Co-ops are an invaluable experience for Northeastern students, and when students can effectively showcase those experiences, employers are better able to see how prior co-op experiences will translate to success in new roles. The self-paced Khoury Graduate Career Preparation course allows Northeastern graduate students to ready themselves to make the most of their upcoming Co-op. Following the thread of experiential learning, at the end of the course, the students submit a portfolio of all completed assignments. When Khoury Co-op advisors reached out to Academic Technologies for ideas on how to implement a student portfolio project, the teams worked together to create a streamlined process using tools already provided by Northeastern University.
Working closely with Academic Technologies (AT) provided the Khoury Co-op, advisors an opportunity to explore the available options, and ultimately land on Sites at Northeastern (Sites), powered by WordPress. Using Sites allows the students to not only create modern and visually appealing portfolios but also provides an opportunity for them to learn a tool that’s widely used in organizations they may work for in the future.
AT further helped save time by cultivating a process that was easy for students to jump into, along with training, which led to a decrease in the time instructors were spending answering questions on how to create a portfolio. With more than 800 portfolios to review each fall and spring, instructors were able to focus on the portfolio content, rather than answering questions about how to create a portfolio. The portfolio approach allows faculty to see all of the student’s work in a single location, minimizing clicks and downloads. Consistency across portfolios makes the daunting task of reviewing 50 portfolios a week much more manageable. Kathleen Vander Laan, Director – Graduate Co-op, Senior Co-op Coordinator was happy with the outcome of the new procedure.
“We spent very little, if any, time helping students create their e-Portfolio. A robust, detailed set of instructions has been created and students seem to easily follow.”
– Kathleen Vander Laan, Director – Graduate Co-op, Senior Co-op Coordinator
The AT team is always working to stay up to date on a wide variety of tools so they can be ready with innovative solutions for any problem or new project. Join AT drop-in hours to ask questions about Canvas, Microsoft Teams, and other digital teaching tools or schedule a consult to see how AT can help you maximize your teaching!