Published In

International Journal of ePortfolio

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2023

Subjects

Academic achievement -- Evaluation, College teaching -- Case studies, Electronic portfolios in education

Abstract

Scholarship demonstrates that ePortfolios enable students to collect work over time and reflect upon personal, academic, and career growth. However, a discussion on whether ePortfolios helps firstyear students describe their equity-mindedness and document their campus belonging perspectives remains mostly unexplored. The purpose of this point-in-time, qualitative research study is to describe first-year students’ experiences completing an on-campus physical walkthrough each spring quarter of 2017, 2018, and 2019. All first-year students were enrolled in a yearlong Freshman Inquiry course at Portland State University in Oregon. This study utilizes Saldaña’s (2016) in vivo coding approach to analyze students’ survey responses and summative essays. The research design begins with students answering an anonymous pre-learning survey each spring quarter, then completing an on-campus walkthrough during the same spring quarter utilizing a Campus Equity Walkthrough Evaluation (CEWE) learning ePortfolio and concludes with students writing a summative reflective essay. The study found three themes: (a) Before completing the CEWE, students defined equality and equity interchangeably with fairness; (b) while completing it, students showed surprise at the variety of on-campus student resources; and (c) after completing the CEWE, students identified inclusion and exclusion experiences on campus based on their social identities. The results suggest that the CEWE shifted first-year students’ understanding of equity-mindedness in three ways: (a) First-year students identify racialized structures and practices on campus, (b) the equity-minded ePortfolio framework develops students’ capacity for self-reflection, and (c) students determine that racialized structures and practices on campus impact their campus belonging.

Rights

The International Journal of ePortfolio (IJeP) is a double-blind, peer-reviewed, open-access journal.

Persistent Identifier

ttps://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/40898

Included in

Education Commons

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