In today’s world where a single job opening can yield over 100 applicants all carrying bachelor’s or master’s degrees, it’s becoming increasingly important for colleges and universities to offer benefits to students beyond the degree.
The School of Education and Social Policy (SESP) at Northwestern has answered that challenge by incorporating digital portfolios into their curriculum for students in the Master of Science in Learning and Organizational Change (MSLOC) and Organizational & Leadership Coaching Certification (OLCC) programs. Graduating students can easily share an accessible online portfolio of materials to showcase the broad range and high quality of work they have produced while in the program; they may even include items originating outside their degree work but relevant to presenting a holistic look at what they are capable of producing.
For students pursuing a coaching certification, work on their digital portfolios begins as soon as they enter the program, beginning with a workshop to get them started. As they progress through the program, the portfolios continuously facilitate reflection on what the students have learned, aid in the development of a personal professional brand, and gives employers visual proof of their skills and experiences via a dynamic platform.
Example Digital Portfolio
Margaret Sullivan, a MSLOC coaching instructor, further explains the needs addressed by the use of digital portfolios, “As clients (both internal and external) continue to become more sophisticated about coaching, they want to understand how you approach coaching, what kind of value you bring, what kinds of processes/models you use, what kinds of experiences you've had, etc. In a nutshell, they want to understand the sort of coach you are. Figuring this out and being able to articulate it takes more time than most people realize and can be easier to do as an ongoing process rather than in one fell swoop.”
“By having it online, you are able to see how your classmates' portfolios are evolving, helping you to refine your own perspective and choosing how you might want to be similar or dissimilar," she added.
For other MSLOC students, creating a digital portfolio is an optional activity designed to augment their professional development. Terri Cramer, MSLOC Assistant Director of Student Affairs, encourages students to take the time to invest in this opportunity, “It can translate not only into a powerful portfolio, but a honed elevator speech, a targeted LinkedIn profile summary statement, or an enhanced job interview performance.”
Once students have created their portfolios, MSLOC Career Services aggregates them into a Talent Book that can be shared with recruiters searching for interns or full-time hires. The MSLOC Program also has launched an online Directory of Coaches to help OLCC graduates share their portfolios.
MSLOC Directory of Coaches
The use of digital portfolios at SESP continues to grow and change. Following a two-year pilot with Pathbrite, the hosting of digital portfolios will be transitioned this year to WordPress (a popular content management system) to give students more options to build and customize their portfolios. SESP is also creating new online resources for students to help them throughout the process.
“Our program is committed to helping students build digital competence, which includes the refined ability to share your knowledge with others online,” said MSLOC director Kimberly Scott. “In their roles as executive coaches and leaders of talent development, our students must know how to use digital tools to facilitate learning for others and for themselves. As tools and platforms evolve, we will continue to collaborate with SESP IT, Northwestern IT, and our faculty to find the best ways for students to learn and share knowledge in our networked society.”