Rachel Swinford and Debbie Oesch-Minor, ePortfolio

Two faculty already heavily involved with the Institute for Engaged Learning are expanding their service to co-lead the ePortfolio program throughout the next year.

Swinford builds on her exemplary work with Bridge Week and the first-year seminar, particularly in her leadership of the ePortfolio Community of Practice. Oesch-Minor expands her experience co-facilitating the new Project-Based Learning Lab to infuse project-based learning within courses and degree programs across campus.

Rachel and Debbie have developed a national profile around ePortfolio work, and I’m excited to see the collective energy they will bring to our ePortfolio work in the institute, Daday said. They have integrated ePortfolio extensively into their courses and have helped their colleagues integrate ePortfolio into the curriculum within their departments, helping students deepen and integrate their learning. Just this week, Rachel and Debbie are giving presentations and facilitating panels at the national conference of the Association for Authentic, Experiential, & Evidence-Based Learning (AAEEBL), which is the international professional development organization for ePortfolio practitioners and researchers.

As faculty fellows and interim co-directors of ePortfolio, Swinford and Oesch-Minor will provide leadership and direction for ePortfolio programming and will support the search for a permanent program director, which will launch in the coming months.

Swinford has been a champion for ePortfolios, leading program-level implementation of ePortfolios for all students in kinesiology, as a faculty mentor for the American Association of Colleges and Universities Institute on ePortfolios and by serving on the review board for the International Journal of ePortfolios. She teaches a variety of exercise science courses, first-year seminar, leadership and teamwork development, and innovation in leadership.

In 2016, Oesch-Minor shifted from portfolios to ePortfolio for the first-year composition and professional writing courses she teaches. Since then, she has integrated ePortfolios across a variety of courses and programs, working with over 700 students across 35 writing course sections to build ePortfolios for personal projects and community clients. Alongside students, Oesch-Minor has presented about ePortfolios at the E.C. Moore Symposium, the Assessment Institute, and the international ePortfolio conference hosted by the Association for Authentic, Experiential, & Evidence-Based Learning.

For more information, contact the Division of Undergraduate Education Office of Communications at duecomm@iupui.edu.