out! In a short period of time, I was able to create posts, pages, and design my website to be my very own. I thought it was really amazing to watch this website come together over the course of one semester and to see how quickly I could design the site as my own. I think ePortfolio is a great tool to use for future job opportunities to show an employer all you have to offer. I am not sure how I will redesign and use my ePortfolio yet, but I believe that it could be a great way for me to further organize pieces of work and/or come back to the site at a future time to use as a representation of who I am when applying for jobs.
Process ePortfolios
Munib started his ePortfolio in June 2020 in his first Nursing course. He is in UNE’s Accelerated Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program.
In 2021, Munib reflected: When I first began ePortfolio, it was overwhelming. Now that I’ve made reflection posts and have navigated through them, I have been much more comfortable. It’s a great way to practice writing and reflection skills. The ePortfolio course work is a good way to see my thoughts on assignments from various classes. It’s enjoyable to have my own website that I can reflect on later in time to remind myself of certain discussions in class.
For his ePortfolio, Munib selected the Cubic theme, a visually appealing theme that creates a multimodal experience for his site visitors.
Munib continued: The value of sharing my ePortfolio with classmates and professors is that it can allow them to comment on it, making me think about topics in another way. It gives me room for growth by allowing me to critically think. In my evidence-based practice 1 class, for example, the professor asked me open-ended questions about my post. Like the questions she asked, other people commented on my post, too. The post can turn into a mini-dialogue with various points of view.
Munib concluded: I feel as though the ePortfolio is a nice way to display my work in an organized manner for future employers or other people to read. With everything digitalizing in the world, I feel as though this is a great way to adapt to the changes coming. I envision this ePortfolio being more of a blog. In the future, I could grow it if I wanted.
Kaylee Townsend started her ePortfolio in 2017 in English Composition. She is an English and Medical Biology double major, Writing minor, and winner of the 2021 Outstanding Student in English Award.
Kaylee Townsend: Kaylee’s ePortfolio highlights her English coursework, including a link to her Annotated Digital Edition project, and features her fishing blog. She is using the Nisarg theme.
In 2021, Kaylee wrote: When I first began using ePortfolio, the layout of the site did not come automatically to me. It took me a few tries to get the hang of things before I felt confident about my own site and eventually, about helping other people. Now that I am proficient in using ePortfolio, I have been able to utilize this tool in many ways. I have been able to use my site to post work for classes that are very different because this forum allows any kind of work to be posted. I have been able to share podcasts, presentations, posts, essays, and pictures with all of my ePortfolio visitors.
Kaylee continued: My favorite part about first creating my portfolio was that I was able to pick the theme and site layout. I wanted my site to represent both myself and my school. The photo I chose for my home page is a picture of the campus of The University of New England. This is a special place to me because I have moved here and am earning my first degree here.
Kaylee concluded: My ePortfolio experience has given me more fluent computer skills. By learning how to navigate the site, I have developed a stronger understanding of website design. This is a skill that is very important to many employers. Being able to learn a new computer skill is important for many careers. As I move through my course work and towards my degree here at UNE, I will always have my ePortfolio to store my work. One day, I may want to come back to or show an employer. If so, I have access to everything at just the click of a button, and so do they.
Amy launched her ePortfolio in 2019 in English Composition. She is majoring in Biological Science (4+4 D.M.D Early Assurance Program) and minoring in Communication and attends UNE dental school. She was a Digital Literacy Consultant for the DigiSpace at SASC for three years.
Amy selected the Lifestyle theme for her ePortfolio. She has included multiple audio projects, including an interview podcast of fellow DigiSpace consultants about their ePortfolios.
In 2021, Amy wrote: Similar to many UNE students, my first impression of ePortfolio was that it was just a platform to submit my ENG 110 homework on. I now understand that this was just the very beginning of our ePortfolio journey, using simple features such as posts, pages, and default themes to give us a glimpse into the capabilities of ePortfolio and ourselves. I first became interested in expanding my site after my ENG 110 professor assigned an extra credit assignment to link a podcast we created on our ePortfolio. At that point, I had never created a podcast and most of the digital projects I created were in the form of voice over PowerPoints and YouTube videos for scholarship applications. But I did have the desire to learn about how to develop my digital identity and improve on my skills. I started off with that one podcast.
Amy continued: I used my ePortfolio to show my progression into the dental field. During the Spring 2020 semester, I created posts about what I observed and learned after shadowing at various dental offices in Maine. In Fall 2020, I applied to the UNE dental school. I shared my experience with the Early Assurance Program and ePortfolio eased my stress during the regular application process. I hope these posts will be informative and reassuring to other Pre-Dental students on campus who share the same concerns I did. I also plan on continuing to work towards my multimodal badge by creating more digital projects and being thoughtful and reflective with the media I am producing. Now that I am working towards a minor that requires communication practice courses such as Digital Media Software Tools and Digital Video Production, I intend to repurpose and reflect on some of the digital projects I will create in these courses to use as content towards my multimodal badge.
Francesca is a Pre-med Neuroscience major and Art minor. Her ePortfolio was created in her English Composition course in 2019.
Francesca chose the Haxel theme. Her ePortfolio features podcasts and a blog of some of her coursework as well as images of her art work.
In 2020, Francesca reflected: EPortfolio is an interesting tool to have in the digital age. It allows more organization, and lets you save projects that highlight your academic experience. When first starting to develop my own student portfolio, it was a bit overwhelming to know that so much work would have to be done. However, the finished product was satisfying enough to have been worth the initial fear. I am unsure as to whether other classes plan on utilizing ePortfolio, to expand and represent my assignments throughout my academic career. However, I believe most humanities courses could benefit from its use with its organization and creative liberties. EPortfolio also provides a unique line of communication and is a classroom connection that is not typically explored. It allows students to get to know each other’s personalities through the individual customization of each ePortfolio as well as providing insight into examples of other people’s projects, for more inspiration and understanding.
Francesca concluded: My favorite part of using ePortfolio is the ability to customize and organize many types of media all in one place. It’s rare to find resources that can support so many types of media, from podcasts and images to written paper assignments. It allowed our English class to explore media types that we may have not normally had access to, which gave the course more depth and access to creativity.
Do you want to submit your ePortfolio for consideration in our showcase? Email Jen Gennaco (jgennaco@une.edu) to learn more.
