Presenting my Plan to EPIC

I was invited over the winter break to present my past and planned interactions with e-Portfolios.  In the Spring of 2010, I planned a portfolio review for all of our Digital Design & Animation (DD&A) majors using Digication’s e-Portfolio platform.  Although used primarily as a tool for on-line presentation rather than a tool to deepen learning, the e-Portfolios have become a key part of our DD&A program at Hostos.  The presentation featured below took fellow committee members through the reasons behind the all-majors portfolio review, but also through the planned launch of e-Portfolios within my DD114 Digital Illustration classroom.

e-Portfolios in the Design Classroom

As a part of the EPIC Committee (e-Portfolio Implementation Committee) here at Hostos Community College, I recently took up the challenge of using e-Portfolios in the Digital Design & Animation classes I teach.  My Digital Illustration students are the chosen pilot group (lucky for them!).

Understanding how e-Portfolios could be used in my classroom was not something I understood right away.  Teaching design at Hostos is a balancing act between technical and design instruction, so the idea of incorporating a web portfolio element was daunting.  However, after one guest speaker from LaGuardia Community College, Dionne Miller, spoke to us about her own implementation in her Chemistry classes, I finally saw how e-Portfolios could add value to my design classroom. Immediately I began to develop the project heuristics for e-Portfolios:

Project Heuristics

• e-Portfolios should provide an opportunity for self-reflection on the creative process
• e-Portfolios should provide an opportunity for students to present project documentation
• e-Portfolios should provide another opportunity for students to represent their ideas in writing
• e-Portfolios should reinforce that every design project as an opportunity to build their professional portfolio

I look forward to testing these heuristics and reporting back as the semester progresses.