If you’re a senior graduating in May, you’ve probably already done your share of complaining about the upcoming December 3rd deadline for E-Portfolio artifacts. I’m not thrilled about it either. The E-Portfolio was originally instated to make Clemson a more competitive university (Top 25 Public School, y’all!), providing its students with a way to show future employers their work while at Clemson, highlighting their well roundedness and ability to demonstrate general education competencies. On the bright side, when employers google your name – because they totally will – they won’t just find your Twitter (yikes), but also your über professional E-Portfolio full of all the good stuff Clemson taught you… Right? This is great in theory, but a good amount of students, myself included, see large flaws with the way Clemson is handling this.
Several of the problems students have with the E-Portfolio grading process include the inconsistencies with grades given and the timeliness (or lack thereof) of grading. Horror stories have gone around the last few graduating classes, describing situations where students turn in artifacts by the deadline, only for them to sit ungraded until days before graduation. When they finally do get graded, they receive IAs, leaving the future graduates almost no time to scramble for an article considered suitable by the mysterious graders. One such student visited graders in person to explain his artifact about an influential historical event and was met with confusion by graders about whether the event he referenced was even real. Several of my friends have swapped anecdotes about turning in artifacts for certain competencies, written in a class specifically for that competency, but receiving an IA. Later, they would type up their own paper, completely unrelated to any work they’d ever actually been assigned at Clemson, or even ask friends to use their artifacts – these are the documents that would get 1s and 2s instead. If you don’t see a problem with that, there’s something seriously wrong here.
I wouldn’t be opposed to the e-Portfolio if it were tailored to each student’s major. My friend, the English major, shouldn’t be graded on the same standards as myself, the Animal Science major. If this portfolio is truly to be a showing of our work as Clemson students, then it should be acceptable for a student of one major to turn in artifacts relevant to that major. The E-Portfolio serves to show Clemson’s adequacy in general education, but it doesn’t necessarily follow suit that all Gen Ed classes will assign papers that could fulfill E-Portfolio requirements. Of that same token, this doesn’t mean that papers I’ve written in animal science classes couldn’t be considered a valuable asset to my future career and E-Portfolio. Students shouldn’t have to manufacture random artifacts in a last ditch attempt to pass, after their own artifacts from a class required by their major were considered not appropriate enough. E-Portfolio graders are essentially communicating that you can be positively graded on work that in no way reflects your experience and curriculum while at Clemson, which inherently, to me, defeats the purpose of the E-Portfolio altogether.
Recently, I have personally witnessed students receiving unnecessary, rude criticism on their artifacts. Worse, the criticism was completely lacking of any instruction on how to better their artifacts. This, combined with the inefficiencies and inconsistencies in grading artifacts only discredits the attempts to make Clemson a competitive school by using E-Portfolios. Furthermore, I think students would be much less resentful about the E-Portfolio if they knew that employers and graduate schools were paying more attention. I don’t know a single person who said their E-Portfolio helped them get a job. I am also fairly certain that not a single person who is in charge of my acceptance into vet school will choose to take into account my Clemson E-Portfolio over the lengthy applications and personal statements that I spent hours carefully piecing together.* It’s true that the E-Portfolio can be used as a positive asset for Clemson University and its graduates. That can only be done if the staff and its – might I mention undergrad – graders are more efficient, considerate, and open-minded. The requirements should be more fluid and need to reflect what Clemson’s students, in all majors, have actually done at Clemson, as well as what they are most passionate about as they near graduation and the “real world.” That being said, I really need to get my artifacts uploaded…
*Update: Since writing this article, I have been accepted to two veterinary programs and wait listed to one. My E-Portfolio had literally nothing to do with it. Now let me graduate!
Photo Credits: