Amy Cicchino, McKenna Slaughter, Nghi Chau: Students support students in creating portfolios

Associate Prof Dr Amy Cicchino, the Director of the Writing Center at the University of Central Florida, is back for another interview. This time it's all about student support and the student perspective. Two of her students, McKenna Slaughter, BA, and Nghi Chau, join her to talk about their experiences creating portfolios themselves in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric and as Graduate Assistant and Undergraduate Peer Tutor respectively in the UCF Writing Center.ResourcesAAEEBL Digital Ethics Principles in ePortfoliosAAEEBL Field Guide to ePortfoliosWatson, C. E., Kuh, G. D., Rhodes, T. L., Penny Light, T., & Chen, H. L. (2016). Editorial: ePortfolios – The eleventh High Impact Practice. International Journal of ePortfolio, 6(2), 65–69.Related episodesAmy Cicchino & Brandi Gilbert: Portfolios as high-impact practicesAmy Cicchino, Megan Mize, Sarah Zurhellen: Visibility of labourDiKuLe: Planning and decision making guide for portfoliosDebbie Oesch-Minor and Salsabil Qaddoura: Foster student ownership and empowerment through a portfolioChristina Mayes: Portfolio support through peer mentorsMario A. Peraza: Use AI to help curate your digital presenceSubscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.Production informationProduction: Catalyst ITHost: Kristina HoeppnerArtwork: Evonne CheungMusic: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Associate Prof Dr Mpho-Entle Modise and Prof Dr Norm Vaughan are the editors of the book 'Digital resilience of ePortfolios during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons for the future', which was published in 2025 and brought together 85 authors from around the world who shared their diverse portfolio stories. In this episode, Mpho-Entle and Norm share highlights from this publishing experience and themes from the book.Mpho-Entle teaches in the Department of Curriculum and Instructional Studies in the College of Education at the University of South Africa. She has classes of upwards of 12,000 students and incorporates portfolios into each of her classes.Norm has been teaching with portfolios in the Bachelor of Education programme at Mount Royal University in Alberta, Canada, since 1996. He's passionate about portfolios and considers them the backbone of the programme.ResourcesMpho-Entle's public portfolioNorm's public portfolioModise, M.-E., & Vaughan, N. (2024). ePortfolios: A 360-degree approach to assessment in teacher education. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 50(4), 1–18.University of Maryland Global CampusCommonwealth of Learning Mentorship ProgrammeMeet the editorsJoin the AAEEBL and FLANZ webinar 'Building digital resilience through ePortfolios: Lessons for the future' on 19/20 May 2026.Related episodesVickel Narayan: Portfolios in the age of AI: A rethink to the approach?Soropepeli Ramacake: Know, grow, and show through your portfolioAmy Cicchino & Brandi Gilbert: Portfolios as high-impact practicesZala Volcic: Develop community, relationships, and compassionBob Reuter: Externalise your thinking with portfoliosSubscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.Production informationProduction: Catalyst ITHost: Kristina HoeppnerArtwork: Evonne CheungMusic: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Dr Vickel Narayan is a Senior Lecturer in Digital Learning in the Institute of Education at Massey University in Aotearoa New Zealand. He's been working with portfolios for nearly two decades at various institutions of higher and tertiary education in Aotearoa and Australia.Vickel shares his thoughts around the use of artificial intelligence, in particular large language models, in education and portfolio practice. He highlights AI use to support student ownership and giving students tools on hand to create multimodal content more easily than they'd been able to do otherwise.ResourcesVickel's Massey University pageNarayan, V. (2017). The mobilised learner: Heutagogy and mobile social media—Murdoch University [Doctoral Thesis, Murdoch University].Massey University graduate profileUDL guidelinesKorowai Mokopuna programmeWebinar series on portfolios and AI, organised by AAEEBLEPEPLA workshop: ePortfolio Evolution Powered by Language AnalysisRelated episodesMandia Mentis & Wendy Holley-Boen: Bringing the personal to the professionalAllison Miller: The portfolio is a processMichael Sankey: The portfolio as the place of representation for emerging professionalsMike Altieri: Use reflection bot Riff for deeper and more meaningful portfolio reflectionSubscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.Production informationProduction: Catalyst ITHost: Kristina HoeppnerArtwork: Evonne CheungMusic: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Dr Megan Mize is the Director for ePortfolios and Digital Initiatives in the Academic Success Center (ASC) at Old Dominion University (ODU). She's been supporting portfolios at ODU since 2012 and is currently involved in a couple of strategic initiatives at her university that incorporate portfolios to support students.ResourcesMonarch Humanities Internship AcademyODU General Education ReformAAEEBL Digital Ethics Task Force and PrinciplesHigh-impact practicesODU ePortfolio support and resourcesGresham, M., Mize, M., & Zurhellen, S. (2023). High-impact practices and third spaces: Connecting across disciplines. Across the Disciplines, 20(3/4), 157–176.Related episodesAmy Cicchino, Megan Mize, Sarah Zurhellen: Visibility of labourAmy Cicchino & Brandi Gilbert: Portfolios as high-impact practicesLisa Donaldson: From 0 to 6,000 in six weeksSubscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.Production informationProduction: Catalyst ITHost: Kristina HoeppnerArtwork: Evonne CheungMusic: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Yvonne Moore, MA, is the Digital Education Developments Lead, and James Pearce, BA, is the Educational Software Development Manager in the Centre for Learning & Teaching at University of Bath. They support faculty at the university to implement educational technologies meaningfully and effectively - Yvonne from the pedagogical side and James from the technical side.The university has been using Mahara for many years and focussed on skills portfolios and work-integrated learning portfolios in more recent years. Yvonne and James detail how skills portfolios support reflection, an important ingredient of lifelong learning, and how they make use of existing functionality in Mahara, like SmartEvidence, and also enhance it further, contributing their changes back to the community.ResourcesPublic resources on Mahara by the University of BathPlanning and decision making guide for the use of ePortfolios in academic teaching from the DiKuLe projectAAEEBL Digital Ethics in ePortfolios Principle 'Support'SmartEvidenceNuessler, S., & Kirby, M. (2014). SmartEvidence: Improving ePortfolio quality through intervention [Presentation]. Mahara Hui, Wellington, NZWhat is SmartEvidence?Case study on how AP Hogeschool Antwerpen enhanced SmartEvidenceRelated episodesDiKuLe: Planning and decision making guide for portfoliosShari Bowker: Establish good feedback practices in your portfolioSubscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.Production informationProduction: Catalyst ITHost: Kristina HoeppnerArtwork: Evonne CheungMusic: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Prof Dr Debbie Oesch-Minor and her student Salsabil Qaddoura from Indiana University Indianapolis talk about portfolios at IU Indianapolis, in particular in Debbie's composition course that Salsabil took where she created a portfolio that showed her the power of this practice.Debbie shares her reasons for working with portfolios and supporting other faculty and students in the portfolio process within the ePortfolio Studio. Salsabil outlines the benefits that she as student saw while engaged in the portfolio process, which she then also shared with other faculty at the university.ResourcesAAEEBLHigh-impact practicesePortfolio student showcaseOesch-Minor, D. (2023, July 14). EPortfolios on the Fives: Simplifying and streamlining ePortfolio building for students and faculty [Presentation]. AAEEBL Annual Meeting, VancouverSalsabil's portfolio 'Legal, not always just'Dweck, C. (2014). Developing a growth mindset [Presentation]. Stanford+Connects micro lecture, New York.Elbow, P. (1993). Ranking, evaluating, and liking: Sorting out three forms of judgment. College English, 55(2), 187–206.Pratt, M. L. (1991). Arts of the contact zone. Profession, 33–40.Percy, J. (2014, October 14). My terrifying night with Afghanistan’s only female warlord. The New Republic.Berehulak, D. (2016, December 7). 'They are slaughtering us like animals.' The New York Times.Hoeppner, K. (2015, April 9). Scaffolding ePortfolio use [Presentation]. Mahara Hui 2015, Auckland, New Zealand.NACE career readiness competenciesePortfolios Australia PARE sessionsRelated episodesCathy Elliott: Have fun, be flexible, and encourage feedback in your portfolioAmy Cicchino & Brandi Gilbert: Portfolios as high-impact practicesThe wunderkammer: Metaphors in portfolio practiceAllison Miller: The portfolio is a processSubscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.Production informationProduction: Catalyst ITHost: Kristina HoeppnerArtwork: Evonne CheungMusic: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Associate Professor Dr Jaye Ryan, SFHEA, headed the nursing ePortfolio programme at Birmingham City University (BCU) in the UK between 2010 and 2019. She supported students and staff in creating ePortfolios and introduced Student Academic Mentors ePortfolios (StAMPs) to help students as peers.In this episode, Jaye talks about the ePortfolio practice in her nursing programme, the challenges she faced, and how she and the StAMPs made the portfolio work for students.ResourcesRyan, J. A. (2025). The lived experience of mature undergraduate nursing students with quasi-dyslexia: Navigating ongoing academic challenges [Doctoral Thesis, Birmingham City University].Ryan, J. A. (2018). Which resources are most helpful to support development of an ePortfolio? British Journal of Nursing, 27(5), 266–271.AAEEBL Digital Ethics Principles: SupportHoeppner, K. (2025, May 15). Portfolios: Integral to your programmatic assessment approach.Mahara 26.04 refresh: December 2025 updateJaye's fundraiser for her dad after hurricane Melissa in 2025Related episodesAmy Cicchino & Brandi Gilbert: Portfolios as high-impact practicesChristina Mayes: Portfolio support through peer mentorsDavid Hicks: The portfolio tells the story of growthMichael Sankey: The portfolio as the place of representation for emerging professionalsJonathan Murphy: Demonstrate skills and competenciesSubscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.Production informationProduction: Catalyst ITHost: Kristina HoeppnerArtwork: Evonne CheungMusic: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Soropepeli Ramacake, MSW Applied, PGDip in Supervision, Dip in Counselling, BTheology works at the University of the South Pacific (USP) in Fiji as Assistant Lecturer. He is also a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney.Soro uses Mahara as portfolio platform with his social work students who are on placement in various South Pacific countries, supporting them mainly from the distance.ResourcesChief, I. Y., & Ramacake, S. (2025, November 11). Learners’ reflection on the use of e-Portfolio in Social Work at The University of the South Pacific. ICDE World Conference 2025, Wellington.Mock-ups for Mahara 26.04Using Mahara to demonstrate skills acquired in a hospitality workplace practicum. Presentation at Mahara Hui 2017 by Parijata Moeava and Mojito Jione (The University of the South Pacific) in Auckland, New Zealand, on 6 April 2017.Creating spaces for students to demonstrate competencies in their profession. Presentation at Mahara Hui 2017 by Irene Yee Chief, Mojito Jione and Rajneel Totaram (The University of the South Pacific) in Auckland, New Zealand, on 6 April 2017.Related episodesSue Schibeci: Portfolios in work-integrated learning experiencesJonathan Murphy: Demonstrate skills and competenciesZala Volcic: Develop community, relationships, and compassionSubscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.Production informationProduction: Catalyst ITHost: Kristina HoeppnerArtwork: Evonne CheungMusic: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Associate Prof Dr Amy Cicchino, the Director of the Writing Center at the University of Central Florida and Brandi Gilbert, MPH, the Director of the Life-Health Sciences Internship Program at Indiana University Indianapolis talk about high-impact practices and how portfolios fit in.ResourcesAssessment InstituteHIPs in the StatesAAC&U list of high-impact practicesAAEEBL Digital Ethics Task ForceAAEEBL Digital Ethics in ePortfolios PrinciplesKuh, G.D, O’Donnell, K., & Reed, S. (2013). Ensuring quality and taking high-impact practices to scale. American Association of Colleges and Universities.Watson, C. E., Kuh, G. D., Rhodes, T. L., Penny Light, T., & Chen, H. L. (2016). Editorial: ePortfolios – The eleventh High Impact Practice. International Journal of ePortfolio, 6(2), 65–69.Kinzie, J., Silberstein, S., McCormick, A.C., Gonyea, R. M., & Dugan, B. (2021). Centering racially minoritized student voices in high-impact practices. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 53(4), 6–14IU Indianapolis ePortfolio StudioIU Indianapolis student ePortfolio showcaseElements of HIPs:Performance expectations set at appropriately high levelsSignificant investment of concentrated effort by students over an extended periodInteractions with faculty and peers about substantive mattersExperiences with diversity, wherein students are exposed to and must contend with people and circumstances that differ from those with which students are familiarFrequent, timely, and constructive feedbackOpportunities to discover relevance of learning through real-world applicationsPublic demonstration of competencePeriodic, structured opportunities to reflect and integrate learningMaking a difference for othersAgency and accomplishmentRelated episodesChristina Mayes: Portfolio support through peer mentorsMark Glynn: Take a programmatic approach to assessment with portfoliosSheetal J. Patel: Own your story through a portfolioChristine Dülfer: Supporting industry internshipsSubscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.Production informationProduction: Catalyst ITHost: Kristina HoeppnerArtwork: Evonne CheungMusic: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

In this episode, podcast host, Kristina Hoeppner, MA, from Catalyst IT, picks out a few memorable situations from her recent trip to Europe in September and early October 2025.ResourcesMoodleMoot DACHMoodleMoot Global 2025KawaiiconMahara UX review 2024Mahara refresh mock-upsCPD enhancementsMahara subscription'Mahara Ask Me Anything' sessionsAMA on 25 November 2025AMA on 16/17 December 2025Subscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.Production informationProduction: Catalyst ITHost: Kristina HoeppnerArtwork: Evonne CheungMusic: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward