ePortfolio News

In order to become better acquainted with individuals from across the curriculum who are interested in using technology and writing strategies in the classroom, and to share ways ePortfolio can be incorporated into classes, this feature will regularly present a member of York College faculty involved with the ePortfolio program.

Today’s featured faculty is Christine Hamm,  Adjunct Lecturer in the Writing Program.

1. What drew you to the ePortfolio initiative?

I have been blogging steadily for the past 7 years, and I was intrigued by the idea of helping students establish a professional web presence that could help them in their careers.  My blog has been a great asset to me professionally, in terms of showcasing my work and in making connections with other writers.

2.  In which class/es are you employing the tools of the e-Portfolio?

I am using eportfolio in my Writing 301 class. (more…)

In order to become better acquainted with individuals from across the curriculum who are interested in using technology and writing strategies in the classroom, and to share ways ePortfolio can be incorporated into classes, this feature will regularly present a member of York College faculty involved with the ePortfolio program.

Today’s featured faculty is Xiaodan Zhang,  Assistant Professor in the Social Sciences Department.

1. What drew you to the ePortfolio initiative?

I have been teaching writing intensive courses since I came to York three years ago. I always want to improve my teaching ability in order to be more effective in helping our students with their writing skills. I am interested in any pedagogical discussions and new technologies that can facilitate pedagogical development. I believe that participating in this pilot ePortfolio project meets these goals of mine.

2.  In which class/es are you employing the tools of the e-Portfolio?

The class is SOC201 Sociological Analysis. This class is WI. It is designed as an introductory course to students majoring in sociology. We discuss basic sociological concepts, theories and methods in the class. (more…)

In order to become better acquainted with individuals from across the curriculum who are interested in using technology and writing strategies in the classroom, and to share ways ePortfolio can be incorporated into classes, this feature will regularly present a member of York College faculty involved with the ePortfolio program.

Today’s featured Faculty member is Phebe Kirkham, Substitute Lecturer in the English Department.

1. What drew you to the ePortfolio initiative?

We have been talking in the Writing Program for a while about doing some form of portfolio. Originally, the idea was to do a paper version, which always struck me as possibly cumbersome. I thought the idea of doing a portfolio online would capture the best parts of having a portfolio (the ability to select work to feature) while eliminating the problematic part of it (lots of paper for students and teachers to lug around and store.)

2. In which class/es are you employing the tools of the e-Portfolio?

I’m using e-Portfolio in my sections of Writing 303. Writing 303 seemed like the perfect class in which to try out e-Portfolio because the main goal of the class is to produce a substantial research paper and many students do work that they are proud of and therefore may want to showcase.

3. How are you using ePortfolio/eWriting to help meet the pedagogical goals of your class/es?

So far I have been experimenting both with blog posts and pages. For the posts, I have asked the students to do some less formal writing about the research process–one assignment asked them to summarize an article and then explain how it had spurred their thinking. I have also asked them to create pages to post their final reseach proposals along with commentary about how they revised those proposals. The idea is that they can showcase the proposal and also reflect on their revision process. Next, we are going to tackled the annotated bibliography for their papers, which we will be doing directly in the e-Portfolio.

Our thanks to Professor Kirkham!  If you’d like to be part of Faculty Feature, please send your responses to the questions above to eWriting Studio Supervisor Jennifer Worth at  jworth at york.cuny.edu

In order to become better acquainted with individuals from across the curriculum who are interested in using technology and writing strategies in the classroom, and to share ways ePortfolio can be incorporated into classes, this feature will regularly present a member of York College faculty involved with the ePortfolio program.

Today’s featured faculty is Casandra Silva Sibilin, Adjunct Lecturer of Cultural Diversity.

1.  What drew you to the ePortfolio initiative?

I had heard of e-portfolio through teaching at LaGuardia College and was interested in learning more about it. I had seen students take some pride in their e-portfolio work and I thought it would be good to see that in my class. Also, there was the stipend offered.

2.  In which class/es are you employing the tools of the e-Portfolio?

I am using ePortfolios in my Western Civilization class: CLDV 210 QQR.

3.  How are you using ePortfolio/eWriting to help meet the pedagogical goals of your class/es?

So far I have used it to practice a free-writing activity for the first essay.  After setting up a blog I asked the students to practice answering the question for 15 minutes. My goal was for this to help make the writing process less intimidating.  In the future I would like to use the e-portfolio for similar activities and also for students to be able to team up and offer some writing criticism to each other given standards that we have reviewed in class.

Our thanks to Professor Sibilin!  If you’d like to be part of Faculty Feature, please send your responses to the questions above to eWriting Studio Supervisor Jennifer Worth at  jworth at york.cuny.edu

In order to become better acquainted with individuals from across the curriculum who are interested in using technology and writing strategies in the classroom, and to share ways ePortfolio can be incorporated into classes, this feature will regularly present a member of York College faculty involved with the ePortfolio program.

Today’s featured faculty is Nathan Austin, Adjunct Assistant Professor in the English Department.

1.  What drew you to the ePortfolio initiative?

I was drawn to the ePortfolio initiative after several semesters of teaching in the WRIT 300 sequence. Experience had shown me that the course is very challenging, and that many students are not as fully prepared for the work as they ideally would be.  The result is that many students struggle with the course.  My hope was — and still is — that ePortfolios might be a useful tool to help students excel at the work we ask of them, and develop the skills that the WRIT courses are intended to teach.

2.  In which class/es are you employing the tools of the e-Portfolio?

I am using ePortfolios in my section of WRIT 303.  Thus far, I have used ePortfolios primarily for informal writing.  Students began the semester by identifying their goals for the course, and posted this text as their first blog entry.  This sort of reflective writing continued as the class finished their Objective Synthesis papers: after submitting the assignment, they wrote reflective blog entries that addressed both their progress with writing and the challenges they expected to confront in future assignments. (more…)