Abstract
The Bachelor of Science in Public Health (BSPH) degree program at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte) was launched in 2007, and was initially accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health in 2009. We admit approximately 40–45 students each fall to the upper division major, through a competitive admissions process. During the junior and senior years, BSPH majors complete a core set of required courses including internship; 18 credit hours of restricted electives; and any minor offered by the university (except public health). During 2014–2015, the Department of Public Health Sciences was one of five campus units supported by UNC General Administration to pilot the use of ePortfolios as a tool to help students integrate learning across the courses that make up the major. The pilot program continued for 2 additional years, to promote enduring faculty efforts. We subsequently outline the development and implementation of ePortfolio pedagogy in the BSPH program at UNC Charlotte, including preliminary assessment of outcomes the past 3 years. The adoption of ePortfolios has been instrumental in students' educational experiences for over 2 decades. The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) has advocated that “ePortfolios allow faculty and other educational professionals to help students organize their learning; preserve the variety of forms in which their learning occurs; and reflect upon their learning.” We have learned that effective student ePortfolios do not arise in a vacuum. In collaboration with like-minded campus colleagues including those associated with the university's Communication Across the Curriculum program, we have encountered contributing forces related to the process of “collection, selection, and reflection” including intentional assignments that yield effective student artifacts; and authentic feedback to students through adoption and modification of the AAC&U VALUE rubrics. We conclude that internal and external forces drive the development of ePortfolio content; students embrace opportunities to document learning when those opportunities are structured; the development of the ePortfolio is relational—consistent with student attributes; and ePortfolios enable evidence-based approaches to meet accreditation demands, assessment needs, and workforce expectations.
Highlights
In 2005, the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) launched the Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) challenge to advocate the importance and relevance of a liberal education [1]
The peer-reviewed International Journal of ePortfolio; recent guides, handbooks, and other publications [8, 11,12,13]; and release of The Field Guide to ePortfolio—a publication driven by the Association for Authentic, Experiential, and Evidence-Based Learning (AAEEBL) and disseminated in fall 2017 by AAC&U involving over 50 authors from the ePortfolio field [7]—attest to an ePortfolio contagion; an epidemic of sorts
We introduce the idea of a capstone ePortfolio in one of the core courses completed during the first semester of the program (HLTH 3105 Public Health Education & Promotion) to promote, at a minimum, the habit of artifact collection throughout the Bachelor of Science in Public Health (BSPH) program as well as in all courses and co-curricular activities in which students participate
Summary
In 2005, the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) launched the Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) challenge to advocate the importance and relevance of a liberal education [1]. The peer-reviewed International Journal of ePortfolio; recent guides, handbooks, and other publications [8, 11,12,13]; and release of The Field Guide to ePortfolio—a publication driven by the Association for Authentic, Experiential, and Evidence-Based Learning (AAEEBL) and disseminated in fall 2017 by AAC&U involving over 50 authors from the ePortfolio field [7]—attest to an ePortfolio contagion; an epidemic of sorts Alongside these occurrences, calls for rigorous ePortfolio research (e.g., do ePortfolios have an enduring value to students beyond graduation; does ePortfolio use lead to higher retention and/or graduation rates?) should not be ignored [14, 15]. We subsequently outline the development and implementation of ePortfolio pedagogy in the BSPH program at UNC Charlotte, including preliminary assessment of outcomes—both qualitative and quantitative—from the past 3 years
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
