The Davis Educational Foundation of Maine has awarded Regis, a leading Catholic university in Greater Boston, a two-year grant worth more than $170,000. The grant will support implementing an e-portfolio best practices model at Regis.
“The value is in the reflection and deeper learning because it allows students to craft a narrative around the entirety of their undergraduate academic learning experiences” said Dr. Kate Edney, associate dean of Academic Assessment and interim dean of the School of Arts and Sciences.
“Regis is committed to providing a superior educational experience,” said Antoinette Hays, PhD, RN, president of Regis. “This funding will help provide guidance for our academic community to master e-portfolios in an effective, productive, and comprehensive manner and encourage our students to become lifelong learners.”
Chair of the Davis Educational Foundation’s Board of Directors William Reed said the trustees “are eager to follow and learn from the implementation of the e-portfolio as an integrative tool for students and an assessment tool for Regis.”
The grant will support a proposal called “From Idea to Ideal: Activating the Potential of the e-Portfolio.” The proposal calls for a faculty design team and professional development to implement an e-portfolio best practices model at the university.
An e-portfolio, an Association of American Colleges and Universities high-impact practice, promotes students' reflective learning by enabling them to gather, synthesize and ponder key experiences and assignments across their undergraduate career. Students collect evidence, which may include writing samples, photos, videos, and research projects that illustrate their learning journey over time.
The e-portfolio process will integrate with Regis’ U.S. Department of Education Title III grant that supports a five-year intradepartmental initiative to improve undergraduate degree completion.
Regis uses LiveText for e-portfolio submissions, a website where students can post, save, and periodically reflect on their academic work in the first, sophomore, junior, and senior years.
The grant was received from the Davis Educational Foundation, established by Stanton and Elisabeth Davis after Mr. Davis’s retirement as chairman of Shaw’s Supermarkets, Inc..
