California State University System Makes E-Portfolios Available to All Students and Alumni
The California State University (CSU)
System has signed a three year agreement to provide students and alumni from
all 23 campuses with access to electronic portfolios.
Last summer, students at Cal Poly San Luis
Obispo (SLO) tested multiple e-portfolio services and chose Portfolium, an e-portfolio and career
readiness network. In addition to Cal Poly SLO, three other CSU campuses
— California State University San
Marcos, San Diego State University and
Cal State Northridge — implemented
the system, and within a week, 65 percent of students began building their
e-portfolios, according to a news release from Portfolium. Based on the success
of those first four roll-outs, the CSU System has partnered with the company to
provide all 460,000 students and 3 million alumni with access to the system.
Students and alumni can access Portfolium through an exclusive network for
their CSU campus and use it to create a digital portfolio. According to
information from the company, the e-portfolios can highlight both academic and
professional accomplishments such as projects, presentations and papers, as
well as other talents and achievements. "The tool helps students focus on
outcomes including career readiness, skills planning, assessment and
reflection, and employer engagement," stated a news release.
Once they have created their e-portfolio, students and alumni can use it to
connect directly with companies and recruiters for internships and employment
opportunities. "We also see this as another way to increase the
opportunities for networking among our alumni," said Loren Blanchard, executive
vice chancellor for academic and student affairs for the CSU system, in a
prepared statement.
According to Neal Hoss, VP of advancement for Cal State San Marcos, Portfolium
was easy to implement and required minimal preparation. Portfolium also
supports integration with pre-existing learning management systems such as
Blackboard and Canvas.
Further information about Portfolium and access to the system is available
through the Portfolium site.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].