A photo taken July 2023 from the National Building in Washington, D.C.
For those using this chapter to explore Kathi’s work for the first time, it’s likely that whatever you are reading includes student voices, and not just as numbers in a table or counts in a coding report. As Kathi writes in a (2021) article, “I like lenses and frameworks, but I don't want those to overwhelm what students say, so I tend to work inductively, which means that I count on student accounts to help me see what I hadn't seen before” (p.165). This is, perhaps, a reason ePortfolios and Kathi go together so well. ePortfolios, too, create spaces for students to speak and lead conversations in their learning. ePortfolios give value to the artifacts students choose to highlight, the connections students articulate as they reflect, and the ways in which students integrate their new learning into a larger understanding of who they are. As this section will go on to show, Kathi’s work centers student voices in ePortfolio research and practice.
ePortfolios accomplish several aims related to assessment with one being the desire to show students the value their learning has beyond the traditional grading system. ePortfolios ask students to tell the story of their learning and to position that story within their larger identity as learners and people. Kathi’s scholarship has similarly kept students’ voices at the forefront of ePortfolio knowledge-making. Because ePortfolios have an integrative and connective quality, ePortfolios demonstrate both what students have learned and how that learning connects back to who they are and where they are going.
Reflective writing, of course, communicates that connection to the ePortfolio viewer. It is only “through diverse texts and through reflective text that accompanies those texts” that “the self emerges” (Yancey, 1999, p. 499). Kathi explains in her entry in the Field Guide to ePortfolio (2017) that reflection does help students achieve metacognitive awareness and integrative learning because the act of connecting “otherwise disparate situations to deepen learning and engagement” can be empowering (p.35). As Amelia Parnell will go onto to explain below, portfolios also have the capacity to connect different parts of students’ experiences, linking their courses, co-curriculars, interests, and personal lives. And in a 2023 podcast interview on Create.Share.Engage, Kathi said, “students want to bring something of themselves [to the portfolio]. That's why it's valuable for them, that's why it's meaningful to them. So they can bring themselves in and especially what they perceive as their own creativity” (9:10-9:35).
In her more recent work with Trinity College Dublin, students were positioned explicitly as “partners in developing expertise in three contexts: as ePortfolio practitioners, as emerging experts, and as future professionals” (Roche et al., 2023, p. 166). In publishing on the impacts of ePortfolios, Kathi similarly lets students take the lead, using their voices—sometimes in large uninterrupted quotes—to guide her analysis of ePortfolio curriculum, reflection, and learning. Kathi's commitment to letting students lead her analysis not only enhances the depth of her research but also reflects a broader pedagogical philosophy centered on student agency, engagement, and the co-creation of knowledge.
Hear from Amelia Parnell, Vice President for Research and Policy, NASPA, or read below:
[As Kathi taught us] as students engage in myriad opportunities to learn inside and outside the classroom, ePortfolios are an ideal resource to help them curate their journey. Students’ voices are essential to examining the success of ePortfolios, as their reflections confirm that everyone can experience an institution’s offerings in unique ways. Activities such as community service, clubs, and civic engagements can connect to campus wide learning outcomes and expand the impact of ePortfolio strategies. Student affairs professionals are especially vital to the sustainability of ePortfolios because their involvement helps ensure that students identify and reflect on their learning wherever it happens.
The integration of student voices should continue to be a central focus in ePortfolio research and practice. However, to do this well, we need pedagogical strategies that empower students to actively engage in the learning process, fostering a sense of ownership and metacognitive awareness. We must also be active listeners, seeking to discover the anticipation, anxieties, and potential risks students may grapple with as they construct their ePortfolio—especially the important work of communicating with employers so that showcase ePortfolios are useful post-graduation. Frameworks like Students as Partners—illustrated by the example above from Trinity College Dublin—can be leveraged to keep students active in conversations about ePortfolios at the course-, programmatic, and institutional level. As well, partners in student affairs (individuals and professional organizations like NASPA), career centers, and high-impact practice professionals can ensure ePortfolios achieve their potential to integrate the curricular and co-curricular as students tell a larger story of their academic and personal development.
A final note on this theme: Many of the contributing authors included in this collection are individuals who once sat in Kathi’s classroom and now teach in classrooms of their own. There is immense value in trusting and centering students as emerging professionals and experts in their own right, an idea this collection exemplifies.