It can easily be said that once I have an idea, I am extremely passionate about it and want to see it through to the end. Though the ePortfolio program was not my idea, a lot of the content and infrastructure of the program were my creation, and therefore I am quite invested in it. Of course, if all goes well I will graduate in the spring of 2022. However, this doesn't mean that I will necessarily have to abandon the program that I have had such a large part in developing.
Because of my work as an intern on ePortfolios, I discovered that I am intensely passionate about working with students -- specifically first-year students who are just starting college and (whether they know it or not) need guidance and assistance as they navigate the complexities of higher education. I knew that this was rewarding from my time as a peer mentor, but I had never considered that there might be room for me in Student Affairs as a career.
To my surprise and delight, I found that MSU offers a graduate program in Adult & Higher Education. Even better, there is a possibility of concentrating on Student Affairs within this program. Because of my work over the summer on developing the ePortfolio program, I was (then unknowingly) introduced to one of the faculty members leading the program, Dr. Trisha Seifert. With her guidance along with information from many of the other professionals on campus I was able to foster a relationship with, I have decided to apply for graduate school here at MSU in the Education program to pursue my Master's in Student Affairs.
It only makes sense for me to strive to stay with the ePortfolio program once I am a graduate student. If all goes well, I am hoping that there might be room for me to work in ATO as a graduate assistant. This would allow me to work on my Master's degree while both helping me fund my education and also giving me the chance to continue developing ePortfolios. I am especially excited about this prospect not just because it will be continued work in the career path I am interested in, but also because I have a vision for the program that I would like to continue to foster.
The first semester of ePortfolios, the efforts were very freshman-facing. It seemed only logical to begin with the class of new students coming in and build the program with them. Of course, this means that there is quite a lot of ePortfolio content to be created to adapt to the growth and change of these students. My vision for the program includes having students collect all of their experiences in college in an ePortfolio they set up in their freshman year. As they continue through their college careers, they would optimally continue to polish and add content to these portfolios, including classes and projects that they identify as shaping them and how they have been learning.
Ultimately, seniors who are approaching graduation would take these filled out, comprehensive Spark portfolios and compile the information into an ePortfolio built on Adobe Portfolio. This new portfolio would be less academic-facing and more focused on professional presentation, providing a document that these graduates could use to showcase themselves and their unique experiences, and to gain employment post-graduation.
I have invested a lot of time into the ePortfolio program at MSU, and am therefore quite invested in its success and continuation. I am hopeful for the future of the efforts, and extremely grateful that I was able to play a part in creating what I see as a fantastic, useful, and thoughtful program that I am proud to say is shaped by students, for students.
The button below links to the tangible results of all of my efforts during this internship. Included on this page is my ePortfolio, along with ePortfolios of students who completed them throughout the semester and were willing to share their work.