ePortfolios – Do Employers Care? (Pt.1)
‘ePrtfolios’, when used correctly, can demonstrate the student’s learning and competency level. However, it is a fair assumption that many higher education establishments have not been using them, and therefore employers are not looking for them.
Chris Ward and Chris Moser write, on the Internet Blog ‘Educause Quarterly‘, that “Universities clearly have an opportunity to migrate to a web-based e-portfolio system and to educate employers on the value of e-portfolios”. I couldn’t agree more. There is, as is always the case, more to it than this.
With modern VLE’s it is true to say that the technology exists in most higher education establishments to allow students to create an ePortfolio as they continue through their studies. However, has anyone given them any guidance on;
- what they should be writing,
- why they should be writing it, and
- how an employer will look at it, and for what reason.
Well? Who should drive this forward; student, establishment, or employer?
As is most often the case, the students don’t think about the what they’ll do after graduation until they’ve finished their last assignment and sat their last exam. Then the panic sets in and they think “wot next?” There is a certain responsibility on quality employers to ask for, or expect a certain quality of graduate to apply for their jobs, and therefore can easily become known as the employer that looks for, and expects, modern portfolio and interview techniques. According to ‘Educause Quarterly‘, 75% of major employers do not know what an ePortfolio is, with a further 14% thinking they are not valuable. Is this just that they haven’t seen a good example of an ePortfolio?
A search of Google can bring up an expanse of examples of Universities ‘recommending’ certain aspects that students should include in their ePortfolio … but very few examples of an employer and what they look for.
My task is simple … find out what the employer wants.
Back soon.
