The Challenge: How to Involve Students More Actively in Achieving Their Own Educational Goals

Information Technology Services (ITS) at Penn State offers free 100 Mb Personal Web space to every student, but fewer than 40% of students have activated their space, and fewer than 10% have published an example of their academic work online. The Web provides an opportunity for students to share their work with a worldwide audience, which can include prospective employers.

The Solution: e-Portfolios

Student e-Portfolios are personalized, Web-based collections of selected coursework and artifacts of co-curricular activities, annotated with students' reflective commentary. "The process of e-portfolio development encourages students to become more actively involved in planning, and more responsible for achieving their own educational goals," said David DiBiase, Director of the e-Education Institute in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. "Students also benefit by sharing examples of their work with potential employers, by mastering transferable information technology skills, and by demonstrating knowledge gained beyond the classroom."

Student e-Portfolios are a collaborative effort of ITS, the Division of Student Affairs, and the e-Education Institute.

You can learn more about e-Portfolios at: http://www.ems.psu.edu/news/eportfolio.html

You can visit the e-Portfolio site at: http://www.portfolio.psu.edu/