The eportfolio has been an interesting process for me. It started off in undergraduate classes I had with a professor in both the undergraduate and graduate programs. Initially I thought it was just a tedious assignment. However I became used to posting to eportfolio after major projects or assignments. Additionally I didn’t mind it after it became repetitive, having several classes with professors who believed that eportfolio could be a beneficial tool for our resource belt, if we knew how to use it properly.

That being said, I also realized that a professor in the graduate courses was also suggesting we use eportfolio to showcase our writing skills or our ability to apply techniques and critical writing lessons we learned to potential career pieces. I think that there might be some use to eportfolio as a way to showcase what we have learned about effective and eloquent writing for our intended industries from this program. It might be beneficial if our potential employers knew how eportfolio works, and some might. But from the several interviews I’ve been through already, every person had found information on me based on my LinkedIn profile. Some job offers even came from managers looking through LinkedIn and reaching out to me, before I knew anything about their companies.

In my opinion and reflection, I think that I’ve learned how to be more resourceful when it comes to making my posts on my eportfolio . I have also learned to be more creative when it comes to content creation (titles, subjects, images, etc.).  Eportfolio I think is a useful tool when it comes to showcasing our work, however I think it might be one of those things that has to wait a little longer while technology continues to become adapted by more by managers and hiring professionals in our industries.

Personal evaluations are always hard for people. We’d all like to think that we’re perfect, but nothing and no one is ever perfect. As a classmate of mine said last evening, “You can always get better and that’s in everything. You could be great, but you can always be better” (Gabriel Rivera).

That being said I will briefly talk about some of my personal strengths and weaknesses with eportfolio. Starting with the bad, I think that one of my weakness was that I was not open initially to the idea that eportfolio could be used for anything other than academics. With such a mind set my eportfolio reflects that. While some of my peers have pages that reach into their personal interests, lives, aspirations, and motivations, my eportfolio pages mirror the discussion board and assigned work that I have done in my courses. It wasn’t until last evening in class that I realized that it could showcase more than I initially thought. Also I’m sure I could’ve made my eportfolio more aesthetically pleasing than it is currently, but I did not allow myself the time or effort needed to do so. I didn’t bother to watch the eportfolios because I believed all we had to do was post to it. That also led me to not having some of the creative content that some of my peers found and created.

Now for some of the positives, as for strengths I did take the time to think about what course information and documents I wanted to post. I didn’t want it to just be a lot of bulk or me just following assignments. I used work that I achieved an excellent grade in or current event writings. Doing this showcased that I do keep up with what’s happening now and it also showcases my writing and critical thinking capabilities. Also looking at my eportfolio I think it shows my experience with Pace University as a whole, well. Having only been at Pace for two years I think my eportfolio showed the value of how I got here, along with the progress and work that I’ve done since being here.

I appreciated how my peers used eportfolio to showcase their skills and work they’ve already done on a professional level. Many of them know what industry or field that they would like to go into upon graduation and they tailored their pages and content to match. I also enjoy how some of them posted videos, pictures, and other media to again showcase their passions, skill, and involvement in the industries they wish to pursue. I appreciate how the international students showcased many of their own personal achievements, prior work experience, and prior education. As any person would be in a foreign place, they are often quiet and don’t share much. However their eportfolios allowed me to see other sides of them that I might not have otherwise known. The same could be said about my classmates who are not foreign, as well. Some of them are quiet or I don’t interact with as much. Their eportfolios showed things about them that I’m sure I wouldn’t know otherwise.

As for the feedback on my own eportfolio from my peers, I’m glad they understood that field hockey is a huge part of my character and academic experience. I’m also glad that neither my professor nor my peers advise that I change my coursework to condense to a smaller section in (my academics, my coursework, etc.) eportfolio. I will most likely keep that format the same. However I am considering minor changes in the future to my eportfolio. I am definitely open to the idea of using some of the pages in a way that can showcase what I do for a company (once I am working full-time) or what I have already done in a better way (both with my internships and classwork). Since this eportfolio is primarily used for educational purposes I plan to leave it how it is for now and will consider possible changes in the future.