wentworth of tomorrrow transformation for the next century

Wentworth of TOMORRROW

Transformation For The Next Century

Improving Student Social Business Skill Sets Through ePortfolio Development and

Utilization

Cindy P. Stevens, Ph.D. Boston, MA

Management Department

• Bachelor's of Science (BSM)– Current total BSM students:

approximately 280

• Two concentrations:– Entrepreneurship– Technology Project

Management

• ePortfolio required– ICABE accreditation tool

Electronic Career PortfolioAssessment Tool and Requirement Report

• Core Required Items:– Professional Picture– Brief Student Summary– Professional Resume

• Design and Organization:– Organized– Working Links– Artifacts are Identifiable

• Process:– Freshman Year Developed– Activity Editing/Adding Content

Sophomore through Senior Year– Concentration Advisor Signs off Senior Year– Advisor Signs Off Senior Year– Students Issued an S or U. (will become

letter graded item 2016!)

• Six Proficiency Areas Required:– Writing and Research

• Example: Newspaper, Research paper– Professional Service

• Example: Student Organization, Committee

– Team Leadership• Example: Mentor, Conduct Meetings

– Consulting, Management Skill Development

• Example: Plan or Design a Project, Evaluator

– Career and Life Planning• Example: Resume, References, Co-op

– Communication• Example: Presentation, Speech

ePortfolio for Co-op• We encourage students

to submit eportfolio(s) along with resume to Co-op employers.

WIT Co-opCooperative education (Co-op) aims to provide practical experience while applying classroom

learning at a work site; to enhance professional skills; to experience personal growth. Co-op is a

full-time work experience. Enrollment in this course maintains full time student status.

Optional Co-op#1

(Sophomore)

Optional Co-op#1

(Sophomore)

Mandatory Co-op#2

(Senior)

Mandatory Co-op#2

(Senior)

Mandatory Co-op #1

(Junior)

Mandatory Co-op #1

(Junior)

Sample BSM Co-op Employers

• Akamai Technologies• American Fortune Real

Estate Corp. • Boston Engineering• Boston Red Sox• Intel Massachusetts,

Inc.• John Hancock• McGrath Companies• My Happy Planet

• Raytheon Technical Services

• Mission Hill Main Streets

• Sunguard Higher Education

• Trinity Properties• Uphams Corner Main

Street• Windsor Capital

Mortgage

What Platform?• Switched to WordPress.com for 2011 & 2012

Seniors. • Now allowing students to also use Weebly

2013.

Why Did We Switch?

• WordPress & Weebly more graphical and not just an online Resume.

• WordPress & Weebly easier to use.• Weebly easier to use than

WordPress.

Samples

Samples

Conducted a Survey!

– Were students more motivated?– Did they enjoy the experience more?– Where they more satisfied?– Did they learn anything new?

• About themselves?• Technical skills?• Organizational skills?• Time management?

– Where they able to reflect back over the last four years?

ePortfolio Skill Sets

Source: Stevens, Cindy. “Social Capital: Determining A Student’s E-Portfolio Net Worth" Volume 5 of The Journal of Human Capital Development. (June, 2012).

NegativeNegative

PositivePositive

Net Worth

• An assumption is that eportfolio net worth (NW) is:– The sum of human capital (HC) and social capital (SC)

*In other words, ePortfolio NW = HC + SC.

What Does That Mean?• Human capital represents technological skills,

organizational skills, writing skills, critical thinking skills, and self-knowledge skills. – These skills are either utilized or gained during the eportfolio process

from freshman to senior year. • Social capital represents the ability of students to

communicate, work with others, including faculty members, and create and maintain networks as a result of their eportfolio. – Social capital is also considered a non-cognitive trait development

and that these social capital skills are transferable skills in the workplace, in school, and personally.

Are Social Business Skill Sets Similar?

Social Business Skills Sets

• Interpersonal Communication (Burrus; Pereira, Vera, Miller; Foux)

• Collaboration (Burrus; Pereira, Vera, Miller)

• Group Learning (Pereira, Vera, Miller)

• Creative Problem Solving (Pereira, Vera, Miller; Foux)

• Analyzing Complex Processes (Pereira, Vera, Miller; Foux)

• Vast Technology Skills (Pereira, Vera and Miller)

• People Skills (Foux)• Leadership (Golla)• Ethical Decision Making

(Golla) • Knowledge Building

(Burrus; Golla)• Knowledge Management

(Burrus; Golla)

Making A Connection: Social Business

• Another assumption is:– Social Business (SB) Skill Sets = Net worth of the

eportfolio• Or, in other words: NW ± SB

• The lower net worth of a student’s eportfolio the lower his/her reflected social business skills sets.

• The higher net worth of a student’s eportfolio the higher his/her reflected social business skills sets.

What’s Next

• A grading rubric that measures the NW of an eportfolio.

• The rubric will correlate to several, if not all the BSM/IACBE program learning outcomes.

• The learning outcomes will in turn assess: NW ± SB.

Questions or Comments

stevensc@wit.eduhttp://cindypstevens.com