In particular, I drew on and responded to Jen Ross's 2011 article "Traces of self: online reflective practices and performances in higher education." Ross emphasizes the power imbalance between student and professor, and cautions against requiring students to curate their identities online. Ross criticizes approaches to teaching that assume there is a singular “knowable, malleable yet cohesive self” at the core of individual identity, as if the goal of reflection in postsecondary education is to better know a singular, authentic self.
While I appreciate Ross's caution, I suggest that her argument does a disservice to students by omitting a consideration of the portfolio as performance. Within our disciplinary conventions, we are able to equip students with the toolkit necessary to perform online--to wear a mask that is both truth and artifice. You can read the full text of my presentation as a PDF here.
For more on my work with online portfolios, see:
- Curriculum Development, ePortfolio initiative, UBC Arts
- Video: "What is an ePortfolio?"
- Student, Alumni & Employer "Talking Head" videos