I just received an email letting me know that the following verbiage must be included in my syllabus for the next semester.
Now, I see this and I think "Wot?" Apparently I wasn't the only one, because the emails have been flying back and forth. Several people have pointed out that this seems, quite frankly, like a waste of time. The general argument is that employers and grad schools don't care about assignments. They look at transcripts, grades, and letters of recommendation, but they don't look at how well you wrote your argument essay in Writing 2010. Also, students take general ed courses because they are required to. Some of my students are not great writers, and even their best work (after a semester of working and improving) would never be suitable to show to a prospective employer.> Each student in General Education courses at SLCC will maintain
> > a General Education ePortfolio. Instructors in every Gen Ed
> > course will ask you to put at least one assignment from the
> > course into your ePortfolio, and accompany it with reflective
> > writing. It is a requirement in this class for you to add to
> > your ePortfolio.
> >
> > Your ePortfolio will allow you to include your educational
> > goals, describe your extracurricular activities, and post your
> > resume. When you finish your time at SLCC, your ePortfolio will
> > then be a multi-media showcase of your educational experience.
> >
> > For detailed information including a Student ePortfolio
> > Handbook, video tutorials for each ePortfolio platform, classes,
> > locations and times of free workshops and other in-person help,
> > visit www.slcc.edu/gened/eportfolio.
On the other hand, having a body of work to refer back to is not a bad thing. Transcripts do not tell the whole story, and I think that SLCC really wants to emphasis that they are more than just a community college with open enrollment. But I'm honestly struggling to find a rationale for this that makes sense. If I was required to do this as an undergrad, I'd be pretty annoyed, and I would probably ignore it.
So is there any real-world value in creating a "multi-media showcase of your educational experience"?