Eportfolio

The ePortfolio that you are creating will be used throughout your degree program. It is an interactive way to track your learning as well as monitor the development of your skills and interests throughout the program. Your ePortfolio also allows you to showcase evidence of skills acquired to future employers. It is a smart way to catalogue your work to help you home in on your useful skills and display your continued professional development. Your ePortfolio grows as you grow! It is a reflection of you: your creativity, your hard work, and your development into a professional individual.

This guide will provide information on your ePortfolio tools and setup instructions, the pages you will create to organize your ePortfolio, the types of artifacts you will be including, and details on how to approach the reflective writing you will include.

Tools and Setup Instructions

To set up your ePortfolio, you will select a free tool, either Brightspace ePortfolio or Google Sites. You will use this tool for the rest of your degree program. See details about each choice below.

Note: You may have included artifacts in the Brightspace ePortfolio tool in PSY 108. If you select Google Sites now, move those artifacts into your new tool.

Brightspace ePortfolio

• Pros of selecting this tool include SNHU support, SNHU-created tutorials, and single sign-on (no new account needed). Cons of selecting this tool include that exporting and sharing options are limited, as well as customization.
• Use the Creating a Brightspace ePortfolio instructions to set up your ePortfolio using this tool.
• Review the Adding Files to the ePortfolio Repository document for instructions on how to upload artifacts.
• Review the Sharing Your ePortfolio instructions for details on how to share your ePortfolio.
• Review this ePortfolio example using the Brightspace ePortfolio tool.Google Sites
• Pros of selecting this tool include that you can create a semi-custom domain name. Google Sites also features easy sharing in the future, an intuitive interface, and connection to Google Drive. Cons of selecting this tool include no direct SNHU support, the Gmail account requirement, and storage limitations.
• Use the Sites Help website for instructions on how to both create and share your site. This will also serve as a useful resource if you have any questions.
• Review this ePortfolio example using the Google Sites ePortfolio tool.

Pages

The following pages should be used in creating your ePortfolio. You will organize and save artifacts to their most relevant page when submitting your ePortfolio for assessment.

1. Welcome or Home: Your Welcome or Home page will introduce your ePortfolio. On this page, you should introduce yourself and include your focus of study. Here, you will additionally welcome the viewer and let them know the purpose of the ePortfolio. It is recommended you write directly in the page for your introduction and not upload it as an attachment.
2. Career Connections: On this page, you will include work relating to your research on the career connections that you are making in your coursework. With the diverse professional pathways, this page in your ePortfolio will provide a place for you to organize your reflections and goals in terms of your future ambitions and career.
3. Ethics: Within social sciences and research, ethical behavior refers to the code of conduct that is a foundational obligation in research as well as the care of others. For this page, you will collect relevant coursework, activities, and reflections that thematically address the role of ethics in psychology.
4. Emotional Intelligence (EI): For this page, you will collect and reflect upon coursework pertaining to emotional intelligence. With numerous readings and EI assessments offered throughout your coursework, you will be able to shape and reflect upon your communication style and interactions with peers in your community of practice. Incorporation of this element will serve as a metacognitive tool to help you develop a sense of self-efficacy and broaden your understanding of self. By doing this task throughout each of the courses, you will begin to understand your strengths relative to your ability to communicate effectively with others.
5. Self-Care: For this part of your ePortfolio, you will designate useful strategies and concepts as they pertain to self-care. Here you will share strategies learned and reflect upon beneficial practices applicable not only to maintaining a healthy level of self-care as it pertains to your coursework, but that can be integrated in your everyday personal and professional life.
6. Projects: This part of your ePortfolio is reserved for you to share your work and course projects. This page, along with your Welcome or Home page, should reflect who you are as a learner and person. It should reflect your passion for the field of psychology. It should also reflect the work you have been doing along your path to becoming a more developed student and enlightened learner in terms of your emotional intelligence and cultural competency.
7. Miscellaneous: This page of your ePortfolio can include letters of recommendation, certificates, awards, experiences within the field, or anything that does not belong on another page that demonstrates your growth or would be valuable to present to a prospective employer.

Artifacts

Provided below are examples of artifacts that you may include in your ePortfolio. Artifacts are evidence of learning. They should be strategically used to highlight your unique identity as a learner. Artifacts represent your experiences in learning, skills developed, and overall academic identity. You receive recommendations for artifacts to include in your ePortfolio before submitting it for assessment.

• Essays or papers
• Excerpts from scholarly articles
• Projects
• Presentations or slideshows
• Reports
• Case studies
• Posters
• Awards or certificates
• Videos (demonstrating skill)
• Assignments
• Internship, work, leadership, or volunteer experiences

Reflective Writing

In addition to uploading various artifacts that reflect your coursework, your ePortfolio should include reflective writing. All artifacts uploaded should be accompanied by a reflection. This writing allows you to articulate what you have learned, what experiences are important to you, and how the skills you have learned can be applied to future practice. 

As you write, it is important consider the following questions:

• What background information is important to this artifact?
• What learning does this reflect?
• Why does this artifact matter?
• Why does this skill or experience matter?
• How does this artifact relate to your educational growth?
• How does this artifact relate to your future aspirations?
• What did you learn about yourself?
• How does this represent your values?
• How does this artifact build upon your knowledge?
• How might you use what you learned from your experience in future endeavors?
• What has left you curious?
• What would you like to learn more about?
• How does this relate to your personal interests?