February 25, 2025 • 18 mins
Arturo Flores, Jr., is a Psychology and History major at Dominican University of California in his final year. He holds a number of on-campus jobs, amongst them being a peer mentor.
Arturo started developing his public portfolio in his first year at Dominican and details some of that journey for us in this episode. He reflects on the benefits of the portfolio for him as a student already now and for the future.
This episode is the fourth of five interviews with portfolio authors from Dominican University of California whom I was privileged to meet in preparation for the first AAEEBL ePortfolio Retreat that was held at Dominican on 18 October 2024.
Connect with Arturo on LinkedIn
Resources
- Arturo's portfolio
- The Dominican Experience, of which the portfolio work is part
- Digital portfolio support at Dominican
- Christina Mayes, MS, Manager of the Fletcher Jones Digital Portfolio Lab
- Naomi Elvolve, MA, Executive Director of the Student Success Center
- Jennifer Labovich, BA, Integrative Coach
- Stacy L. Poe, MA, Executive Director of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
- Rec Sports at Dominican
Related Dominican University of California episodes:
- Solena Ornelas: Set goals and achieve them with a portfolio
- Starlight (José) Lain-Straus: The portfolio as impactful practice for students
- KatieAnn Nguyen: Showcase your achievements in a portfolio and be proud of them
Subscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.
Production information
Production: Catalyst IT
Host: Kristina Hoeppner
Artwork: Evonne Cheung
Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kristina Hoeppner (00:05):
Welcome to 'Create. Share. Engage.' This is
the podcast about portfolios forlearning and more for educators,
learning designers, and managerskeen on integrating portfolios
with their education andprofessional development
practices. 'Create. Share.
Engage.' is brought to you bythe Mahara team at Catalyst IT.
My name is Kristina Hoeppner.
(00:26):
Today I'm speaking with ArturoFlores, Jr. Arturo is a student
at Dominican University ofCalifornia, where we are
chatting in person. Arturo isone of the students to whom
Christina Mayes, the Manager ofthe Fletcher Jones Digital
Portfolio Lab introduced me.
This interview is part of theDominican mini series in which
we are hearing from severalstudents about their experience
(00:47):
creating and maintainingportfolios. It is great to be
talking with you today, Arturo.
Arturo Flores (00:54):
Thank you very much for having me.
Kristina Hoeppner (00:55):
Can you please tell me a little bit
about yourself? What do youstudy?
Arturo Flores (00:58):
The past four years, I've been studying
Psychology. Midst way of that Ifound a spark, an interest in
history, and so I decided to addthat on to Psychology. So now
I'm a double major, and there'sa deeper connection behind
history and psychology in termsof how we are as a human race
and why it is what we do,historical figures, landmarks,
geological places, and they'reall tied to history and
(01:19):
psychology as well. So it's kindof what I do here in terms of
studying and the faculty andstaff and the size of the
classes and everything ingeneral is just so great
[laughs], and it allowed me toexpand my knowledge to a deeper
level.
Kristina Hoeppner (01:31):
Why did you choose Dominican?
Arturo Flores (01:33):
Before attending Dominican, I heard about it. The
outreach was very communicative,they've always called me certain
times of the night. The studentambassadors, they've always
reached out. They made me feelhome. So compared to other
universities and CSU's I gotaccepted to I didn't tour
Dominican. I didn't know whereit was at. I didn't know
anything about the university.
Kristina Hoeppner (01:50):
Oh, wow, you really jumped in there.
Arturo Flores (01:52):
Yeah, I really.
My parents didn't like it, butlook at it now, looking at how
many things I'm involved in andhow the setting is here in both
academically and naturally. It'sa beautiful fit. It's a perfect
family. That's kind of like ourmotto here. We're a small
family. The classroom sizes,financial aid, all suited
everything. And also it wasn'ttoo far, not too close to home
for me. It was a chance for meto allow me to be able to get
(02:12):
away from home and try to figureout my true self, figure out
what it is I want. I want toexpand myself and everything I'm
involved in, I feel like I did avery good job.
Kristina Hoeppner (02:22):
You're doing a good job advertising Dominican
University [both laugh]. You arealso a student ambassador.
Arturo Flores (02:27):
Yes, exactly.
It's funny because that's whatgot me to come to Dominican, and
now I'm putting myself in theshoes that got me here and do
the same thing.
Kristina Hoeppner (02:34):
Yeah, so the ambassadors that you had talked
to have done a fantastic jobbecause they got you here on
campus.
Arturo Flores (02:40):
Yes, exactly.
Kristina Hoeppner (02:41):
Before we started recording, you were
telling me about all your oncampus jobs. So what are those?
Arturo Flores (02:46):
The first one, as briefly mentioned, the student
ambassador. And so I dooutreach. I talk to prospective
students. I work with CampusVisit Days. Pretty much my main
goal is the student aspect ofthe admissions counsellors. We
want to relate more to studentsin terms of the process of
transitioning from high schoolto college, either that's a very
scary time for most students,and so we want to ease that
process, give tours, callprospective students. That's a
(03:09):
list of the student ambassadoraspect. Overall, it's a fun
experience here, adds on to myexperience at Dominican as well
because as I walk campus I see alot of people go, 'Oh, I gave
you a tour.' It's like a lot ofconnection building and
conversation starters. They tellme, like, if it wasn't for me
giving them a tour, then theyprobably wouldn't have attended
Dominican. And so it puts asmile on my face and allows me
to build the culture here atDominican. That's one of the
(03:29):
jobs I do.
The other one I have and aminvolved in is the Rec Sports
Basketball Club. So here atDominican, we have a variety of
club athletic sports orrecreational sports, I should
say. And I'm specifically incharge of basketball. How I came
about that? Freshman year - it'sa new setting, new environment,
I didn't know anybody, I didn'tknow how to fit in, but I saw
Rec Basketball was my go to.
When growing up, I played inhigh school. And growing up in
(03:49):
general, I played sportsthroughout, and basketball, I've
seen that. So I just showed upconsistently for my first two
years, and then eventually myjunior year when the previous
guy in charge was graduating, sohe needed a replacement., and
he'd seen I was constantly therethat opened a new door for me
for opportunity, and I got aposition. And to this day, I
still try to continue on a pathto help get first years involved
in how to find their own space.
(04:12):
Pretty much to getting paid toplay sports. So it's kind of
like my dream, in a way, not theway I wanted to go out, but it's
an experience. And so that's howRec Basketball came about. It
opened my name to get out therein terms of the athletic
department, so again, created anew window of opportunity for
me.
Another thing is the peermentoring. There's a deep story
behind that too. I brieflydescribe it. College kind of
took a toll on me in the firstyear, and I felt a little lost.
(04:33):
One of my previous art teachersnoticed it physically and
reported me to Naomi. Once I gotappointed to Naomi, she then
allowed me to get adjusted withboth academics, clubs,
resources, pretty mucheverything I didn't know about
Dominican, and allowed me tostrive and become more positive
and be more active on campus,leading to my positions in both
ambassadors and rec basketball.
Later on, she suggested I takethe mentoring class, and ever
(04:56):
since then, that's my secondyear, and so I've been also, not
only recruiting first yearDominican students, but also
once they get into Dominican,I'm able to continue that
mentoring stage. It alsocontributes to my major in
psychology because it's inspiredme what I want to do in terms of
mentoring or counselling. That'sa direct way to help students.
And so that's how I got involvedin the peer mentoring. That's
(05:17):
pretty much my story here atDominican.
Kristina Hoeppner (05:20):
That's awesome, Arturo, that you can
work on campus and then alsobring the skills in that you're
studying and that you'relearning in all of your classes.
We'll be focusing a bit more onthat peer mentoring side and
your portfolio. Before I forget,you did mention that there was a
class for peer mentors?
Arturo Flores (05:36):
Yeah.
Kristina Hoeppner (05:37):
How does that work?
Arturo Flores (05:38):
It's usually a one unit class, and usually how
the one units work here, it'seither a very late Friday and a
very long Saturday, and thenafter that, that weekend, you're
done. Pretty much the layout iswhen Naomi, she's usually in
charge of class, and she usuallyhas a lot of different
integrative coaches come in andtalk about what it is like to be
a peer mentor and how it is towork with integrative coaches.
Christina came in and gave us asegment on digital portfolios
(05:59):
because, as peer mentors,there's a handful that work
specifically with her withdigital portfolios, and the rest
work with everybody else.
Kristina Hoeppner (06:05):
Are you one of those portfolio peer mentors?
Arturo Flores (06:07):
I am not, but I have worked a lot with
Christina, too. We also hadStacy Poe, she's in charge of
the diversity, equity, inclusioncome in, and pretty much all the
integrative coaches came in andhad a little segment teaching us
what it's like to be a part ofthe Student Success Center. And
after that class, they conductedan interview, seeing if we were
wanting to continue or actuallywant to go through with being a
peer mentor. And after theinterview, you'd be notified if
(06:29):
you got it or not, and that'seasy the basic layout and how
the process to being a peermentor came across. You just
take a simple one year class, dothe project where you mentor,
very hands on; a lot ofcommunication because as being a
mentor and a mentee, you have tocommunicate one on one. You go
through the various possiblepros and cons throughout
college. You know things aboutroom mate situations, class
(06:51):
situations, usually encountersthat first year students usually
come across. That's what weemphasised on in the class.
Kristina Hoeppner (06:57):
How did you get involved in creating your
portfolio or when did you createyour first portfolio?
Arturo Flores (07:04):
I would like to recall it goes back to my first
year. There is an English classthat we take here at Dominican.
I believe it was 'Effectivecommunication'. And a part of
that, there was a separateproject where we had to create a
portfolio. With that,I can'tremember exactly the topic of
the project, but I just rememberthe basis of creating a digital
website. Initially, I did it forthe project, but then once I got
(07:27):
more into the peer mentoringside, found out that it goes
deeper than that, and Christinahelped me expand it more and
make it more about me. It's agreat reflection of myself, and
not just me, but for anybody whoopens to do it. Initially, it
started off for a class project,but then it expanded way more,
and now it's great tool torepresent myself for people who
don't know me.
Kristina Hoeppner (07:45):
Is that also why you're keeping up with it,
that you have that window forother people to see some of you
online before they meet you?
Arturo Flores (07:52):
Yes, not only that, for people to get an idea
of who I am, but it also allowsme to keep up with what I have
done myself. I kind of use it asa reference tool. I needed to
update it recently just becausea lot's been going on. Whenever
I do go over it and I review it,it's like a trip down memory
lane. Just because it's midwayof senior year, just looking
back at the courses I've taken,there's a lot of stuff that I
tend to forget. Looking at mydigital portfolio, it was just a
(08:14):
great trip down memory lane. Andthen also it gives like a
perspective when people who maynot know me personally or may
not know of me, they look atthat like it's a great
representation of myaccomplishments, personality.
When I present my digitalportfolio, a theme that comes
across as vulnerability. Mebeing able to express myself,
and that theme that come acrosson a digital portfolio just
means I'm doing the right thing.
Kristina Hoeppner (08:35):
How did you come up with the structure of
your portfolio?
Arturo Flores (08:38):
Initially, I've struggled creating it, but
thanks to Christina Mayes andeverybody she works with in the
digital portfolio aspect, wehave sample portfolios in terms
of overall on how you wouldinitially want to lay it out,
but then I ended up finding outin terms of my majors, there are
previous DU students who havegraduated and already did their
portfolio for the past fouryears. I looked at theirs to get
(08:59):
an idea and how I want to set upmy portfolio. It allowed me to
not really take their ideas, butuse it and put my own spiel on
it. That's how I was able toformat my digital portfolio.
But then also, when I did one onones with Christina Mayes about
my digital portfolio, we justwent over it and was able to put
things together. She helped meadd a couple things, revise a
(09:19):
couple things. We pretty muchhave guidelines and pointers to
where it is, how to format it,whether it's previous students,
whether it's some questions tothink about, some topics you can
take, and put your own spill onit. That's how I came about in
terms of organising my digitalportfolio.
Kristina Hoeppner (09:36):
How often do you update it?
Arturo Flores (09:37):
I was actually going to update it this weekend,
just with senior projects thisyear, I've been so busy. A
couple of times a semester, atleast, just because at the end
of every semester, what Ipersonally like to do is just
update my classes, so theclasses I take each semester,
and then also add in some newinternships I'm doing, some new
projects that I've done in thepast year since the last time I
updated. Because there's alwaysa lot of things happening each
semester.
Kristina Hoeppner (09:58):
Do you think you'll keep up with the
portfolio?
Arturo Flores (10:00):
Yes, I feel like it would be a necessity just
because after I graduate here,my goal is to eventually go to
grad school, and my digitalportfolio would be a great
addition to my résumé or whatI've done in undergrad. At the
moment, my thought is to take agap year. I feel like that'll
give me time to build up andmore things to add to my
portfolio and allow me get moreexperience in terms of what it
is I want to go study for gradschool, whether it is for work,
(10:21):
either is on a good team, andthen those experience could be
very beneficial that keep addingon to my digital portfolio. The
portfolio, it's going to be areminder for here. My goal is to
when I graduate is working inschool settings, and maybe
spread that knowledge into thefuture generations of what it is
I will be working with.
Kristina Hoeppner (10:37):
Where do you then see the benefits for
students to create theirportfolios?
Arturo Flores (10:42):
Honestly, it's very beneficial. It's a way for
students to express themselves.
Like I mentioned earlier, theterm vulnerability. I felt like
I was very vulnerable. But thenalso some other peer mentors and
some other students, there'salways some sort of deeper
connection and some motivationon why it is what we do. I was
able to get an understanding ofthe person based off in a
digital portfolio. I'd say it'svery important to have one, and
just because it allows you toexpress some successes, some
(11:05):
roadblocks, but overall, it'sthe digital expression of
yourself.
Kristina Hoeppner (11:10):
With so many students here at Dominican
creating portfolios, can youdiscover those portfolios of
other students?
Arturo Flores (11:16):
Yeah, I believe we have a specific thing.
'Navigating college' is one ofthem, which is part of the peer
mentoring aspect. So pretty muchall the integrative coaches have
a 'Navigating college' course.
So there's specific segments inwhich the peer mentors and the
integrative coaches create aspreadsheet for the first year
students and also for previousstudents.
Kristina Hoeppner (11:35):
Nice. What would you like to be able to do
with portfolios that youcurrently can't, Arturo?
Arturo Flores (11:40):
If I were to summarise it so far, in terms of
my experience, I feel likethere's already a lot to do.
There's no limitations in termsof digital portfolios just
because there's no limitationsto us. We're the ones creating
it as individuals, we knowourselves more than anybody else
does. So I feel like if I wantto do anything, I just want to
keep updating it, just becauseeverything happens so fast. I
think here at Dominican, thetools and sources for digital
(12:03):
portfolios are just one clickand one message away.
What I would like to see withdigital portfolios is to make it
more known campus wide.
Awareness, I would say. Otherthan that, I think the services
here are great. It's easy tofind it, easy to know how to
format it, especially when itcomes to certain majors, when it
comes to certain questions, it'sall there. If I were to add on
to digital portfolios, it'd justbe awareness, making people
(12:25):
aware how impactful it can belater on.
Kristina Hoeppner (12:30):
Is that then awareness amongst other
instructors so they incorporatesome more reflective activities
into your courses?
Arturo Flores (12:38):
Usually, 'Navigating college' is easy,
where they put the main emphasison digital portfolios. I know
some English classes also do it.
I've also created a Google siteor a portfolio for an eco
psychology project where Ilooked at a certain topic and I
created certain tabs, putinformation based on it, too. So
I actually - back to earlierthe personal portfolios - I
actually do have a couple.
Although I put in an emphasis,even if it's not like a
(13:00):
mandatory assignment or subject,at least a suggestion.
Kristina Hoeppner (13:04):
Yeah because the portfolio everywhere is then
also not good and needs to be abit targeted...
Arturo Flores (13:08):
Yes.
Kristina Hoeppner (13:09):
... what we use it for. We are already
coming to our last three quickanswer round questions, Arturo.
Time has flown by...
Arturo Flores (13:15):
Yes it has.
Kristina Hoeppner (13:16):
... and so the first one is, which words or
short phrases do you use todescribe portfolio work, either
to yourself or to your familymaybe even who might not have
seen something like that or toyour friends or even to one of
your prospective Dominicanstudents?
Arturo Flores (13:32):
It's funny you mention prospective students
because every time I give atour, I come through here, and I
describe what it is a digitalportfolio. I would say couple
phrases. I would emphasise 'you'as an individual, the person I'm
talking to because it literallyis pretty much like a reflection
of you. Whether it's personally,whether it's academically, it's
a highlight of what you havedone. 'Highlight' would probably
(13:52):
be the next word. So 'you','highlight', then also probably
'job' in the sense of with youand highlighting the things
you've done, it's a job to putthat on there, all in there.
'Recognition' could be anotherone. So it's centring on the
individual.
Kristina Hoeppner (14:06):
Thank you.
What tip do you have foreducators, be that the
instructors that you're havingor learning designers or
educational designers, what tipdo you have for them when they
are creating portfolioactivities?
Arturo Flores (14:19):
I would say to understand the students because
all students are different. Weall come from different
backgrounds. The. diversity interms of this new generation or
pretty much the new wave ofstudents every year is very
diverse. And so I would say thatportfolios and how an instructor
should probably approach it isto understand the student first.
Initially, when I firstintroduced my portfolio to
(14:40):
Christina, she was a littleconfused, and there's a couple
of things that we had to tweak alittle bit and stuff like that.
But when I explained why I addedit and allowed her to create a
sense of who I am as a personother than just the guy you see
walking in at the library and doclasses and etc., it goes beyond
just a portfolio.
It goes more into finding outwhat it is the student wants,
(15:00):
how the student is, and how toexpress that digitally with such
minimum content. And so my mainsuggestion is, as a professor is
introducing the project or doinga one-on-one, like me and
Christina has, get a feel ofwhat it is they want. As they're
talking about the project orinstructing it, just relate to
the student, from my experience.
It was a lot of tweaks of someinformation in here and there.
(15:22):
Overall, I think how I feltafter my experience was I felt
heard. I feel like a lot ofstudents feel that's what they
need to feel in order to expressthemselves and actually feel
passionate about wanting tocontinue to update the digital
portfolio, not just becauseyou're with a one-on-one with
the instructor, but also justbecause of the connection. As
I'm editing my digitalportfolio, I think of that
experience with the instructor,just because it's a higher up
(15:44):
faculty in college, it's rare tohave that one on one connection
like we do here at Dominican. Ibragging about Dominican, but if
students feel connected withtheir professor, it just shows
us that they truly care. And soI feel like that would be a neat
success.
Kristina Hoeppner (15:56):
And now on the other side, what advice do
you have for portfolio authorsor your fellow students?
Arturo Flores (16:01):
Continue to update it, even if it's little
by little, it doesn't have to bedone right away, because again,
once you first start it, it'sgoing to continue with you for
your next four years. Even ifyou don't feel like it, do it.
That goes with everything. Butalso, digital portfolios are
definitely something areflective tool that can be
beneficial for either as you'regetting close to walking the
stage and then even as you'redoing those walking going up to
(16:23):
the big moment. So continue toupdate it. Continue to add on
all your successes, big orlittle. It's a great reflection
tool, and it allows you to thinkdeeper than what you expect.
Kristina Hoeppner (16:32):
Thank you so much for sharing these tips,
Arturo, and also telling me alittle bit about your journey
along the way here at Dominican,giving us the whole sales pitch.
So I hope at least one personwill consider Dominican after
having heard you here because atleast so far, what I've seen of
the environment and thesurrounding it's a fabulous
place to be studying and havingthe experiences also on that
(16:55):
small campus that you're havinghere. So thank you.
Arturo Flores (16:57):
Of course.
Kristina Hoeppner (16:59):
Now over to our listeners. What do you want
to try in your own portfoliopractice? This was 'Create.
Share. Engage.' with ArturoFlores, Jr. Head to our website,
podcast.mahara.org, where youcan find resources and the
transcript for this episode.
This podcast is produced byCatalyst IT, and I'm your host,
(17:21):
Kristina Hoeppner, Project Leadand Product Manager of the
portfolio platform Mahara.
Our next episode will air in twoweeks and will be the last one
in this mini series withstudents and staff from
Dominican University ofCalifornia. I hope you'll listen
again and tell a colleague aboutour podcast so they can
(17:44):
subscribe. Until then, create,share, and engage.
Welcome to 'Create. Share. Engage.' This is
the podcast about portfolios forlearning and more for educators,
learning designers, and managerskeen on integrating portfolios
with their education andprofessional development
practices. 'Create. Share.
Engage.' is brought to you bythe Mahara team at Catalyst IT.
My name is Kristina Hoeppner.
(00:26):
Today I'm speaking with ArturoFlores, Jr. Arturo is a student
at Dominican University ofCalifornia, where we are
chatting in person. Arturo isone of the students to whom
Christina Mayes, the Manager ofthe Fletcher Jones Digital
Portfolio Lab introduced me.
This interview is part of theDominican mini series in which
we are hearing from severalstudents about their experience
(00:47):
creating and maintainingportfolios. It is great to be
talking with you today, Arturo.
Arturo Flores (00:54):
Thank you very much for having me.
Kristina Hoeppner (00:55):
Can you please tell me a little bit
about yourself? What do youstudy?
Arturo Flores (00:58):
The past four years, I've been studying
Psychology. Midst way of that Ifound a spark, an interest in
history, and so I decided to addthat on to Psychology. So now
I'm a double major, and there'sa deeper connection behind
history and psychology in termsof how we are as a human race
and why it is what we do,historical figures, landmarks,
geological places, and they'reall tied to history and
(01:19):
psychology as well. So it's kindof what I do here in terms of
studying and the faculty andstaff and the size of the
classes and everything ingeneral is just so great
[laughs], and it allowed me toexpand my knowledge to a deeper
level.
Kristina Hoeppner (01:31):
Why did you choose Dominican?
Arturo Flores (01:33):
Before attending Dominican, I heard about it. The
outreach was very communicative,they've always called me certain
times of the night. The studentambassadors, they've always
reached out. They made me feelhome. So compared to other
universities and CSU's I gotaccepted to I didn't tour
Dominican. I didn't know whereit was at. I didn't know
anything about the university.
Kristina Hoeppner (01:50):
Oh, wow, you really jumped in there.
Arturo Flores (01:52):
Yeah, I really.
My parents didn't like it, butlook at it now, looking at how
many things I'm involved in andhow the setting is here in both
academically and naturally. It'sa beautiful fit. It's a perfect
family. That's kind of like ourmotto here. We're a small
family. The classroom sizes,financial aid, all suited
everything. And also it wasn'ttoo far, not too close to home
for me. It was a chance for meto allow me to be able to get
(02:12):
away from home and try to figureout my true self, figure out
what it is I want. I want toexpand myself and everything I'm
involved in, I feel like I did avery good job.
Kristina Hoeppner (02:22):
You're doing a good job advertising Dominican
University [both laugh]. You arealso a student ambassador.
Arturo Flores (02:27):
Yes, exactly.
It's funny because that's whatgot me to come to Dominican, and
now I'm putting myself in theshoes that got me here and do
the same thing.
Kristina Hoeppner (02:34):
Yeah, so the ambassadors that you had talked
to have done a fantastic jobbecause they got you here on
campus.
Arturo Flores (02:40):
Yes, exactly.
Kristina Hoeppner (02:41):
Before we started recording, you were
telling me about all your oncampus jobs. So what are those?
Arturo Flores (02:46):
The first one, as briefly mentioned, the student
ambassador. And so I dooutreach. I talk to prospective
students. I work with CampusVisit Days. Pretty much my main
goal is the student aspect ofthe admissions counsellors. We
want to relate more to studentsin terms of the process of
transitioning from high schoolto college, either that's a very
scary time for most students,and so we want to ease that
process, give tours, callprospective students. That's a
(03:09):
list of the student ambassadoraspect. Overall, it's a fun
experience here, adds on to myexperience at Dominican as well
because as I walk campus I see alot of people go, 'Oh, I gave
you a tour.' It's like a lot ofconnection building and
conversation starters. They tellme, like, if it wasn't for me
giving them a tour, then theyprobably wouldn't have attended
Dominican. And so it puts asmile on my face and allows me
to build the culture here atDominican. That's one of the
(03:29):
jobs I do.
The other one I have and aminvolved in is the Rec Sports
Basketball Club. So here atDominican, we have a variety of
club athletic sports orrecreational sports, I should
say. And I'm specifically incharge of basketball. How I came
about that? Freshman year - it'sa new setting, new environment,
I didn't know anybody, I didn'tknow how to fit in, but I saw
Rec Basketball was my go to.
When growing up, I played inhigh school. And growing up in
(03:49):
general, I played sportsthroughout, and basketball, I've
seen that. So I just showed upconsistently for my first two
years, and then eventually myjunior year when the previous
guy in charge was graduating, sohe needed a replacement., and
he'd seen I was constantly therethat opened a new door for me
for opportunity, and I got aposition. And to this day, I
still try to continue on a pathto help get first years involved
in how to find their own space.
(04:12):
Pretty much to getting paid toplay sports. So it's kind of
like my dream, in a way, not theway I wanted to go out, but it's
an experience. And so that's howRec Basketball came about. It
opened my name to get out therein terms of the athletic
department, so again, created anew window of opportunity for
me.
Another thing is the peermentoring. There's a deep story
behind that too. I brieflydescribe it. College kind of
took a toll on me in the firstyear, and I felt a little lost.
(04:33):
One of my previous art teachersnoticed it physically and
reported me to Naomi. Once I gotappointed to Naomi, she then
allowed me to get adjusted withboth academics, clubs,
resources, pretty mucheverything I didn't know about
Dominican, and allowed me tostrive and become more positive
and be more active on campus,leading to my positions in both
ambassadors and rec basketball.
Later on, she suggested I takethe mentoring class, and ever
(04:56):
since then, that's my secondyear, and so I've been also, not
only recruiting first yearDominican students, but also
once they get into Dominican,I'm able to continue that
mentoring stage. It alsocontributes to my major in
psychology because it's inspiredme what I want to do in terms of
mentoring or counselling. That'sa direct way to help students.
And so that's how I got involvedin the peer mentoring. That's
(05:17):
pretty much my story here atDominican.
Kristina Hoeppner (05:20):
That's awesome, Arturo, that you can
work on campus and then alsobring the skills in that you're
studying and that you'relearning in all of your classes.
We'll be focusing a bit more onthat peer mentoring side and
your portfolio. Before I forget,you did mention that there was a
class for peer mentors?
Arturo Flores (05:36):
Yeah.
Kristina Hoeppner (05:37):
How does that work?
Arturo Flores (05:38):
It's usually a one unit class, and usually how
the one units work here, it'seither a very late Friday and a
very long Saturday, and thenafter that, that weekend, you're
done. Pretty much the layout iswhen Naomi, she's usually in
charge of class, and she usuallyhas a lot of different
integrative coaches come in andtalk about what it is like to be
a peer mentor and how it is towork with integrative coaches.
Christina came in and gave us asegment on digital portfolios
(05:59):
because, as peer mentors,there's a handful that work
specifically with her withdigital portfolios, and the rest
work with everybody else.
Kristina Hoeppner (06:05):
Are you one of those portfolio peer mentors?
Arturo Flores (06:07):
I am not, but I have worked a lot with
Christina, too. We also hadStacy Poe, she's in charge of
the diversity, equity, inclusioncome in, and pretty much all the
integrative coaches came in andhad a little segment teaching us
what it's like to be a part ofthe Student Success Center. And
after that class, they conductedan interview, seeing if we were
wanting to continue or actuallywant to go through with being a
peer mentor. And after theinterview, you'd be notified if
(06:29):
you got it or not, and that'seasy the basic layout and how
the process to being a peermentor came across. You just
take a simple one year class, dothe project where you mentor,
very hands on; a lot ofcommunication because as being a
mentor and a mentee, you have tocommunicate one on one. You go
through the various possiblepros and cons throughout
college. You know things aboutroom mate situations, class
(06:51):
situations, usually encountersthat first year students usually
come across. That's what weemphasised on in the class.
Kristina Hoeppner (06:57):
How did you get involved in creating your
portfolio or when did you createyour first portfolio?
Arturo Flores (07:04):
I would like to recall it goes back to my first
year. There is an English classthat we take here at Dominican.
I believe it was 'Effectivecommunication'. And a part of
that, there was a separateproject where we had to create a
portfolio. With that,I can'tremember exactly the topic of
the project, but I just rememberthe basis of creating a digital
website. Initially, I did it forthe project, but then once I got
(07:27):
more into the peer mentoringside, found out that it goes
deeper than that, and Christinahelped me expand it more and
make it more about me. It's agreat reflection of myself, and
not just me, but for anybody whoopens to do it. Initially, it
started off for a class project,but then it expanded way more,
and now it's great tool torepresent myself for people who
don't know me.
Kristina Hoeppner (07:45):
Is that also why you're keeping up with it,
that you have that window forother people to see some of you
online before they meet you?
Arturo Flores (07:52):
Yes, not only that, for people to get an idea
of who I am, but it also allowsme to keep up with what I have
done myself. I kind of use it asa reference tool. I needed to
update it recently just becausea lot's been going on. Whenever
I do go over it and I review it,it's like a trip down memory
lane. Just because it's midwayof senior year, just looking
back at the courses I've taken,there's a lot of stuff that I
tend to forget. Looking at mydigital portfolio, it was just a
(08:14):
great trip down memory lane. Andthen also it gives like a
perspective when people who maynot know me personally or may
not know of me, they look atthat like it's a great
representation of myaccomplishments, personality.
When I present my digitalportfolio, a theme that comes
across as vulnerability. Mebeing able to express myself,
and that theme that come acrosson a digital portfolio just
means I'm doing the right thing.
Kristina Hoeppner (08:35):
How did you come up with the structure of
your portfolio?
Arturo Flores (08:38):
Initially, I've struggled creating it, but
thanks to Christina Mayes andeverybody she works with in the
digital portfolio aspect, wehave sample portfolios in terms
of overall on how you wouldinitially want to lay it out,
but then I ended up finding outin terms of my majors, there are
previous DU students who havegraduated and already did their
portfolio for the past fouryears. I looked at theirs to get
(08:59):
an idea and how I want to set upmy portfolio. It allowed me to
not really take their ideas, butuse it and put my own spiel on
it. That's how I was able toformat my digital portfolio.
But then also, when I did one onones with Christina Mayes about
my digital portfolio, we justwent over it and was able to put
things together. She helped meadd a couple things, revise a
(09:19):
couple things. We pretty muchhave guidelines and pointers to
where it is, how to format it,whether it's previous students,
whether it's some questions tothink about, some topics you can
take, and put your own spill onit. That's how I came about in
terms of organising my digitalportfolio.
Kristina Hoeppner (09:36):
How often do you update it?
Arturo Flores (09:37):
I was actually going to update it this weekend,
just with senior projects thisyear, I've been so busy. A
couple of times a semester, atleast, just because at the end
of every semester, what Ipersonally like to do is just
update my classes, so theclasses I take each semester,
and then also add in some newinternships I'm doing, some new
projects that I've done in thepast year since the last time I
updated. Because there's alwaysa lot of things happening each
semester.
Kristina Hoeppner (09:58):
Do you think you'll keep up with the
portfolio?
Arturo Flores (10:00):
Yes, I feel like it would be a necessity just
because after I graduate here,my goal is to eventually go to
grad school, and my digitalportfolio would be a great
addition to my résumé or whatI've done in undergrad. At the
moment, my thought is to take agap year. I feel like that'll
give me time to build up andmore things to add to my
portfolio and allow me get moreexperience in terms of what it
is I want to go study for gradschool, whether it is for work,
(10:21):
either is on a good team, andthen those experience could be
very beneficial that keep addingon to my digital portfolio. The
portfolio, it's going to be areminder for here. My goal is to
when I graduate is working inschool settings, and maybe
spread that knowledge into thefuture generations of what it is
I will be working with.
Kristina Hoeppner (10:37):
Where do you then see the benefits for
students to create theirportfolios?
Arturo Flores (10:42):
Honestly, it's very beneficial. It's a way for
students to express themselves.
Like I mentioned earlier, theterm vulnerability. I felt like
I was very vulnerable. But thenalso some other peer mentors and
some other students, there'salways some sort of deeper
connection and some motivationon why it is what we do. I was
able to get an understanding ofthe person based off in a
digital portfolio. I'd say it'svery important to have one, and
just because it allows you toexpress some successes, some
(11:05):
roadblocks, but overall, it'sthe digital expression of
yourself.
Kristina Hoeppner (11:10):
With so many students here at Dominican
creating portfolios, can youdiscover those portfolios of
other students?
Arturo Flores (11:16):
Yeah, I believe we have a specific thing.
'Navigating college' is one ofthem, which is part of the peer
mentoring aspect. So pretty muchall the integrative coaches have
a 'Navigating college' course.
So there's specific segments inwhich the peer mentors and the
integrative coaches create aspreadsheet for the first year
students and also for previousstudents.
Kristina Hoeppner (11:35):
Nice. What would you like to be able to do
with portfolios that youcurrently can't, Arturo?
Arturo Flores (11:40):
If I were to summarise it so far, in terms of
my experience, I feel likethere's already a lot to do.
There's no limitations in termsof digital portfolios just
because there's no limitationsto us. We're the ones creating
it as individuals, we knowourselves more than anybody else
does. So I feel like if I wantto do anything, I just want to
keep updating it, just becauseeverything happens so fast. I
think here at Dominican, thetools and sources for digital
(12:03):
portfolios are just one clickand one message away.
What I would like to see withdigital portfolios is to make it
more known campus wide.
Awareness, I would say. Otherthan that, I think the services
here are great. It's easy tofind it, easy to know how to
format it, especially when itcomes to certain majors, when it
comes to certain questions, it'sall there. If I were to add on
to digital portfolios, it'd justbe awareness, making people
(12:25):
aware how impactful it can belater on.
Kristina Hoeppner (12:30):
Is that then awareness amongst other
instructors so they incorporatesome more reflective activities
into your courses?
Arturo Flores (12:38):
Usually, 'Navigating college' is easy,
where they put the main emphasison digital portfolios. I know
some English classes also do it.
I've also created a Google siteor a portfolio for an eco
psychology project where Ilooked at a certain topic and I
created certain tabs, putinformation based on it, too. So
I actually - back to earlierthe personal portfolios - I
actually do have a couple.
Although I put in an emphasis,even if it's not like a
(13:00):
mandatory assignment or subject,at least a suggestion.
Kristina Hoeppner (13:04):
Yeah because the portfolio everywhere is then
also not good and needs to be abit targeted...
Arturo Flores (13:08):
Yes.
Kristina Hoeppner (13:09):
... what we use it for. We are already
coming to our last three quickanswer round questions, Arturo.
Time has flown by...
Arturo Flores (13:15):
Yes it has.
Kristina Hoeppner (13:16):
... and so the first one is, which words or
short phrases do you use todescribe portfolio work, either
to yourself or to your familymaybe even who might not have
seen something like that or toyour friends or even to one of
your prospective Dominicanstudents?
Arturo Flores (13:32):
It's funny you mention prospective students
because every time I give atour, I come through here, and I
describe what it is a digitalportfolio. I would say couple
phrases. I would emphasise 'you'as an individual, the person I'm
talking to because it literallyis pretty much like a reflection
of you. Whether it's personally,whether it's academically, it's
a highlight of what you havedone. 'Highlight' would probably
(13:52):
be the next word. So 'you','highlight', then also probably
'job' in the sense of with youand highlighting the things
you've done, it's a job to putthat on there, all in there.
'Recognition' could be anotherone. So it's centring on the
individual.
Kristina Hoeppner (14:06):
Thank you.
What tip do you have foreducators, be that the
instructors that you're havingor learning designers or
educational designers, what tipdo you have for them when they
are creating portfolioactivities?
Arturo Flores (14:19):
I would say to understand the students because
all students are different. Weall come from different
backgrounds. The. diversity interms of this new generation or
pretty much the new wave ofstudents every year is very
diverse. And so I would say thatportfolios and how an instructor
should probably approach it isto understand the student first.
Initially, when I firstintroduced my portfolio to
(14:40):
Christina, she was a littleconfused, and there's a couple
of things that we had to tweak alittle bit and stuff like that.
But when I explained why I addedit and allowed her to create a
sense of who I am as a personother than just the guy you see
walking in at the library and doclasses and etc., it goes beyond
just a portfolio.
It goes more into finding outwhat it is the student wants,
(15:00):
how the student is, and how toexpress that digitally with such
minimum content. And so my mainsuggestion is, as a professor is
introducing the project or doinga one-on-one, like me and
Christina has, get a feel ofwhat it is they want. As they're
talking about the project orinstructing it, just relate to
the student, from my experience.
It was a lot of tweaks of someinformation in here and there.
(15:22):
Overall, I think how I feltafter my experience was I felt
heard. I feel like a lot ofstudents feel that's what they
need to feel in order to expressthemselves and actually feel
passionate about wanting tocontinue to update the digital
portfolio, not just becauseyou're with a one-on-one with
the instructor, but also justbecause of the connection. As
I'm editing my digitalportfolio, I think of that
experience with the instructor,just because it's a higher up
(15:44):
faculty in college, it's rare tohave that one on one connection
like we do here at Dominican. Ibragging about Dominican, but if
students feel connected withtheir professor, it just shows
us that they truly care. And soI feel like that would be a neat
success.
Kristina Hoeppner (15:56):
And now on the other side, what advice do
you have for portfolio authorsor your fellow students?
Arturo Flores (16:01):
Continue to update it, even if it's little
by little, it doesn't have to bedone right away, because again,
once you first start it, it'sgoing to continue with you for
your next four years. Even ifyou don't feel like it, do it.
That goes with everything. Butalso, digital portfolios are
definitely something areflective tool that can be
beneficial for either as you'regetting close to walking the
stage and then even as you'redoing those walking going up to
(16:23):
the big moment. So continue toupdate it. Continue to add on
all your successes, big orlittle. It's a great reflection
tool, and it allows you to thinkdeeper than what you expect.
Kristina Hoeppner (16:32):
Thank you so much for sharing these tips,
Arturo, and also telling me alittle bit about your journey
along the way here at Dominican,giving us the whole sales pitch.
So I hope at least one personwill consider Dominican after
having heard you here because atleast so far, what I've seen of
the environment and thesurrounding it's a fabulous
place to be studying and havingthe experiences also on that
(16:55):
small campus that you're havinghere. So thank you.
Arturo Flores (16:57):
Of course.
Kristina Hoeppner (16:59):
Now over to our listeners. What do you want
to try in your own portfoliopractice? This was 'Create.
Share. Engage.' with ArturoFlores, Jr. Head to our website,
podcast.mahara.org, where youcan find resources and the
transcript for this episode.
This podcast is produced byCatalyst IT, and I'm your host,
(17:21):
Kristina Hoeppner, Project Leadand Product Manager of the
portfolio platform Mahara.
Our next episode will air in twoweeks and will be the last one
in this mini series withstudents and staff from
Dominican University ofCalifornia. I hope you'll listen
again and tell a colleague aboutour podcast so they can
(17:44):
subscribe. Until then, create,share, and engage.
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