MEGAN K. MIZE, PHD

As our program has now been active for a few years, we want to better determine the number of portfolios that are typically produced per semester and which groups are (or are not) creating portfolios. More over, we need to revisit our ePortfolio training to make sure it is up to date. By extension, we will collaborate with early adapters to determine what resources might be helpful to support the on-going evolution of their portfolio practice.

With a number of institutional wide efforts on the horizon, such as the Quality Enhancement Plan which focuses on information fluency and a new Strategic Plan centered on student success, it is increasingly urgent that we can demonstrate that ePortfolio practice exerts a positive influence on students. The institution is particularly interested in retention, persistence, and graduation rates. We will partner with The Office of Institutional Assessment to start identifying methods for identifying possible trends in the data.

Following the positive reception of our two HIP-XR workshop series and subsequent mini-grants, we would like to continue to expand the support for the initiative. For instance, we've recently been selected as participants in the Unity Create with VR grant, which should provide us with a sizable number of loaner headsets. As part of the grant, our administrative team will take part in a Unity course to learn one of the tools related to XR content production. 

The ePortfolio and Digital Initiatives works best in tandem with other teams, informing and supporting joint efforts. This is a highly collaborative team, constantly developing and coordinating with other programs. As mentioned above, we've also seen a rise in new and old partners approaching us either to deepen previous efforts of establish new ones. 

Every year our team is very active on the conference circuits, representing ODU's ePortfolio efforts widely.  In particular, for the coming years, I will be Co-PI on a project that maps ePortfolio-related practices and labor across higher ed in North American, Australia, and New Zealand. Furthermore, I will be continuing efforts to increase awareness of the AAEEBL's Digital Ethics in ePortfolios Principles, via webinars, workshops, and podcasts.