September 23, 2025 • 34 mins
Christina Mayes, MSc, is the Assistant Director of Digital Support Services, including the Fletcher Jones Digital Portfolio Lab within the Center for the Dominican Experience at Dominican University of California, U.S.A.
In this episode, Christina shares how the peer mentors at Dominican support students with questions for their portfolio, career readiness, and navigating college life in general.
Resources
- Digital portfolio support at Dominican
- Peer Mentor Program at Dominican
- AAEEBL Digital Ethics Task Force
- AAEEBL ePortfolio Retreat 2024
- AAEEBL ePortfolio Review
- Elizalde, R., Mayes, C. (2025). Reflective portfolios as a tool for community and belonging, K-12 and beyond [Presentation]. Peralta Online Equity Conference. (presentation slides)
- Cendon, D., Denk, K., Kuo, K., Mema, L., Nkwadi, S., Nguyen, K., Avila, P., Chen, H. L., Mayes, C., & Mize, M. (2025). Bridging the gap: Insights from student advocates and peer mentors in ePortfolio practice [Presentation]. AAC&U Conference on Learning and Student Success (CLASS), 2025 Forum on Digital Innovation, Puerto Rico.
- Kecia Denk's penguin radio station
- Christina's portfolio
Related 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
- Arturo Flores, Jr.: The portfolio is a reflection of yourself
- Matthew E. Mueller: Create and control your own narrative with a portfolio
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
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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.
(00:25):
My name is Kristina Hoeppner.
Today I'm speaking withChristina Mayes. I got to know
her through the AAEEBL DigitalEthics Task Force and had the
chance to meet her in personlast year at the Bay Area AAEEBL
Retreat that we had held at heruniversity, at Dominican
University of California. At thestart of 2025, I did a mini
(00:49):
series with students and anintegrative coach from Dominican
to tell us about the portfolioprogramme and support structures
at place at Dominican. So nowit's really time to also have a
chat with Christina, who is theDirector of the Fletcher Jones
Digital Portfolio Lab, who hadbeen mentioned a lot in all of
these five episodes, and take alook at the support that
(01:14):
Dominican offers from herperspective. That is support in
place for students, integrativecoaches, and also instructors
who want to work withportfolios. Hello, Christina, to
the other side of the Pacific.
Christina Mayes (01:29):
It's such a pleasure, Kristina.
Kristina Hoeppner (01:32):
Recently, you stepped into a new role at
Dominican University.
Congratulations for expandingyour role, not just being the
Director of the Portfolio Lab,but now also having other
responsibilities. What are they?
Christina Mayes (01:47):
So at Dominican, I have been the
centralised support for digitalportfolio support services for
students, faculty, and staffover the last nine years. This
last year, we've been in our newphysical space. So we're in the
second floor of the Center forthe Dominican Experience. And
when we think about oursignature programming, digital
(02:07):
portfolio is one of thoseaspects of our distinctive
programming. The four cornershave signature work, community
engagement, integrativecoaching, and digital portfolio.
The expansion now with my newrole as the Assistant Director
of Digital Support Services,includes career development
support in the name of digitalpresence and how students
(02:28):
present themselves in a spacebeyond the classroom, beyond our
campus, so things like handshakefor employability near and
beyond Dominican, usingtechnology platforms within
Google Suite, such as GoogleSites for portfolios, YuJa,
Canva, Soundtrap. It's expandingas we're talking. I'm actually
(02:50):
on new audio equipment, which isa thrill, but it's all new. So
lightning speed with what we candeliver in terms of support.
Kristina Hoeppner (02:58):
Is that then also why you visited Helen Chen
and Leticia Britos Cavagnarowith your colleagues at Stanford
to learn a bit more of what theyare doing in regards to digital
presence at the IntegrativeLearning Portfolio Lab, and
then, of course, with Leticialearning more about using AI for
reflection?
Christina Mayes (03:19):
Yes! When we did our travel over to meet with
our friends, it was so excitingto go from our small, humble
residential campus to theirquite large campus and take a
look at how they're workingcollaboratively with teams in
the d.school. It was so playful.
It was fun. It was creative,innovative. It just seemed as
(03:39):
though their brains are neverstopping. Their environments
reflected the work that's goingon, how their design and
thinking and putting it alltogether in a physical space. So
I have such a creativeconnection with these folks, and
especially how Helen has oncebeen on our campus 10 years ago,
facilitating a design thinkingwith our faculty and staff on
(04:01):
how to introduce the concept ofePortfolio.
Kristina Hoeppner (04:06):
Having been in your physical space at the
Mary B. Marcy Student SuccessCenter last year for the retreat
and seeing your portfolio lab, Ifeel like you are already having
gone into those steps and makingsure that these spaces are very
flexible, that there's a lot ofroom, that there's comfy
furniture, even that little roomwhere you have the stars on the
(04:29):
ceiling and you can chill out inthere. So really making it a
place where students also wantto hang out and work with
others.
Christina Mayes (04:37):
Yes, and now that we've been here in this
space for just over a year, wesee that this is a central hub
for students to engage,collaborate, meet, study, and
get the work done. That'ssomething that's quite exciting
in the sense of a lot of tandemwork. I'll even have students
that come in my office that justwant to focus on their work, and
I do my work, and so bodydoubling, that's something
(04:59):
that's come up, and in general,accessibility and web
accessibility. So in the name ofthe flex furniture, it's so
lovely to be able to move aroundthe space and accommodate the
needs of those that are inthere, as well as what is the
functionality of the learningthat's happening in the space?
It's quite engaging with ourstudents and faculty.
Kristina Hoeppner (05:20):
Was it that just a little over a year ago
that the Fletcher JonesPortfolio Lab was founded or
does that already go backfurther?
Christina Mayes (05:29):
We have had a partnership with the Fletcher
Jones Foundation. We do have anolder space with a Fletcher
Jones Computer Lab, and now wehad additional funding to fund
this space, so the FletcherJones Digital Portfolio Lab.
This was key in the sense ofensuring our students all had
access to various skilldevelopment for career readiness
(05:52):
and employability.
Kristina Hoeppner (05:53):
So it makes sense that it is in your Student
Success Center and has a centralspot right by the reception desk
so that students can't miss it.
Christina Mayes (06:03):
That's right.
Kristina Hoeppner (06:05):
Now Christina, from the students,
and also from Matthew, earlierin the year, we've heard about
the portfolio work that thestudents have done themselves
and also the peer mentoring.
What are the overall supportservices that you can offer
through the Digital PortfolioLab?
Christina Mayes (06:23):
Our team facilitated part of the faculty
staff retreat yesterday, and weintroduced the updated
messaging. This is hot off thepress, Kristina.
Kristina Hoeppner (06:34):
Just because we'll go live in about a month,
yesterday was the 19th ofAugust.
Christina Mayes (06:39):
Instead of saying 'digital portfolio peer
mentors', the new language willbe 'career readiness peer
mentors'. Stacy Poe-Jamison andI, we were training our new peer
mentors on this new overview. Ofour 29 peer mentors, we will
have seven designated peermentors to support this effort.
(07:00):
They will be able to supportstudents with drop in or
scheduled appointments inperson, and maybe some from a
distance, and maybe some asyncto meet them where they're at
and support them with an arrayof services.
The areas that we hope thatthey'll be able to deliver on,
we have digital portfolio,LinkedIn profiles, résumé, cover
(07:22):
letter, general professionalwriting, LinkedIn enhancing,
searching for jobs, things likethat. We know that when students
come in and meet with a peermentor that it can be a general
conversation on one of thoseareas and how they often will
connect to other areas. We havethe writing and career readiness
lab. We are not renaming theFletcher Jones Digital Portfolio
(07:45):
Lab, but in terms of thecommunication to our students,
faculty, and staff, the supportwe're offering will be labeled
as writing and career readiness.
Kristina Hoeppner (07:54):
You make it more overarching and really also
show the students they areoperating in that context. They
are not just creating theportfolio for right now, for
that 'Navigating college'course, but really also starting
their lifelong portfolio and cankeep it up for their entire
university career and beyond.
Christina Mayes (08:13):
Precisely, I think, for the last 10 years
with this language, there's nota lot of foot traffic. Students
aren't really seeking like, 'Oh,let me just walk in here and do
my digital portfolio.' There hasto be intention and purpose and
meaning behind it. So hopefully,with this updated, broader
messaging, it will communicatethat we are here to support the
(08:34):
overall journey. What I think isalso brilliant is that we will
have two integrative coachesdesignated for career readiness
coaching, and we will also havewriting tutors. The past couple
of years, we've had an onlinetutoring support. We're going
back to the in person. There'srelationship building,
(08:55):
connection, community, so manythings that come together when
we have that high touch. Whenwe're bringing together high
impact practices in this lab, itworks.
Kristina Hoeppner (09:07):
I like that you are having the portfolio
work situated in the SuccessCenter and also focusing very
much on the career developmentof the students and not having
the portfolio sit apart becausewhat I feel often at
universities, the portfolio isbeing used in courses, in
classes, wonderfully used inthere for assessment purposes or
(09:28):
other professional developmentpurposes, for work-integrated
learning and things like that.
However, it doesn't often gobeyond into that career
development space.
It would be wonderful to havethe career offices involved more
in the portfolio work becausethe portfolio very nicely
extends the résumé, extends theCV, and brings all of the
(09:51):
student experiences together. Soyou showing that to the
community, I hope everybody willwatch very closely how you can
make that messaging clearer,also to the students, and really
embed portfolios into the careerdevelopment in order to see how
that works and also whether thatcan be a good model for others.
Christina Mayes (10:14):
You're making me think about so many different
things. So for example, mindset,just the mindset that we have
going into our universitycampus. For example, we have a
number of campus tours that comethrough from admissions. Then we
have the alumni that revisit.
The different groups that comethrough our space and the
messaging that we'recommunicating as a small, humble
(10:35):
community, 1,800 students,small, but mighty. We are
mighty. We are trying to putourselves more out there. We
have something to say. Ourstudents are quite involved in
our communities, on and offcampus, and are making a
significant impact.
We have our undergraduate,graduate, and adult degree
(10:57):
completion learners. So eventhinking of those various
populations, the approach toportfolio may be subtly
different or significantlydifferent. Over the summer, we
had our high school programming,our MAP programme, so the Marin
Advantage Program, and havinghigh school students completing
a college English course, aswell as parts of 'Navigating
(11:20):
college'. When facilitatingportfolio with high school
students, sometimes I felt likethey were more engaged. We had
our La Vida Avanza Summer BridgeProgram where they have an early
start to their collegeexperience, and I had developed
some basic handouts that werekind of fun, playful, but they
had homework during the week tocapture moments, just photos,
(11:45):
and then at the end of the week,we made a community website. It
was so much fun.
Kristina Hoeppner (11:50):
Christina, why did you decide to work with
students, with your peermentors, for the portfolio
support, instead of just havingintegrative coaches or other
staff members provide thatsupport to students?
Christina Mayes (12:04):
When we were launching our signature
programming, our DominicanExperience, when considering the
integrative coaching gettinglaunched, peer mentors had
already been formed. So itseemed as though they knew more
than those integrated coaches atthe time about how to develop a
(12:24):
digital portfolio and navigateand teach another student. At
the time, it was a near and peertype of approach that in itself
being a great practice oncollege campuses where I may not
be the greatest person to upsellthis thing, but maybe a student
who's right there, maybe they'restudying in the similar program
or have an understanding of likeand like with their college
(12:46):
experience, when they wouldshowcase their portfolio to
another student, then it becomesinspirational. The meaning and
making behind that wouldgenerate shared purpose and
offering a vision of what they,they as in the new, emerging
student in the portfolio land,creating something that maybe
could just be as good as one ofthese peer mentors.
Kristina Hoeppner (13:08):
That, I think, has really been nicely
demonstrated by the studentswith whom I talked to last year
for the mini series. You havejust gone through a new training
with the new peer mentors. Andnow, of course, with the
expanded responsibilities, notjust you gotten your
responsibilities, but your peermentors as well. How do you
select your peer mentors?
Christina Mayes (13:30):
We have students move through
'Navigating college', and thenwe promote our peer mentor
training seminar offered in thespring, and from those students
who are in that seminar, theyare then eligible to apply to
become a peer mentor. Theintention behind that is they
have, in essence, done thetraining. They've done the
(13:52):
student development training ledby Naomi Elvove on how to be a
centred student leader andengage in active listening.
Kristina Hoeppner (14:03):
How do you support your peer mentors then
throughout the term that theyare working as peer mentors?
Christina Mayes (14:09):
Most of the peer mentors are co-facilitating
'Navigating college' in the fallwith an integrative coach. They
are right here teaching lifeskills, how to navigate all
things, time management, studyskills, things like that.
They're also holding officehours here for drop-in support
with their mentees. And duringthat time, when they're here, we
(14:31):
get to check in. They will checkin with their integrative coach
on a weekly basis. How is yourwell being? How are things? Do
you have any stressors rightnow? Is there anything that I
can stay on board with you? Howis it going with the
relationship development withyour mentees and communication
efforts? So we have that weeklyholistic check-in, and then they
(14:51):
have their own communitydeveloping, which is quite
amazing. We've been noting howconfident they seem. That is
something that seems slightlydifferent from the energy from
the last few cohorts of peermentors. These seem very
grounded. There's been aheightened engagement on active
(15:11):
listening exercises that we havebeen conducting with them and
offering constructive feedback.
So hopefully it will be a greatyear ahead.
Kristina Hoeppner (15:19):
They get the training initially, and then it
is more informal learning oralso coaching, just on the fly
and while they're here, ratherthan another formal training
with them as a group, right?
Christina Mayes (15:32):
Yes, and we'll have monthly check-in meetings
to ensure that we're all on thesame page. And then there's sub
groups. There is an effort toengage with our social media,
things like that.
Kristina Hoeppner (15:45):
How many mentees does each peer mentor
have?
Christina Mayes (15:49):
No more than 10.
Kristina Hoeppner (15:51):
How many years have you now already run
the peer mentorship programmewith a focus on portfolios?
Christina Mayes (15:57):
This fall will be year 10.
Kristina Hoeppner (16:00):
What is the feedback that you've received
from your peer mentors? Theiroverall experience as peer
mentors? What have they learnedthemselves?
Christina Mayes (16:12):
They've learned a great deal about themselves,
so in the sense of offering timeand space to reflect on their
experiences in and out of theclassroom and how to connect the
thread and how to present that.
We encourage our students to notonly create the portfolio, but
to present, to speak. There'sthis whole connective piece,
(16:35):
even moving into new studentorientation when they meet their
groups for the first time.
They've been preparing for thatmoment ever since, I almost want
to say, ever since they became astudent, they were preparing for
that moment to some degreebecause we have them reflect on
what was it like when you were anew student? Do you remember
(16:55):
what you would have liked tohave known? What advice would
you have given yourself? Justtaking that level of
introspection and how they mightlike to show up for these new
students. It's an interestingmix of the seasoned peer mentors
mixed with the new peer mentorsand how they offer support to
one another in that community.
Kristina Hoeppner (17:18):
That was the feedback from the peer mentors
on their experience and whatthey have learned, what they are
taking away for themselves. Haveyou had any feedback from the
students who are being mentoredby the peers?
Christina Mayes (17:36):
For those that choose to engage, there's a
positive connection. Forexample, I worked with my two
peer mentors in Navigatingcollege' last fall. They both
happened to be engaged in anumber of student clubs. They
would invite their mentees tojoin them. The mentees would
either join that affiliation orexplore, try something else, or
(17:58):
just even getting boba tea.
Those connections are someaningful. The students would
reflect on that in their weeklyreflections. In 'Navigating
college', we have our studentsreflect on what their experience
is like each week, and our peermentors, that's where they would
get a lot of praise. That'swhere we would really see more
of that notable, significantchange where someone is invested
(18:21):
in your growth and development,it's so positive. From a peer
mentor, an integrative coach,faculty or staff member, we have
quite a number of stakeholdersthat are invested in the
students, and they can tell.
Kristina Hoeppner (18:38):
That is the nice thing because oftentimes
the peer mentors can connectmore easily with the students
because they are typically of asimilar age. As you've mentioned
earlier, they had gone throughsimilar experiences. Therefore,
it is a closer relationship thanto an instructor or to an
integrative coach who ispotentially also seen more as an
authority figure, rather than apeer. We've looked at the
(19:01):
feedback from the peer mentor ontheir work, from the mentee on
how they're engaging with thepeer mentor, and now the last
relationship is the one from theintegrative coach or an
instructor who works with a peermentor in their classes or when
supporting students. What wastheir feedback on how the work
(19:24):
that the peer mentors do impactswhat they are doing?
Christina Mayes (19:28):
When our peer mentors facilitate and are
leading the course, the studentsare listening. We only have 15
minutes in these weeklyseminars. If I try to fill it
with a lecture? No, that's notthe way. When I may be deliver
something for seven minutes on atopic and then the rest is
(19:49):
co-facilitation by the peermentors, and then break into
smaller groups, the space is soalive. That is something where a
number of our integrativecoaches have taken more of a
role of empowering our studentleaders to be confident, to
enhance their presentationskills, their digital slide
deck, all the ways that they'recommunicating.
Kristina Hoeppner (20:11):
It's good to hear that the integrative
coaches appreciate what the peermentors bring to the
conversation, and therefore alsogiving them the space to expand
in their own professionalism,and therefore really are part of
the teaching team or coachingteam.
Christina Mayes (20:31):
They are the eyes and ears. They're close
connections with the newstudents. It's so critical. They
are at that level to pick up onthe nuances that we may not.
Like you were suggesting, theintegrative coach, the
instructor, being in the senseof, 'Oh, they're up here. I
can't go to them for this, but Ican go to my mentor for this.'
(20:53):
When we have our debrief, 'Oh,okay. I didn't know that that
was going on with so and so,okay, that's good to know.' It
can even be so much that itcould shift the overall
curriculum. It could be that,'Well, you know what? This week
we were planning to addressthis, but now I think we're
going to dive into interpersonalrelationships, homesickness, or
(21:14):
how to communicate effectivelywith faculty.' Those could be
shifters in sense of our culturein the classroom, where we're
going to adapt to the needs thatwill be queued up, usually from
the peer mentor.
Kristina Hoeppner (21:29):
So portfolios are embedded in 'Navigating
college'. That's the supportcourse that is available at
Dominican, where the integrativecoaches work very closely with
the students and the peermentors as well. Do your
students now also increasinglywork with portfolios in other
classes?
Christina Mayes (21:49):
Yes, big acknowledgments to our education
studies programme as they werethe flagship programme in 2011,
I believe. They were alreadydoing this high impact practice
with their students, educatingfuture educators and how they
make use of a portfolio in theclassroom setting, in
(22:10):
communicating their teachingphilosophy, lesson plans,
different things to engage withtheir learning communities. They
were using one form of platformand then eventually folded into
where we are now with GoogleSites.
Occupational therapy (OT). Theytoo joined the effort when we
were launching campus wide. Theyhave now cohorts of students
(22:34):
that have gone throughdeveloping portfolios. And
psychology, business is on, too.
Now this isn't about who's onand who's not. Most are. There's
so many different ways that onecould engage in developing a
portfolio, that might live in aspecific course programme or by
just the virtue of the studenthaving an interest in developing
(22:56):
one.
Kristina Hoeppner (22:58):
Can these study programmes then also make
use of the peer mentors?
Christina Mayes (23:03):
Yes, we've had some classes who have asked to
make use of our portfolio lab sothat they could just be right
here in our space, and then viceversa, where we go to them. We
have a number of liaisons. Forexample, with our La Vida grant
funding, we have a number ofcampus fellows, and so in our
(23:25):
library, we have Louis Knecht,who supports digital literacy,
or I could be working withGiulia Welch over in the
business school. No matter wherewe are, we're playing. I always
see this as being playfulbecause we're engaging with
technology, and we'll questioneach other, what's been working
for you lately, or what'ssomething new?
I saw that there was the AAEEBLePortfolio Review magazine of
(23:50):
the Association for Authentic,Experiential, and Evidence-Based
Learning that just came out onePortfolios and career
readiness. I couldn't wait toshare with my colleagues,
focused in on a piece that ourfriend Helen was in where there
was note on NACE, the NationalAssociation of Colleges and
Employers. This is what GiuliaWelch was engaging highly in,
(24:12):
teaching our students careercompetency skills and how to
articulate that on one'sportfolio, on their digital
presence. And then here's Helenand her colleague sharing on
this topic, which is so excitingto see that come together, and
how we are going through aprocess of an updated vision for
career development. So it justseemed quite in sync. It just
(24:33):
felt very affirming that we aredoing, hopefully, the best by
our students.
Kristina Hoeppner (24:40):
What are one, two, or three things that you
would like to be able to do withportfolios, but currently either
haven't been able to or haven'texplored yet, but really have on
your wish list or to do list?
Christina Mayes (24:55):
The big thing would be assessment. It's been
on the to do list for quite sometime. We've had programme level
assessment. Our friends in OT -they're stellar. They've made
different changes and updates totheir guidelines and things like
that. But as an institution, toget a more of that broader
perspective right before goinginto that time of COVID was the
(25:19):
time that we were planning to doour robust survey of portfolios
and apply rubrics and try tonorm together and get a sense
of, is there a positive impacton our students' engagement of
learning.
The next thing on the wish listis the connection to career
readiness in the sense of, isthere a connection here to
(25:40):
employability, and what doesthat look like? How does it
connect? We have had a number ofalum who have maintained their
portfolio presence for variousreasons. We also had a fairly
recent alum who had self taughtthemselves on portfolio. It
wasn't something that they hadthe moment to engage with at
(26:00):
Dominican because it turned outthey were working a full time
job while going to school fulltime, and it was hard to engage
in these support services. Shehad self instructed herself and
ended up being at a jobplacement where she taught
others how to develop aportfolio. She said, "I got the
job because of my portfolio."
Kristina Hoeppner (26:20):
That is really fantastic. Good that we
just recently talked at theAAEEBL Digital Ethics Task Force
that in the next year, we arethinking of looking into a
principle on assessment. So thatwe are exploring that more what
we would like people to considerwhen thinking about using
portfolios for assessmentpurposes in an ethical way, so
(26:43):
that we can give some guidanceon hand.
Now, three final questions foryou in our quick answer round.
Which words or short phrases doyou use to describe portfolio
work?
Christina Mayes (26:55):
I would say 'transformative' because I have
bear witness to humansdeveloping over time, and how I
can observe the very firstemerging portfolio, and then
what it can be by the end, andthey're showcasing all their
marvelous work that they've beenworking so hard, but the moments
(27:17):
when they are also, 'Oh, I wrotelike that?' That moment where
they see themselves in the pastand relating to that self, and
they go, 'I am not that personany more. I have learned and
experienced, and I kind of thinka little bit different now, or
my values and purpose haveshifted, and I am so grounded
and I know what's next.' To seethat light go off, that shine.
(27:39):
It's transformative. That's onlyone word [both laugh].
So then I would go, it's'engaging'. It can connect with
anyone. It doesn't matter ifyou're a student, non student,
we can engage in this. I haveeven engaged with my parents on
my portfolio, where I'mreflecting on my childhood
experiences and showcasing ourfamily and connecting that with
(28:01):
my mom and my dad. There'sdefinitely something about
community and belonging beyondthe classroom. I often share
with students that your firstaudience is typically your
family.
And 'empowering'. I actually gotthis word from one of our
graduate students, Kecia Denk,who is in our OT programme, and
we had had a portfolio sessionright before this. She's like,
(28:22):
'This is empowering.' In ourwork over the last year, where
she had no portfolio and now hasa robust portfolio and has a
penguin radio station, she wasthe first student I worked with
where I helped to figure out howto take those recordings from
her penguin radio and put on herportfolio. That was fantastic.
(28:44):
All the ways that the studentscan take those experiences and
how can we put it into a digitalformat? How can it be something
that can be representative ofthemselves, whether it be a
picture of themselves on campusto their undergraduate research
or samples of signature workthat they've been developing,
(29:06):
it's so empowering for thestudent to hold that presence.
Kristina Hoeppner (29:12):
Now, what tip do you have for learning
designers or instructors whocreate portfolio activities?
Christina Mayes (29:19):
Well, I have to say it's been fun to engage a
bit with AI. I was a bitapprehensive with giving that a
go, but I did find it to bequite supportive in breaking
down, let's say, a timeline,enhancing a lesson plan, and
breaking the creative writingprocess with some students in
(29:40):
getting engaged with theirportfolio. For example, I had a
student who came to me thissummer. We're working from a
distance. All they have is arésumé. That's it. They are
about to graduate from thenursing programme this December.
I said, 'Well, what if we wereto play with AI for a little bit
and just see what type ofpersonal statement would
(30:01):
generate from your résumé?'In that exercise, the student
was able to then get a jumpstart to their portfolio
process. They were able to thentake Canva with their template
and organise the portfolio in aquite simple manner. So rather
than a long term reflectiveportfolio, we were able to make
more of a showcase, professionalfacing portfolio. That's more of
(30:24):
a nice way to even thinkthrough, okay, so if I'm
designing something, who is myaudience? Is it a new student
who's just emerging? Or is it astudent that is upon closer to
graduation? So what are theneeds? Is it something that will
be long term reflective, or isit more about communication,
media studies, artisticpresentation, which might even
(30:48):
determine then the platform? Atthe end, we really want to
support the idea of a communitythat can offer constructive
feedback, where we're not shy tothat. Students want to know
specifically, 'What can I updateon my portfolio?' That's a big
piece, too, to always offerthat. The async feedback seems
(31:09):
to be very supportive. And thenactivities. I love focusing on
student identity development andhow this expands, given the
context of what they're studyingand where they hope to be post
graduation.
Kristina Hoeppner (31:28):
That now takes us to the last question.
What advice do you then have foryour portfolio authors?
Christina Mayes (31:36):
This portfolio is for you. You decide what
content it holds and who mayengage with this creation.
Considering the purpose of yourportfolio, wow would you like to
share your story? How might youelevate your cultural wealth,
highlight academic andprofessional pivots, and
authentically connect to yourreaders?
(31:56):
Self promotion can be a dauntingtask. This is an opportunity for
you to stretch beyond modestyand showcase your brilliance. I
encourage you to identify yourstrengths, skills and knowledge,
collect items for your digitalbriefcase, such as sample works,
visual stories, moments ofachievement, résumé, articulate
(32:17):
the connections for your digitalartefacts, and ultimately, tell
us your story.
We want to see what makes youyou. Connect us back to your
purpose, values, and futureself. This is your superpower.
Developing a portfolio is moreabout your personal process in
creating a space for who you arebecoming. Through this
(32:40):
transformative and creativeprocess, students note a higher
sense of self, purpose, andconfidence after creating their
portfolio.
Kristina Hoeppner (32:48):
Thank you so much, Christina, for expanding
the role that the Portfolio Lab,but also the Student Success
Center and the integrativecoaches play at Dominican in
supporting peer mentors, whothen support students in their
portfolio work, and showing usthat it is like the integrative
coaches, it's an integrativepractice. It all works together,
(33:12):
there're connections between allthe different people that are
engaged in the practice, all thedifferent activities that are
happening, the classes and thesupport structures so that we do
look at the portfolio workholistically. Thanks so much for
the chat.
Christina Mayes (33:26):
Thank you.
Kristina Hoeppner (33:29):
Now over to our listeners. What do you want
to try in your own portfoliopractice? This was 'Create.
Share. Engage.' with ChristinaMayes. Head to our website,
podcast.mahara.org, where youcan find resources and the
transcript for this episode.
This podcast is produced byCatalyst IT. Our next episode
(33:50):
will air in two weeks. I hopeyou will listen again and tell a
colleague about our podcast sothey can 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.
(00:25):
My name is Kristina Hoeppner.
Today I'm speaking withChristina Mayes. I got to know
her through the AAEEBL DigitalEthics Task Force and had the
chance to meet her in personlast year at the Bay Area AAEEBL
Retreat that we had held at heruniversity, at Dominican
University of California. At thestart of 2025, I did a mini
(00:49):
series with students and anintegrative coach from Dominican
to tell us about the portfolioprogramme and support structures
at place at Dominican. So nowit's really time to also have a
chat with Christina, who is theDirector of the Fletcher Jones
Digital Portfolio Lab, who hadbeen mentioned a lot in all of
these five episodes, and take alook at the support that
(01:14):
Dominican offers from herperspective. That is support in
place for students, integrativecoaches, and also instructors
who want to work withportfolios. Hello, Christina, to
the other side of the Pacific.
Christina Mayes (01:29):
It's such a pleasure, Kristina.
Kristina Hoeppner (01:32):
Recently, you stepped into a new role at
Dominican University.
Congratulations for expandingyour role, not just being the
Director of the Portfolio Lab,but now also having other
responsibilities. What are they?
Christina Mayes (01:47):
So at Dominican, I have been the
centralised support for digitalportfolio support services for
students, faculty, and staffover the last nine years. This
last year, we've been in our newphysical space. So we're in the
second floor of the Center forthe Dominican Experience. And
when we think about oursignature programming, digital
(02:07):
portfolio is one of thoseaspects of our distinctive
programming. The four cornershave signature work, community
engagement, integrativecoaching, and digital portfolio.
The expansion now with my newrole as the Assistant Director
of Digital Support Services,includes career development
support in the name of digitalpresence and how students
(02:28):
present themselves in a spacebeyond the classroom, beyond our
campus, so things like handshakefor employability near and
beyond Dominican, usingtechnology platforms within
Google Suite, such as GoogleSites for portfolios, YuJa,
Canva, Soundtrap. It's expandingas we're talking. I'm actually
(02:50):
on new audio equipment, which isa thrill, but it's all new. So
lightning speed with what we candeliver in terms of support.
Kristina Hoeppner (02:58):
Is that then also why you visited Helen Chen
and Leticia Britos Cavagnarowith your colleagues at Stanford
to learn a bit more of what theyare doing in regards to digital
presence at the IntegrativeLearning Portfolio Lab, and
then, of course, with Leticialearning more about using AI for
reflection?
Christina Mayes (03:19):
Yes! When we did our travel over to meet with
our friends, it was so excitingto go from our small, humble
residential campus to theirquite large campus and take a
look at how they're workingcollaboratively with teams in
the d.school. It was so playful.
It was fun. It was creative,innovative. It just seemed as
(03:39):
though their brains are neverstopping. Their environments
reflected the work that's goingon, how their design and
thinking and putting it alltogether in a physical space. So
I have such a creativeconnection with these folks, and
especially how Helen has oncebeen on our campus 10 years ago,
facilitating a design thinkingwith our faculty and staff on
(04:01):
how to introduce the concept ofePortfolio.
Kristina Hoeppner (04:06):
Having been in your physical space at the
Mary B. Marcy Student SuccessCenter last year for the retreat
and seeing your portfolio lab, Ifeel like you are already having
gone into those steps and makingsure that these spaces are very
flexible, that there's a lot ofroom, that there's comfy
furniture, even that little roomwhere you have the stars on the
(04:29):
ceiling and you can chill out inthere. So really making it a
place where students also wantto hang out and work with
others.
Christina Mayes (04:37):
Yes, and now that we've been here in this
space for just over a year, wesee that this is a central hub
for students to engage,collaborate, meet, study, and
get the work done. That'ssomething that's quite exciting
in the sense of a lot of tandemwork. I'll even have students
that come in my office that justwant to focus on their work, and
I do my work, and so bodydoubling, that's something
(04:59):
that's come up, and in general,accessibility and web
accessibility. So in the name ofthe flex furniture, it's so
lovely to be able to move aroundthe space and accommodate the
needs of those that are inthere, as well as what is the
functionality of the learningthat's happening in the space?
It's quite engaging with ourstudents and faculty.
Kristina Hoeppner (05:20):
Was it that just a little over a year ago
that the Fletcher JonesPortfolio Lab was founded or
does that already go backfurther?
Christina Mayes (05:29):
We have had a partnership with the Fletcher
Jones Foundation. We do have anolder space with a Fletcher
Jones Computer Lab, and now wehad additional funding to fund
this space, so the FletcherJones Digital Portfolio Lab.
This was key in the sense ofensuring our students all had
access to various skilldevelopment for career readiness
(05:52):
and employability.
Kristina Hoeppner (05:53):
So it makes sense that it is in your Student
Success Center and has a centralspot right by the reception desk
so that students can't miss it.
Christina Mayes (06:03):
That's right.
Kristina Hoeppner (06:05):
Now Christina, from the students,
and also from Matthew, earlierin the year, we've heard about
the portfolio work that thestudents have done themselves
and also the peer mentoring.
What are the overall supportservices that you can offer
through the Digital PortfolioLab?
Christina Mayes (06:23):
Our team facilitated part of the faculty
staff retreat yesterday, and weintroduced the updated
messaging. This is hot off thepress, Kristina.
Kristina Hoeppner (06:34):
Just because we'll go live in about a month,
yesterday was the 19th ofAugust.
Christina Mayes (06:39):
Instead of saying 'digital portfolio peer
mentors', the new language willbe 'career readiness peer
mentors'. Stacy Poe-Jamison andI, we were training our new peer
mentors on this new overview. Ofour 29 peer mentors, we will
have seven designated peermentors to support this effort.
(07:00):
They will be able to supportstudents with drop in or
scheduled appointments inperson, and maybe some from a
distance, and maybe some asyncto meet them where they're at
and support them with an arrayof services.
The areas that we hope thatthey'll be able to deliver on,
we have digital portfolio,LinkedIn profiles, résumé, cover
(07:22):
letter, general professionalwriting, LinkedIn enhancing,
searching for jobs, things likethat. We know that when students
come in and meet with a peermentor that it can be a general
conversation on one of thoseareas and how they often will
connect to other areas. We havethe writing and career readiness
lab. We are not renaming theFletcher Jones Digital Portfolio
(07:45):
Lab, but in terms of thecommunication to our students,
faculty, and staff, the supportwe're offering will be labeled
as writing and career readiness.
Kristina Hoeppner (07:54):
You make it more overarching and really also
show the students they areoperating in that context. They
are not just creating theportfolio for right now, for
that 'Navigating college'course, but really also starting
their lifelong portfolio and cankeep it up for their entire
university career and beyond.
Christina Mayes (08:13):
Precisely, I think, for the last 10 years
with this language, there's nota lot of foot traffic. Students
aren't really seeking like, 'Oh,let me just walk in here and do
my digital portfolio.' There hasto be intention and purpose and
meaning behind it. So hopefully,with this updated, broader
messaging, it will communicatethat we are here to support the
(08:34):
overall journey. What I think isalso brilliant is that we will
have two integrative coachesdesignated for career readiness
coaching, and we will also havewriting tutors. The past couple
of years, we've had an onlinetutoring support. We're going
back to the in person. There'srelationship building,
(08:55):
connection, community, so manythings that come together when
we have that high touch. Whenwe're bringing together high
impact practices in this lab, itworks.
Kristina Hoeppner (09:07):
I like that you are having the portfolio
work situated in the SuccessCenter and also focusing very
much on the career developmentof the students and not having
the portfolio sit apart becausewhat I feel often at
universities, the portfolio isbeing used in courses, in
classes, wonderfully used inthere for assessment purposes or
(09:28):
other professional developmentpurposes, for work-integrated
learning and things like that.
However, it doesn't often gobeyond into that career
development space.
It would be wonderful to havethe career offices involved more
in the portfolio work becausethe portfolio very nicely
extends the résumé, extends theCV, and brings all of the
(09:51):
student experiences together. Soyou showing that to the
community, I hope everybody willwatch very closely how you can
make that messaging clearer,also to the students, and really
embed portfolios into the careerdevelopment in order to see how
that works and also whether thatcan be a good model for others.
Christina Mayes (10:14):
You're making me think about so many different
things. So for example, mindset,just the mindset that we have
going into our universitycampus. For example, we have a
number of campus tours that comethrough from admissions. Then we
have the alumni that revisit.
The different groups that comethrough our space and the
messaging that we'recommunicating as a small, humble
(10:35):
community, 1,800 students,small, but mighty. We are
mighty. We are trying to putourselves more out there. We
have something to say. Ourstudents are quite involved in
our communities, on and offcampus, and are making a
significant impact.
We have our undergraduate,graduate, and adult degree
(10:57):
completion learners. So eventhinking of those various
populations, the approach toportfolio may be subtly
different or significantlydifferent. Over the summer, we
had our high school programming,our MAP programme, so the Marin
Advantage Program, and havinghigh school students completing
a college English course, aswell as parts of 'Navigating
(11:20):
college'. When facilitatingportfolio with high school
students, sometimes I felt likethey were more engaged. We had
our La Vida Avanza Summer BridgeProgram where they have an early
start to their collegeexperience, and I had developed
some basic handouts that werekind of fun, playful, but they
had homework during the week tocapture moments, just photos,
(11:45):
and then at the end of the week,we made a community website. It
was so much fun.
Kristina Hoeppner (11:50):
Christina, why did you decide to work with
students, with your peermentors, for the portfolio
support, instead of just havingintegrative coaches or other
staff members provide thatsupport to students?
Christina Mayes (12:04):
When we were launching our signature
programming, our DominicanExperience, when considering the
integrative coaching gettinglaunched, peer mentors had
already been formed. So itseemed as though they knew more
than those integrated coaches atthe time about how to develop a
(12:24):
digital portfolio and navigateand teach another student. At
the time, it was a near and peertype of approach that in itself
being a great practice oncollege campuses where I may not
be the greatest person to upsellthis thing, but maybe a student
who's right there, maybe they'restudying in the similar program
or have an understanding of likeand like with their college
(12:46):
experience, when they wouldshowcase their portfolio to
another student, then it becomesinspirational. The meaning and
making behind that wouldgenerate shared purpose and
offering a vision of what they,they as in the new, emerging
student in the portfolio land,creating something that maybe
could just be as good as one ofthese peer mentors.
Kristina Hoeppner (13:08):
That, I think, has really been nicely
demonstrated by the studentswith whom I talked to last year
for the mini series. You havejust gone through a new training
with the new peer mentors. Andnow, of course, with the
expanded responsibilities, notjust you gotten your
responsibilities, but your peermentors as well. How do you
select your peer mentors?
Christina Mayes (13:30):
We have students move through
'Navigating college', and thenwe promote our peer mentor
training seminar offered in thespring, and from those students
who are in that seminar, theyare then eligible to apply to
become a peer mentor. Theintention behind that is they
have, in essence, done thetraining. They've done the
(13:52):
student development training ledby Naomi Elvove on how to be a
centred student leader andengage in active listening.
Kristina Hoeppner (14:03):
How do you support your peer mentors then
throughout the term that theyare working as peer mentors?
Christina Mayes (14:09):
Most of the peer mentors are co-facilitating
'Navigating college' in the fallwith an integrative coach. They
are right here teaching lifeskills, how to navigate all
things, time management, studyskills, things like that.
They're also holding officehours here for drop-in support
with their mentees. And duringthat time, when they're here, we
(14:31):
get to check in. They will checkin with their integrative coach
on a weekly basis. How is yourwell being? How are things? Do
you have any stressors rightnow? Is there anything that I
can stay on board with you? Howis it going with the
relationship development withyour mentees and communication
efforts? So we have that weeklyholistic check-in, and then they
(14:51):
have their own communitydeveloping, which is quite
amazing. We've been noting howconfident they seem. That is
something that seems slightlydifferent from the energy from
the last few cohorts of peermentors. These seem very
grounded. There's been aheightened engagement on active
(15:11):
listening exercises that we havebeen conducting with them and
offering constructive feedback.
So hopefully it will be a greatyear ahead.
Kristina Hoeppner (15:19):
They get the training initially, and then it
is more informal learning oralso coaching, just on the fly
and while they're here, ratherthan another formal training
with them as a group, right?
Christina Mayes (15:32):
Yes, and we'll have monthly check-in meetings
to ensure that we're all on thesame page. And then there's sub
groups. There is an effort toengage with our social media,
things like that.
Kristina Hoeppner (15:45):
How many mentees does each peer mentor
have?
Christina Mayes (15:49):
No more than 10.
Kristina Hoeppner (15:51):
How many years have you now already run
the peer mentorship programmewith a focus on portfolios?
Christina Mayes (15:57):
This fall will be year 10.
Kristina Hoeppner (16:00):
What is the feedback that you've received
from your peer mentors? Theiroverall experience as peer
mentors? What have they learnedthemselves?
Christina Mayes (16:12):
They've learned a great deal about themselves,
so in the sense of offering timeand space to reflect on their
experiences in and out of theclassroom and how to connect the
thread and how to present that.
We encourage our students to notonly create the portfolio, but
to present, to speak. There'sthis whole connective piece,
(16:35):
even moving into new studentorientation when they meet their
groups for the first time.
They've been preparing for thatmoment ever since, I almost want
to say, ever since they became astudent, they were preparing for
that moment to some degreebecause we have them reflect on
what was it like when you were anew student? Do you remember
(16:55):
what you would have liked tohave known? What advice would
you have given yourself? Justtaking that level of
introspection and how they mightlike to show up for these new
students. It's an interestingmix of the seasoned peer mentors
mixed with the new peer mentorsand how they offer support to
one another in that community.
Kristina Hoeppner (17:18):
That was the feedback from the peer mentors
on their experience and whatthey have learned, what they are
taking away for themselves. Haveyou had any feedback from the
students who are being mentoredby the peers?
Christina Mayes (17:36):
For those that choose to engage, there's a
positive connection. Forexample, I worked with my two
peer mentors in Navigatingcollege' last fall. They both
happened to be engaged in anumber of student clubs. They
would invite their mentees tojoin them. The mentees would
either join that affiliation orexplore, try something else, or
(17:58):
just even getting boba tea.
Those connections are someaningful. The students would
reflect on that in their weeklyreflections. In 'Navigating
college', we have our studentsreflect on what their experience
is like each week, and our peermentors, that's where they would
get a lot of praise. That'swhere we would really see more
of that notable, significantchange where someone is invested
(18:21):
in your growth and development,it's so positive. From a peer
mentor, an integrative coach,faculty or staff member, we have
quite a number of stakeholdersthat are invested in the
students, and they can tell.
Kristina Hoeppner (18:38):
That is the nice thing because oftentimes
the peer mentors can connectmore easily with the students
because they are typically of asimilar age. As you've mentioned
earlier, they had gone throughsimilar experiences. Therefore,
it is a closer relationship thanto an instructor or to an
integrative coach who ispotentially also seen more as an
authority figure, rather than apeer. We've looked at the
(19:01):
feedback from the peer mentor ontheir work, from the mentee on
how they're engaging with thepeer mentor, and now the last
relationship is the one from theintegrative coach or an
instructor who works with a peermentor in their classes or when
supporting students. What wastheir feedback on how the work
(19:24):
that the peer mentors do impactswhat they are doing?
Christina Mayes (19:28):
When our peer mentors facilitate and are
leading the course, the studentsare listening. We only have 15
minutes in these weeklyseminars. If I try to fill it
with a lecture? No, that's notthe way. When I may be deliver
something for seven minutes on atopic and then the rest is
(19:49):
co-facilitation by the peermentors, and then break into
smaller groups, the space is soalive. That is something where a
number of our integrativecoaches have taken more of a
role of empowering our studentleaders to be confident, to
enhance their presentationskills, their digital slide
deck, all the ways that they'recommunicating.
Kristina Hoeppner (20:11):
It's good to hear that the integrative
coaches appreciate what the peermentors bring to the
conversation, and therefore alsogiving them the space to expand
in their own professionalism,and therefore really are part of
the teaching team or coachingteam.
Christina Mayes (20:31):
They are the eyes and ears. They're close
connections with the newstudents. It's so critical. They
are at that level to pick up onthe nuances that we may not.
Like you were suggesting, theintegrative coach, the
instructor, being in the senseof, 'Oh, they're up here. I
can't go to them for this, but Ican go to my mentor for this.'
(20:53):
When we have our debrief, 'Oh,okay. I didn't know that that
was going on with so and so,okay, that's good to know.' It
can even be so much that itcould shift the overall
curriculum. It could be that,'Well, you know what? This week
we were planning to addressthis, but now I think we're
going to dive into interpersonalrelationships, homesickness, or
(21:14):
how to communicate effectivelywith faculty.' Those could be
shifters in sense of our culturein the classroom, where we're
going to adapt to the needs thatwill be queued up, usually from
the peer mentor.
Kristina Hoeppner (21:29):
So portfolios are embedded in 'Navigating
college'. That's the supportcourse that is available at
Dominican, where the integrativecoaches work very closely with
the students and the peermentors as well. Do your
students now also increasinglywork with portfolios in other
classes?
Christina Mayes (21:49):
Yes, big acknowledgments to our education
studies programme as they werethe flagship programme in 2011,
I believe. They were alreadydoing this high impact practice
with their students, educatingfuture educators and how they
make use of a portfolio in theclassroom setting, in
(22:10):
communicating their teachingphilosophy, lesson plans,
different things to engage withtheir learning communities. They
were using one form of platformand then eventually folded into
where we are now with GoogleSites.
Occupational therapy (OT). Theytoo joined the effort when we
were launching campus wide. Theyhave now cohorts of students
(22:34):
that have gone throughdeveloping portfolios. And
psychology, business is on, too.
Now this isn't about who's onand who's not. Most are. There's
so many different ways that onecould engage in developing a
portfolio, that might live in aspecific course programme or by
just the virtue of the studenthaving an interest in developing
(22:56):
one.
Kristina Hoeppner (22:58):
Can these study programmes then also make
use of the peer mentors?
Christina Mayes (23:03):
Yes, we've had some classes who have asked to
make use of our portfolio lab sothat they could just be right
here in our space, and then viceversa, where we go to them. We
have a number of liaisons. Forexample, with our La Vida grant
funding, we have a number ofcampus fellows, and so in our
(23:25):
library, we have Louis Knecht,who supports digital literacy,
or I could be working withGiulia Welch over in the
business school. No matter wherewe are, we're playing. I always
see this as being playfulbecause we're engaging with
technology, and we'll questioneach other, what's been working
for you lately, or what'ssomething new?
I saw that there was the AAEEBLePortfolio Review magazine of
(23:50):
the Association for Authentic,Experiential, and Evidence-Based
Learning that just came out onePortfolios and career
readiness. I couldn't wait toshare with my colleagues,
focused in on a piece that ourfriend Helen was in where there
was note on NACE, the NationalAssociation of Colleges and
Employers. This is what GiuliaWelch was engaging highly in,
(24:12):
teaching our students careercompetency skills and how to
articulate that on one'sportfolio, on their digital
presence. And then here's Helenand her colleague sharing on
this topic, which is so excitingto see that come together, and
how we are going through aprocess of an updated vision for
career development. So it justseemed quite in sync. It just
(24:33):
felt very affirming that we aredoing, hopefully, the best by
our students.
Kristina Hoeppner (24:40):
What are one, two, or three things that you
would like to be able to do withportfolios, but currently either
haven't been able to or haven'texplored yet, but really have on
your wish list or to do list?
Christina Mayes (24:55):
The big thing would be assessment. It's been
on the to do list for quite sometime. We've had programme level
assessment. Our friends in OT -they're stellar. They've made
different changes and updates totheir guidelines and things like
that. But as an institution, toget a more of that broader
perspective right before goinginto that time of COVID was the
(25:19):
time that we were planning to doour robust survey of portfolios
and apply rubrics and try tonorm together and get a sense
of, is there a positive impacton our students' engagement of
learning.
The next thing on the wish listis the connection to career
readiness in the sense of, isthere a connection here to
(25:40):
employability, and what doesthat look like? How does it
connect? We have had a number ofalum who have maintained their
portfolio presence for variousreasons. We also had a fairly
recent alum who had self taughtthemselves on portfolio. It
wasn't something that they hadthe moment to engage with at
(26:00):
Dominican because it turned outthey were working a full time
job while going to school fulltime, and it was hard to engage
in these support services. Shehad self instructed herself and
ended up being at a jobplacement where she taught
others how to develop aportfolio. She said, "I got the
job because of my portfolio."
Kristina Hoeppner (26:20):
That is really fantastic. Good that we
just recently talked at theAAEEBL Digital Ethics Task Force
that in the next year, we arethinking of looking into a
principle on assessment. So thatwe are exploring that more what
we would like people to considerwhen thinking about using
portfolios for assessmentpurposes in an ethical way, so
(26:43):
that we can give some guidanceon hand.
Now, three final questions foryou in our quick answer round.
Which words or short phrases doyou use to describe portfolio
work?
Christina Mayes (26:55):
I would say 'transformative' because I have
bear witness to humansdeveloping over time, and how I
can observe the very firstemerging portfolio, and then
what it can be by the end, andthey're showcasing all their
marvelous work that they've beenworking so hard, but the moments
(27:17):
when they are also, 'Oh, I wrotelike that?' That moment where
they see themselves in the pastand relating to that self, and
they go, 'I am not that personany more. I have learned and
experienced, and I kind of thinka little bit different now, or
my values and purpose haveshifted, and I am so grounded
and I know what's next.' To seethat light go off, that shine.
(27:39):
It's transformative. That's onlyone word [both laugh].
So then I would go, it's'engaging'. It can connect with
anyone. It doesn't matter ifyou're a student, non student,
we can engage in this. I haveeven engaged with my parents on
my portfolio, where I'mreflecting on my childhood
experiences and showcasing ourfamily and connecting that with
(28:01):
my mom and my dad. There'sdefinitely something about
community and belonging beyondthe classroom. I often share
with students that your firstaudience is typically your
family.
And 'empowering'. I actually gotthis word from one of our
graduate students, Kecia Denk,who is in our OT programme, and
we had had a portfolio sessionright before this. She's like,
(28:22):
'This is empowering.' In ourwork over the last year, where
she had no portfolio and now hasa robust portfolio and has a
penguin radio station, she wasthe first student I worked with
where I helped to figure out howto take those recordings from
her penguin radio and put on herportfolio. That was fantastic.
(28:44):
All the ways that the studentscan take those experiences and
how can we put it into a digitalformat? How can it be something
that can be representative ofthemselves, whether it be a
picture of themselves on campusto their undergraduate research
or samples of signature workthat they've been developing,
(29:06):
it's so empowering for thestudent to hold that presence.
Kristina Hoeppner (29:12):
Now, what tip do you have for learning
designers or instructors whocreate portfolio activities?
Christina Mayes (29:19):
Well, I have to say it's been fun to engage a
bit with AI. I was a bitapprehensive with giving that a
go, but I did find it to bequite supportive in breaking
down, let's say, a timeline,enhancing a lesson plan, and
breaking the creative writingprocess with some students in
(29:40):
getting engaged with theirportfolio. For example, I had a
student who came to me thissummer. We're working from a
distance. All they have is arésumé. That's it. They are
about to graduate from thenursing programme this December.
I said, 'Well, what if we wereto play with AI for a little bit
and just see what type ofpersonal statement would
(30:01):
generate from your résumé?'In that exercise, the student
was able to then get a jumpstart to their portfolio
process. They were able to thentake Canva with their template
and organise the portfolio in aquite simple manner. So rather
than a long term reflectiveportfolio, we were able to make
more of a showcase, professionalfacing portfolio. That's more of
(30:24):
a nice way to even thinkthrough, okay, so if I'm
designing something, who is myaudience? Is it a new student
who's just emerging? Or is it astudent that is upon closer to
graduation? So what are theneeds? Is it something that will
be long term reflective, or isit more about communication,
media studies, artisticpresentation, which might even
(30:48):
determine then the platform? Atthe end, we really want to
support the idea of a communitythat can offer constructive
feedback, where we're not shy tothat. Students want to know
specifically, 'What can I updateon my portfolio?' That's a big
piece, too, to always offerthat. The async feedback seems
(31:09):
to be very supportive. And thenactivities. I love focusing on
student identity development andhow this expands, given the
context of what they're studyingand where they hope to be post
graduation.
Kristina Hoeppner (31:28):
That now takes us to the last question.
What advice do you then have foryour portfolio authors?
Christina Mayes (31:36):
This portfolio is for you. You decide what
content it holds and who mayengage with this creation.
Considering the purpose of yourportfolio, wow would you like to
share your story? How might youelevate your cultural wealth,
highlight academic andprofessional pivots, and
authentically connect to yourreaders?
(31:56):
Self promotion can be a dauntingtask. This is an opportunity for
you to stretch beyond modestyand showcase your brilliance. I
encourage you to identify yourstrengths, skills and knowledge,
collect items for your digitalbriefcase, such as sample works,
visual stories, moments ofachievement, résumé, articulate
(32:17):
the connections for your digitalartefacts, and ultimately, tell
us your story.
We want to see what makes youyou. Connect us back to your
purpose, values, and futureself. This is your superpower.
Developing a portfolio is moreabout your personal process in
creating a space for who you arebecoming. Through this
(32:40):
transformative and creativeprocess, students note a higher
sense of self, purpose, andconfidence after creating their
portfolio.
Kristina Hoeppner (32:48):
Thank you so much, Christina, for expanding
the role that the Portfolio Lab,but also the Student Success
Center and the integrativecoaches play at Dominican in
supporting peer mentors, whothen support students in their
portfolio work, and showing usthat it is like the integrative
coaches, it's an integrativepractice. It all works together,
(33:12):
there're connections between allthe different people that are
engaged in the practice, all thedifferent activities that are
happening, the classes and thesupport structures so that we do
look at the portfolio workholistically. Thanks so much for
the chat.
Christina Mayes (33:26):
Thank you.
Kristina Hoeppner (33:29):
Now over to our listeners. What do you want
to try in your own portfoliopractice? This was 'Create.
Share. Engage.' with ChristinaMayes. Head to our website,
podcast.mahara.org, where youcan find resources and the
transcript for this episode.
This podcast is produced byCatalyst IT. Our next episode
(33:50):
will air in two weeks. I hopeyou will listen again and tell a
colleague about our podcast sothey can subscribe. Until then,
create, share, and engage.
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