Articles Explore the E-Portfolio Capstone Option for SJSU SLIS Students
Dr. Michelle Holschuh Simmons, a lecturer at the San Jose State University School of Library and Information Science (SJSU SLIS), recently wrote a four-part series of articles explaining how e-portfolios have evolved as a culminating project option for students in the information school’s fully online Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program.
The article series, titled “Using the Electronic Portfolio as a Capstone Project: The Rationale, Logistics and Reflections,” was written in conjunction with SJSU SLIS lecturer Beth Wrenn-Estes and four SJSU SLIS alumni, who shared portions of their own e-portfolios as examples in the articles.
SJSU SLIS began offering the electronic portfolio, or e-portfolio, as a capstone project option in 2006. “About 98 percent of students choose the e-portfolio option over writing a thesis,” said Simmons, who is an e-portfolio advisor.
According to Simmons, the articles provide insight for educators who are considering adding the e-portfolio capstone to their own programs. However, the series can also help current and future MLIS students better understand the e-portfolio, including its purpose and the creative options it offers for students to demonstrate their mastery of professional competencies and use of emerging technology.
The first article looks at the e-portfolio’s purposes, structure and content. The second and third articles explain the different technologies SJSU SLIS has used over the years to help students create their e-portfolios, while the last article describes both the challenges and successes of this approach to a graduate program culminating experience.
“As a fully online program with faculty and students located across the globe, we felt that our distributed environment adds a level of complexity that makes our experience administering this capstone experience worth sharing with a wider audience,” Simmons said. “Knowing how challenging it is to develop a meaningful, rigorous and valuable capstone experience, I wanted to share our e-portfolio project with other educators.”
The article series originated as conference presentations given in 2011 and 2012. When Simmons and Wrenn-Estes first started working on presentation proposals, they knew they wanted to involve students. Four SJSU SLIS students – Genna Buhr, Sylvie Rusay, Alejandra Saldana-Nann and Donna Zick – joined them at several conferences in 2011 and 2012. All four individuals have since earned their master’s degrees in library and information science.
After one of the presentations, the managing editor of The Evolllution: Illuminating the Lifelong Learning Movement asked Simmons to rework the conference material into a series of articles. The resulting four-part series can be downloaded here, and is also available on The Evolllution’s website.
ABOUT SJSU SLIS
The San Jose State University School of Library and Information Science is a recognized leader in online learning and is a member of the Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C) and Quality Matters. In 2012, the School’s online programs received a score in the exemplary range according to the Sloan-C Quality Scorecard for the Administration of Online Education Programs.
SJSU SLIS prepares individuals for professional careers in the information profession. The information school offers the following online educational programs:
For more information about the nationally ranked school, please visit: http://slisweb.sjsu.edu