E-Portfolio Mentorship Project

Dear Members of the Bishop’s Community,

I am pleased to announce that the E-Portfolio Mentorship Project, started last year as an exploratory project with funding secured from the Entente Canada-Québec, will be relaunched at Bishop’s for the 2017-2018 year.

The project, which supports the creation of an e-portfolio by Bishop’s students in any year and any program, is also intended as a mentorship opportunity for students. Each student participant is assigned a mentor who comes to the project with study, life, and professional experience to assist students in developing their e-portfolios. According to the student participants from last year’s exploratory phase, the mentorship aspect of the project was highly appreciated, and the opportunity to develop an e-portfolio through this mentorship was valued. Promotional posters will be in evidence around campus as the semester begins; they provide student testimonials about the benefits of the project.

The e-portfolio, created through the Mahara platform and supported by the IT Department, can take many forms, according to the goals of individual students as they manage the various dimensions of their university experience. They can use it to set academic and career goals and monitor their progress toward these goals, to display the results of their extra-curricular activities, to enhance their CVs, to create realistic schedules and timelines for academic work and projects, to exchange ideas and feedback with their peers about their course work, and to support job and scholarship applications. An end-of-semester E-Portfolio Demonstration Event will be held to show results of the project.

The project this year will be led by Dr. Catherine Beauchamp, known to the Bishop’s community as former Professor and Dean of the School of Education. Dr. Beauchamp acted last year as the Lead Mentor on the project and from that experience, in collaboration with members of the mentor team from last year, has put into place an appealing opportunity for students for 2017-2018. The project this year will also benefit from the involvement of a former student participant who will act as e-Portfolio Project Assistant and will provide liaison between student participants and mentors. The project will be housed in the Continuing Education Department, which will support the organizational aspects of this endeavour. A parallel project will be offered at Champlain Regional College, through the same financial grant, and the Bishop’s English Department will offer an e-portfolio component as a pilot initiative.

I would encourage professors and University staff to refer students to this project, which has the potential to enhance not only the work of students in need of academic support and guidance but also the work of any success-oriented students interested in strengthening their academic dossiers. Please see the links following this letter for additional information for all members of the Bishop’s community and sign-up possibilities for prospective student participants.

Along with the Dr. Beauchamp, the mentors and the project assistant, I look forward to sharing the results of this year’s project with you at the end of each semester in 2017-2018.

Additional information can be found on the project website.

Students can sign up for the project, which is offered without charge, by contacting ePortfolio@ubishops.ca. Once registered, they will immediately be assigned a mentor who will lead them through the initial steps of the process.

Questions regarding the project can be addressed to catherine.beauchamp@ubishops.ca or to contedu@ubishops.ca.

Marie-Josée Berger, Ph.D.
Dean, School of Education
Associate VP, Continuing Education
Bishop’s University