Paula S. Kiser | Mary Baldwin University

1. P A U L A S . K I S E R
I N S T R U C T I O N A N D E - R E S O U R C E S L I B R A R I A N
M A R Y B A L D W I N U N I V E R S I T Y
1 1 M A Y 2 0 1 7
Ready for the Next Step:
Combining Information Literacy with Digital
Literacy Instruction in e-Portfolio Creation

2. Learning
Objectives
Objective 1:
Objective 2:
Objective 3:
 Know best practices for e-portfolios, in-class
tech workshops, and collaborating with a
department in creating a new assignment.
 Recognize potential issues when embedded
technology workshops with library
instruction.
 Advocate for the library to be a digital content
partner, emphasizing students as content
creators and taking control of their online
presence.

3. I N W H I C H C O M M U N I C A T I O N S E N I O R S
N E E D E D T O C R E A T E E - P O R T F O L I O S T O
G R A D U A T E A N D T H E H E A D O F T H E
D E P A R T M E N T W A N T E D M E T O H E L P
Background

4. Liaison to Communication and Marketing
 Previous interactions:
 one shots for traditional research projects
 purchasing materials
 Need from the professor
 experience with technology
 experience with e-portfolios
 experience teaching students
 Casual conversation turned into a formal request for
a partnership on this project

5. Partnership Expectations
Previous interactions
 One class session
 Assignment created by the
professor
 Rarely any follow up from
the students
 No feedback to students
about their work
E-portfolio interactions
 Several class sessions
 Assignment co-created
with the professor
 Students required to meet
with me at least once
 Able to see their progress
and give feedback

6. I N W H I C H W E C R E A T E D A N E - P O R T F O L I O
A S S I G N M E N T F R O M S C R A T C H
Research

7. E-Portfolio Pedagogy
Questions
 Purpose?
 Growth
 Showcase
 Evaluation
 Audience?
 Professor
 Employers
 Graduate school admissions
 Content?
 Management?
 Timeline
 Technology
Evaluation
 Examples
 Other student work
 Industry professionals
 Rubrics
 Composite rubrics from
other institutions
 Generated in class
 Industry best practices
 Built in throughout the
semester

8. Examples
 List provided to students
 Email sent with a list of examples before first class meeting
(flipped classroom)
 Homework assignment
 Students needed to find more examples on their own by
Googling
 Industry Professionals
 Guests from the University’s Office of Communication,
Marketing, and Public Affairs (CoMPA)

9. Rubric Sections
 Content created during the semester
 One of the following - Paper or synopsis of an assignment that focused
on:
 Marketing-related theory, technique or practice
 Communication theory, technique or practice
 Gender, race/ethnicity or global perspective in marketing or communications.
 All of the following:
 Outline of an oral presentation and one-page synopsis in which you critically
reflect on the quality of the spoken presentation.
 A descriptive statement that addresses the student’s understanding of ethics
and ethical standards as they relate to marketing and communications.
 A copy of a senior thesis proposal, a senior project proposal, or a marketing
and communication case study summary.
 The student’s own statement of strengths and weaknesses as well as several
future goals.
 Feedback for Department and advice to pass to future students regarding the
major.

10. Rubric Sections
 Aesthetic Components
 Readability
 Attractiveness
 Navigation
 Taxonomy
 Use of Multimedia
 Writing Appropriate for Audience
 Leadership and Professionalism Component
 Leadership and Community
 Activity in the Community
 Passion for Profession
 Competence and Character
 Experience (emphasizing nontraditional, as well)

11. I N W H I C H I M E T W I T H S T U D E N T S
T H R O U G H O U T T H E S E M E S T E R T O S C A F F O L D
T H E A C T I V E L E A R N I N G P R O C E S S
Class Meetings

12. Meeting 1: Goals
 What is an e-portfolio?
 Brainstorming ideas from good and bad examples of
e-portfolios from emailed list
 Wrote down all comments in two sections on whiteboard
 I prompted with questions for areas they didn’t come up with
themselves
 Notes became their first draft of a rubric
 Homework to decide their audience, find other e-
portfolio examples to emulate, and start to gather
content decided by the professor

13. Meeting 2: Technology
 Determine level of experience
 Very limited – only one person had created a blog or used a WYSIWYG
editor before
 Digital natives are native consumers, not creators
 Used Wordpress so the same workshop would apply to
everyone
 Discussion of blog vs. webpage, post vs. page
 Allowed for a variety of themes and pages
 Buttonology
 Sign up
 Walk through of the admin panel
 Create a Page
 Create an About Page and copy over text they wrote in advance
 Change page order in the Menu and play with subpages
 Go over Rich Text Editor on each page

14. Meeting 3: Review with Industry Professionals
 Scheduled a class meeting with two staff members of
COMPA
 Discussion of what they look for in applicants and
their online presence (e-portfolio, social media, etc.)
 Reinforcing current expectations and adding nuance
 Volunteers to show their e-portfolios
 Constructive criticism

15. Individual Meetings
 Only mandatory out of class meeting time
 Not all students met with me
 Meetings often focused on technology and writing
for the web
 Edited the Theme and Navigation for better usability

16. Meeting 4: Final Review
 Every student shared their e-portfolio
 Constructive criticism and feedback
 Fixing issues with their e-portfolios conducted as
reference interviews
 Still time to make final edits before submitting for a
grade

17. I N W H I C H W E L E A R N E D W H A T W O R K E D ,
W H A T D I D N ’ T W O R K , A N D W H A T T O F I X I N
T H E F U T U R E
Take Aways

18. Successes
 Control of their online presence
 Becoming content creators and building skills for
their resumes
 Making the connection between their work in school
and their future employment
 Student take their information literacy skills and
apply them outside of writing research papers

19. Successes: Transferable Info Literacy Knowledge
Practices and Dispositions
 Authority is Constructed and Contextual
 Students need to show they are the authority on themselves
and their experiences. They can show a mastery of their
research.
 Information has Value
 Open platforms vs. pay for access.
 Research as Inquiry
 Organizing the content of their eportfolio.
 Find other eportfolios to use as examples.
 Troubleshoot technology issues by finding solutions online
from reliable sources.

20. Considerations
 Partnership or Buttonology?
 Very time intensive
 Too much content for a single one-shot
 Make no assumptions about technology experience
 Scaffolding essential
 Room to fail and time to succeed

21. Improvements
 More handpicked examples to go over as a class
 Find the industry professional e-portfolios ourselves
 Find bad examples and be more explicit about explaining why
they are bad
 Have the rubric from the beginning
 Still have the first class discussion but then provide them with
the rubric based on best practices
 Tech workshop more streamlined with less variation
between student
 Their homework can be playing with Themes and then creating
the sub-pages where needed.

22. Q U E S T I O N S ?
P A U L A S . K I S E R
P K I S E R @ M A R Y B A L D W I N . E D U
Thank you!