Eportly

Duration: WIP

Role: Product Design, UX Research, UX Design, UI

Overview:

Eportly is a service application that helps faculty and students to organize and design their E-portfolio. It offers two service options:

Do it yourself. (DIY). The user designs their E-portfolio with the guidance and advising of a designer.
Do it for me. The user hires a designer to develop the E-portfolio for them.

Problem:

An E-portfolio (Education Portfolio) is a digital tool used by faculty and students to support academic achievements by highlighting work from a single course or overall experience. The collection of documents delivered in the Eportfolio allows educators and students to reflect on their teaching and learning process. Students are required to submit Eportfolios for graduate school and internships; and faculty are required to submit an E-portfolio for third-year review, tenure promotion, and position transfer/search. Despite the requirements of E-portfolios used in academia, and the importance of E-portfolios for professional growth, there is limited support for students and faculty to organize and create an E-portfolio.

Research

Research Methods

Faculty Training and Workshops
- Eportfolio Faculty Workshop, Xavier University of Louisiana, 2018, 2020-2021
- Eportfolio Faculty Training, Global Citizens for Campus, Communities, & Careers, Association of American Colleges & Universities, San Antonio, TX, 2019
Literary Review: News Articles, Google Scholar, JSTOR
Informal & Formal Discussions/Interviews
Course Assignment & Student Evaluations

Background Information: 5Ws

What is an E-portfolio?

An E-Portfolio is a collection of work (evidence) in an electronic format that showcases learning and teaching over time. It is a digital space for faculty and students to archive course materials and share their academic achievements with the local and global community. The Eportfolio can be created for individual courses or the gestalt of the individual’s academic experience.

Who needs an E-portfolio? Why?

Students: The E-portfolio allows students to archive and reflect on their learning process.

Faculty: The E-portfolio includes specific evidence of work and reflections for three major areas required in a Faculty E-portfolio:

Teaching and educational development.
Scholarship and the advancement of knowledge and its applications.
Service to the university and the community.

Why an Eportfolio?

Shows students’ achievements and academic growth.
Shows faculty teaching and educational development. Scholarship and the advancement of knowledge.
Shows service to the university and the community.
Students are required to submit Eportfolios for graduate school and internships.
Faculty are required to submit their Eportfolios for annual faculty updates, third-year review, finding a new position, and tenure promotion.

Competitors Analysis

University Websites

Helpful

Often Heavy text.
Link to an LMS or outside resources.

D2L, LMS

Has an E-portfolio feature

Takes a long time to upload content.
Not accessible to the public.
Limited layout options.
Faculty preferred Google sites over Brightspace to build their E-port.*

Let’s Eat, Grandma

Career Service

Does not offer eportfolio design services

Summary of Competitor Analysis

University Websites offer information and resources on how to create an e-portfolio.
Eportfolios can be created in specific LMS products such as Brightspace and Blackboard, however, the systems are slow to upload content, are limited in design, and can not be accessed by the public.
Reference to building the Eportfolios in Squarespace or Google assumes the user knows how to use the technology to design an Eportfolio.*

User Research: Faculty

Statistics

Survey and interviews with 30 faculty.

16% had created an Eportfolio for professional use.
16% had incorporated Eportfolios into a course.
56% were open to creating an Eportfolio for professional purposes or incorporating it into a course curriculum.
86% stated that lack of time was the main reason for not creating or learning how to create an Eportfolio.

Faculty User Persona

Faculty Eportfolio Sitemap

Faculty Eportfolio Examples

Dr. Jason S. Todd, Associate Director of Programming, Center for the Advancement of Teaching

Shayna T. Blum, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design

WF Digital Sketch, Course Eportfolio: Graphic Design

WF Digital Sketch, Course Eportfolio: Web Design

User: Student

Makela User Persona

Makela Empathy Map

Makela Journey Map

Makela User Story

Student Eportfolio Examples

Design

Solution / Goals

Create an easy process in designing an Eportfolio.

Offer an E-portfolio feature.
Offer assistance and advising for faculty and students to create their portfolios.
Create a fast and simple system for uploading content.
Market to academia.
Create a system for E-portfolio design and lesson packages.

Service & Features

Do it yourself. (DIY). The user designs their E-portfolio with the guidance and advising of a designer.
Do it for me. The user hires a designer to develop the E-portfolio for them.