Management

Discussion:

In the process of selecting previous coursework for revision (in support of this week’s Assignment), please expound on at least three lessons learned from the process.  For example, describe transportation and logistics management or business concepts you now understand better or could apply better.

Instructions:  Your initial post should be at least 300 words

Reading:

Lesson Topics

  • Why      Conduct an E-Portfolio Review?
  • Importance      of Reflection in Metacognition
  • E-Portfolio      Review and Reflective Writing

Introduction

In this lesson, we discuss the importance to both student and faculty of an academic e-portfolio review. The three topics of this lesson are designed to help you meet course Learning Objective #4: Revise artifacts from previous coursework throughout the program based on feedback from the instructor.

The goal of this lesson, therefore, is to advocate for e-portfolios and the e-portfolio review process.

Why Conduct an E-Portfolio Review?

E-portfolio review, according to the Association of American Colleges & Universities, is the process of a student collecting his or her past work under the academic program, reflecting on the strengths and weaknesses of their research and writing, and striving to learn from the exercise (of reviewing their work) and to improve (Miller & Morgaine, 2009).

But equally important and beneficial to faculty and academic departments, the e-portfolio review process avails empirical data from their own reassessment of the work contained in portfolios, enables institutional reflection on the data in curricular contexts, and facilitates the institution use of the data and reflections to plan for future curriculum improvement (Miller & Morgaine, 2009).

An e-portfolio review provides numerous benefits to students, educators, employers, and lifelong learners.

Students

Building an e-portfolio will expose a student to a process for codifying a life-long learning process. The student’s learning abilities will receive wider recognition from peers. Self-confidence will be enhanced as a student takes control of his or her learning. Students with e-portfolios will likely be able to leverage the documentation for course credits. Students can take advantage of the e-portfolio’s portability and accessibility 24/7. The cognitive benefits of receiving feedback from academics are availed by having a documented set of learning goals, objectives, and accomplishments.

Educators

For students who become educators, they will have been exposed to and understand the inherent benefits of both the process of building an e-portfolio as well as the product itself.

Employers

Employers will have an enriched set of data in which to assess a worker’s values and skills. A worker’s progress and growth will often be on display (to human resource professionals attempting to match people to tasks) in his or her e-portfolio, as will strengths and potential employment interests. Workers aligned with their strengths and interests tend to be more productive.

Lifelong Learners

For lifelong learners, having an e-portfolio enhances their ability to think creatively and critically about what they have accomplished and hope to accomplish in the continuous academic arena they enjoy existentially. The importance of having a logical academic record is critical to lifelong learners, as much as it is to students getting a secondary degree. Lifelong learners cherish a tangible representation of the time and effort they have expended and will expend in pursuit of learning.

Why Conduct an E-Portfolio Review? (Continued)

Bottom line, according to the Association of American Colleges & Universities, e-portfolios, as well as the e-portfolio review process itself, provide:

  • A      treasure trove of information for both students and faculty to learn about      achievement of important outcomes over time, make connections among      disparate parts of the curriculum, gain insights leading to improvement,      and develop identities as learners or as facilitators of learning, and
  • Rich      opportunities for metacognition (awareness and understanding of one’s own      thought processes) through periodic reflections that may help students      develop an array of outcomes and skills (Miller & Morgaine, 2009,      para. 3).

Importance of Reflection in Metacognition

An important element of graduate learning is the exercise of academic writing, writing that entails research, analysis, persuasion, and the rigors associated with academic scholarship (APA formatting, for example). An important element of metacognition linked closely to academic writing is reflection.

reflection

Reflection is simply a process of examining and interpreting experience as a means of gaining new understanding.

close

Take a look at what these three academic sources say about reflection.

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  • Colorado State University

According to Colorado State University’s Writing Studio (2017), reflection transforms experience into genuine learning about individual values and goals and about larger social issues. It challenges students to connect service activities to course objectives and to develop higher-level thinking and problem-solving. And, it works against the perpetuation of stereotypes by raising students’ awareness of the social structures surrounding service environments. In other words, by fostering a sense of connection to the community and a deeper awareness of community needs, reflection increases the likelihood that students will remain committed to service beyond the term of the course.

  • Lew & Schmidt

One study, advanced by Lew & Schmidt (2011), charted that self-reflection that is focused on both what and how students have learned does, in fact, enhance academic learning and, by extension, knowledge application.

  • Association of American Colleges & Universities

According to the Association of American Colleges & Universities, reflection enhances a learner’s identity and capabilities, connects learning across both time and courses, develops multiple self-identification and self-assessment capabilities, and helps students to better gauge where they are in terms of learning achieved and required learning to come (Miller & Morgaine, 2009, para. 5).

E-Portfolio Review and Reflective Writing

Not unlike learning to drive (well), reflective writing does not just happen: It takes planning, focus, and follow-through. Reflective writing engenders generalizations gained (from the metacognition process) that can help the student tackle new challenges and environments with an enhanced and advancing toolset. Andy Gillett, in his Using English for Academic Purposes: A Guide for Students in Higher Education blog, provided a comprehensive list of topics to reflect on and to write about in the reflective writing process (2017, March 2). These should help you jump start your reflective writing process.

Topics to Reflect Upon

  • How      to choose a subject for your dissertation
  • How      to approach your dissertation
  • What      your essay title means
  • How      you are going to approach the essay
  • How      well you wrote a piece of work
  • How      you prepared for a lecture
  • How      you listened to a lecture
  • How      you undertook a reading assignment
  • How      you performed in a recent examination
  • How      you contributed to some group work
  • How      others reacted
  • How      you did in a practical situation
  • What      experiences you gained in part-time or voluntary work you did
  • How      you solved a particular problem
  • How      you can improve your study

Topics to Write About

  • What      you did and why you did it
  • What      was good and bad about it
  • Why      you found it good or bad
  • What      you found easy or difficult
  • Why      you found it easy or difficult
  • What      you liked about what you did
  • Why      you felt like that
  • How      you might want to follow it up
  • What      other people did and why they did it
  • How      did you feel about what others did
  • How      you used what you have been taught in class
  • What      other information do you need
  • What      you are going to do differently in this type of situation next time
  • What      steps you are going to take on the basis of what you have learned
  • What      you are going to do next

Conclusion

The writer Margaret Wheatley famously said: “Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful” (Wheatley, 2017, para. 13). How true is that? Reflection helps us focus the mind on what is important and how to apply that knowledge. Academic reflection and writing assist in the metacognition process associated with our academic knowledge gained in this curriculum. E-portfolio review has been found to greatly assist the metacognition process. Proceed full ahead with the e-portfolio review process!

References

Colorado State University. (2017, March 2). Benefits of Reflection. Retrieved from Colorado State University https://writing.colostate.edu/guides/teaching/service_learning/refben.cfm

Gillett, A. (2017, March 2). Genres in academic writing: Reflective writing. Retrieved from Using English for Academic Purposes: A Guide for Students in Higher Education http://www.uefap.com/writing/genre/reflect.htm

Lew, M. D., & Schmidt, H. G. (2011). Self-reflection and academic performance: is there a relationship? Advances in Health Sciences Education, 529-545.

Miller, R., & Morgaine, W. (2009). The Benefits of E-portfolios for Students and Faculty in Their Own Words. Association of American Colleges & Universities, 11(1). Retrieved from https://www.aacu.org/publications-research/periodicals/benefits-e-portfolios-students-and-faculty-their-own-words

Wheatley, M. J. (2017, March 2). Writings. Retrieved from http://margaretwheatley.com/articles/interconnected.html

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