July 24, 2024 • 34 mins
In this episode of the #DigicationScholars Conversations, host Kelly Driscoll interviews Matthew Street, Senior Lecturer in Spanish at the University of Virginia.
They discuss various topics, including ePortfolios, project-based learning, active learning in foreign language courses, and the importance of reflection in education.
Matthew shares his non-traditional journey to becoming an educator, his innovative approaches in the classroom, including the use of flipped classrooms, and his commitment to creating a collaborative and interactive learning environment.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Welcome to DigicationScholars Conversations.
I'm your host, Kelly Driscoll.
In this episode, you'll hear partone of my conversation with Matthew
Street, Senior Lecturer in Spanishat the University of Virginia.
More links and information about today'sconversation can be found on Digication's
Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
(00:22):
Full episodes of Digication ScholarsConversations can be found on
YouTube or your favorite podcast app.
Welcome to DigicationScholars Conversations.
I'm your host, Kelly Driscoll.
And today I am so pleased to introduceMatthew Street, a senior lecturer
at the University of Virginia.
(00:43):
Welcome Matthew.
Thanks Kelly.
Thanks for having me.
I'm really excited to be here andtalk about ePortfolios with you today.
Yeah, I'm excited to have you here too.
So I wanted to just kind of let youknow, I love it when there's these
kind of connections with things.
So I actually grew up in, uh,Stanton, Virginia, just on the
(01:04):
other side of the mountain.
And, um, I have so many.
Teachers in my family.
And one of them was my deargrandmother, who was actually
a Spanish teacher at Waynesborohigh school for many, many years.
And, um, yeah, and I've justbeen so excited to speak to you.
(01:24):
Um, I did want to let you know thatas I was kind of preparing for a call
today, I saw a beautiful, um, quotefrom a student that was talking about
what a wonderful teacher you are.
And that, um, you emphasize creating withthe language rather than memorization.
And I just love that at Digication we'reso much about project based learning
(01:51):
and, um, You know, students reallydeveloping their identity alongside
their work and I just thought thatthat was just a wonderful description
of you as a teacher and got me evenmore excited to, to talk to you today.
Um, I know you've been very active withePortfolios and using Digication in
(02:12):
a number of different ways, both foryourself personally and in the classroom
and As well as part of your research, um,and your students are developing their
own kind of ePortfolios, documentingwhat they're learning in your courses.
So we have lots to chat about today.
And, um, I thought I'd kick thingsoff just with you telling our
(02:32):
listeners a little bit about.
Your journey and how you became asenior lecturer in Spanish at UVA.
Yeah.
Well, thanks.
And thanks for this opportunity.
Yeah.
My, my journey wasn't quite aslinear as other people's journey.
And when I was 18 years old, if you wouldhave told me I would be sitting here
(02:55):
now, I would have never believed you.
Um, I grew up in the South, deep Southof Louisiana, near Baton Rouge, and
College really wasn't something thatI was in going to do, you know, so
I started college right out of highschool, but it didn't really work out.
So I took some time off and starteddoing some construction work.
(03:17):
There's a lot of constructionworkers in my family.
And I quickly saw there's alot of Spanish being used on
these various carpentry crews.
And so I started just trying topick it up, just trying to speak,
just trying to speak and over the,over the development of a couple
of years, I got pretty good with itand I was very passionate about it.
(03:37):
And so I decided to re enroll in college.
And that was a, a.
An excellent idea to have that break.
So I was kind of a non traditionalstudent and I majored in Spanish at
the University of Louisiana, Monroe,and did exceptionally well there.
And then applied for graduate school andwent to the University of South Carolina
where, um, I was just a wonderful program,a very pedagogical and applied linguistic
(04:03):
sort of angle that, that they haveopportunities to, to learn about there.
So I, took those opportunities and then,um, I didn't, I was applying for jobs,
but I was going to go back to work atthe University of Louisiana, Monroe.
And one of the conditions was tobe a, uh, an ESL teacher as well.
(04:23):
So to be certified.
So when I graduated college,I went to Costa Rica.
To do a, an ESL trainingclass for six weeks.
And it was there that I interviewedfor the university of Virginia.
And I only had like one polo shirtand no pants, you know, just shorts.
I'm on a Skype call with them.
(04:44):
And I didn't know anything about theuniversity of Virginia growing up in
the, in the South and SEC country.
Um, and so two days later theyget, they offered me a job.
And when I came back home.
My wife was reminding me thatit's only an hour, six hours away.
So we drove from South Carolina toVirginia and, and then, and then, you
(05:06):
know, that's where, this is where I'vebeen ever since I'm on my 11th year here.
And so it's just kind of a great,a great story of, you know,
figuring out what you want to do.
So it's okay if you don't know whatyou're going to do, you don't have
to follow the path that everyoneelse follows in order to end up doing
something at the end that you're reallypassionate about and that you like.
(05:26):
Yeah.
Well, thank you so muchfor, for sharing that story.
And, you know, I'm, I'm a big fan ofthat kind of approach to, to life.
Also, if someone had told methat I'd be sitting here doing
what I am today, when I was 18, Iwouldn't have believed them either.
Um, and it's something that I definitelytalk, I have five children and it's
(05:48):
something that we talk a lot about aroundthe table and driving around town, you
know, you just kind of follow your gut andthings will generally work out for you.
And, um, I appreciate hearingyour story and I'm sure it's
one that you share with your.
Students too, um, many of them that comeinto your courses, uh, I'm imagining,
(06:12):
you know, just in what I've learnedabout you so far, probably maybe
expecting something a little differentwhen they first come in the door.
Um, so tell me a little bit about the,the courses that you currently teach and,
um, maybe some of the, the approachesthat you have to get students in, engaged
(06:33):
in, in learning a foreign language.
Yeah, sure.
So my, my main course in the academicyear is the Accelerated Beginning Spanish,
and I'm the course coordinator for that.
So it's kind of, it's kind of my baby,you know, I work with, with our program
director to develop the, all of thematerials and, and those sorts of things.
But, but it's a flip classroom.
(06:54):
So this, so that, that automaticallyhits the students with something new.
They're usually used to being taught atin high school and not expected to do
much work other than just sit there andlisten and fill out some, some papers.
And so when they get to the class onthe first day and it's all Spanish and
I'm, you know, don't let them use cellphones or any sort of technology in the
(07:16):
classroom, unless, you know, we're, we'redoing that sort of thing that day and
just encourage them to, to start creatingwith the language, like you mentioned,
like you mentioned earlier, you know, Iwant the students to, to be comfortable.
So I also work with Active Learningspaces, Collaborative Learning spaces
where there's no front or back to theclassroom and it's all interactive stuff.
(07:39):
So I always have the studentssit across from each other.
And this last semester I prohibitedphones even before class.
And I, at first, um, the students werekind of bummed out about it, but I put
kind of icebreaker questions up and wantedthem to get to know each other in English.
And I basically told them, if, if youdon't do this before class, then we're
(08:02):
going to spend class time doing it.
And so our class is an accelerated class.
so every minute counts.
So two of the three sectionsreally got it right away.
I didn't even need the, the, the, thequestions after a couple of weeks.
The 9am class, you know, it took alittle bit more prodding, but they
were, they were into it too, and thatwas their comment at the end of the
(08:22):
semester, that that was one of thethings that helped them feel more
comfortable getting uncomfortable.
And, and working with the, workingin those confines of the class, I've
kind of shifted instead of teachingspecific individual rules that coincide
with whatever chapter, I'm encouragingstudents to develop more of a conceptual
(08:44):
understanding of the concepts as we goand have how they link to each other
and so they can chunk these elements intheir brain and in their file system,
retrieve them a little bit easier and andthen so some of the practice with that
is when we get to different topics havethe students explain what this topic is,
(09:05):
what do we need to look out for, whatare some of the exceptions, how does it
relate to English and we do all of this inEnglish so there's a So there's a lot of
Spanish spoken in the class, but I thinkthere's definitely a need, especially
for the beginning levels, to alsospend some time talking about English,
talking about language pragmatically inEnglish is the easiest way to do that.
(09:30):
So what are some of the kindof, um, icebreakers that you use
to help them start to become,you know, just comfortable.
So...
at first, it's just like, hey!
Want to find out informationabout your partner.
And I'm going to ask you about it.
So, where are they?
If it's the beginning of thesemester, where are they from?
(09:53):
What are they, what are their hobbies?
What do they like to do?
But as we're getting deeper intothe semester, I sometimes put some
questions that may make studentsget a little bit more vulnerable,
like Tell, tell us about a challengethat you had to overcome, something
that was hard and how did you do it?
And what do you rememberabout something that you look
forward to to get you through?
(10:15):
And so some of these questionsreally help form the community in
the class where they're comfortable.
It's almost like a littletherapy session, I guess.
They get just comfortabletalking with each other and also
working with different people.
I move the students aroundregularly in the class.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's great.
And so when you, um, joined the,the faculty at UVA, were, was
(10:42):
Digication something that was alreadybeing used in the foreign language
courses, or is that something thatyou really helped to integrate?
Yeah, so there was not being used.
So this was 11 years ago, right?
So, um, I think it was, I thinkwe've been using Portfolio for
about eight, Eight or nine years.
And so it was after my first or secondyear that we were tasked with creating
(11:06):
a portfolio for our individual classes.
And the coordinators were taskedwith this and we had pretty much
creative license to do this.
So I spent the summer thinking about whatI would want my students to do from a
project based standpoint, to be able touse the language with minimal scaffolding
to create sort of things that, that would.
(11:29):
That would demonstrate theirlearning, their speaking, listening,
and reading, um, learning.
And so, so I created, youknow, a portfolio that we
used WordPress at the time.
I didn't, we didn't even know, Ididn't even know about Digication then.
And, you know, we use WordPress fora year or two, and then we switched
to Digication, which was much more,um, intuitive and, And, and helpful.
(11:53):
And I'm even one of the ones that reallyliked the backend assignment features
of, of Digication and all of that.
The problem with thatwas kind of our faculty.
We have a big faculty, you know, andso the buy in with the faculty and
the technology aspect was a bit of a,a bit of a downer for some of them.
So.
(12:14):
So, you know, we ended up just kind ofsticking to using the Portfolio only,
but if it were up to me, I would be usingthose assignments and all of that stuff.
Cause then you can see when people turnedin things and all of that, and there's
rubrics and those sorts of things.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I don't know if you've had a chanceto, um, See the new Kora features that
(12:36):
we've been rolling out for Kora courses,but the, I know that integration with
the learning management system wasreally key for some of the faculty.
And there's a lot more options now tokind of ease into using some of those
course features that you enjoyed, evenfor those that may not, um, be familiar as
(12:58):
much with that, that side of Digication.
So we'll have a chance to, yeah,share, share more of that too.
Yeah, I'm supposed to be used.
I was supposed to be using that inthe summer with my summer class.
So hopefully I'll beworking with that soon.
And the summer class thatwe created is a, is an.
As free Spanish refresher class to getstudents to test into a higher Spanish.
(13:22):
So we created our own materials,but we used Digication exclusively
on that program for writing,revisions, speaking, and commenting.
And it's amazing because thestudents can literally see their
progress over the six week period.
Period where they're primarilyworking on their own.
Mm-Hmm.
and, you know, asynchronouslyexchanging with their partners,
(13:44):
um, along the semester.
But the Portfolio in that realm,I've shared some fantastic portfolios
with some of the team here abouthow much progress students have made
over just studying on their own withthe content that we made for them.
Yes, and it's so clear for them whenthey're able to see, you know, the kind
(14:04):
of progress that they have from the, thoseearly classes to where they are at the
end, you know, in terms of their writingand their speaking abilities, right?
Um, so for some of our listenersthat may not be as familiar with, um.
You know, what an ePortfolio is or howstudents in a foreign language class
(14:26):
may be using a platform like that.
Could you talk a little bitabout maybe what kind of prompts
or projects that they're doing?
What kind of tools that they'reusing as part of, um, kind
of documenting that learning?
Right.
So yeah, so the ePortfolio, you know,as you guys know, the Digication
(14:48):
is, is a High-Impact Practice thatwas denoted by the AAC&U years ago.
And a High-Impact Practice isa, is a very respected practice.
It shows that this is somethingthat actually really helps, right?
Like capstone classes aren't thesame level as ePortfolio use, right?
So it's very important to, to, to,to kind of put it in context right
(15:11):
there because the Portfolio, itmakes the learning visible, right?
The students can see what they'relearning and they can engage in
a virtual community in real time.
They can see examples of work.
They can get resourcesfrom other students.
To either guide the direction of their ownwork or as study resources that I use in
(15:33):
various concept map sorts of activities.
So, and the metacognitive part that'sso easy on the Portfolio cannot be left
out either, because when students havethe ability and are coached on how to
reflect on their learning and identifywhere they're actually learning, that's
when students really see the value ofdevoting time and effort into the class.
(15:59):
In many of these activities thatwe, that we do would be done
without any ePortfolio, but I thinkthe effect of the student, as the
student's perspective would be,um, less evident of their progress.
the Portfolio shows them, you madea video for me in week one where you
could barely speak for 20 seconds.
(16:19):
At week 16, you spoke for threeminutes with a very open ended prompt,
incorporating many structures, andbasically you went over the time.
So like, that's, that's, that isWhat's possible on an ePortfolio.
So some of the projects that we do onportfolios are beginning reflections,
end reflections, and we also doindividual assignment reflections.
(16:45):
We also do project based learning,right, where at, you know, certain
points in the semester or aligning withparticular units from the curriculum
that we're using, we'll provide studentswith an open-ended prompt where they
need to, you know, uh, interpret someinformation, maybe from a calendar and
then compare it and answer some questionsand then create their own calendar and
(17:10):
explain what they do in a given week.
So you have some scaffoldingto get them identifying some
structures that they need to use.
And then they can create with it, right?
And we also use it forrevision revisions, right?
Where I love the inlinecommenting feature.
So students, you know, right?
And you, you make some, you makesome suggestions and then, then they
(17:31):
can post the other one under that.
And you, you know, You can correctthat and they can add more and
it just kind of keeps going.
So the reflective things that we alsouse it for big summative assessments,
like end of semester projects that arelike multi step, multi modal things
where unlike a PowerPoint or unlike aWord document, you know, you can have.
(17:53):
You can get all of the samples thatyou need for a language class or
writing samples, speaking samples.
And then we include multimedia use,which is so important, not just, just
in everyday life, um, those sortsof aspects and, uh, and the concept
map stuff, which is what I reallyliked that the students, that the
students do, um, where they, they.
(18:16):
Since we teach an acceleratedclass, it's two classes in one
semester, so many concepts.
After the second exam, which studentsusually score way less than they
thought they were going to, wegive them an opportunity to take
the structures that will be on thethird test and formulate some sort
of a graphic, like an infographic.
And we give them creative..., we show themsome examples, but we give them creative
(18:40):
license to do it however they want.
And then those become studyresources for other people.
And this last semester, Ieven saw students using them
in class without prompt.
Like they would pull up or print outa concept map and bring it to class.
And so, so these sorts of things, Ithink, make the ePortfolio invaluable.
(19:02):
And just an amazing tool thatI think any language program
is better off because of it.
Oh, well, thank you somuch for describing that.
And I was curious as you were talking,you know, you were speaking a little
bit about how Within Digication, you'reable to get evidence, you know, all of
(19:23):
the different types of evidence thatyou're looking for, um, for your course.
And is it, and something that's a bitdifferent than PowerPoint, um, where
maybe before a tool like Digication wasavailable, would have been a space for
the students to create kind of a Slidepresentation of, of what they had done.
(19:45):
Um, are they sometimes usingDigication now as more of that kind of.
creation space.
So are they recording directly intotheir ePortfolio, whether it's video
or audio, or is it something wherethey're kind of capturing it and
then, and then loading things in?
(20:07):
No, our students in the Spanish classper the assignments are recording
right into Digication becausethat's the easiest way, right?
Like just open up your phone oryour tablet or your computer,
hit record, record it.
If you don't like it, recordit again, and then upload.
Some students will create, if it's,if it's, if it's some sort of a video
that requires editing, some studentswill create that somewhere else
(20:30):
and then put it on the Portfolio.
But for most of the, like the, um,The, the monologue videos that we do
at the, the presentational speakingthings at the beginning and the end
of the semester, they just record thatright on, on, on Digication with, and
we give them prompts like, you know,don't read, we should see errors in this.
If it's too perfect, you know,you're going to have to do it again.
(20:51):
You know, those sorts of, those sorts ofthings, which, you know, if it's re if
it's cast in enough ways in the class,students really get it, you know, and
they, They, if they trust that they can,they can give you their true work without
any use of Chat GPT or translators,and you're going to fairly assess them
(21:12):
and they trust you on this journey.
That's, that's been the most, um, you getthe best results from students that way.
Yeah,
Yeah, absolutely.
Um, so you mentioned one of theother features that you like to use
is that kind of in line commenting.
Um, so it's known as the, theconversations feature and the
(21:34):
platform for listeners that may beinterested in, in where that is found.
Could you talk a little bit aboutMaybe what your process is as students
are developing these throughoutthe course, you know, what kind of
frequency are you going in and lookingat their work and providing feedback
and are they responding to you there?
(21:54):
Are they going through and making edits?
Could you describe a littlebit about what that is?
Yeah, I'll talk about it intwo, two different ways because
we use it a bit differently.
So in the, in the summer class, right?
So again, it's a free non credit class.
So students, they, the only caretthat they have to finish is that
we give them guaranteed placementin a Spanish class if they commit.
(22:20):
And so we give them prompt feedbackon their writings and we, we, we
do revisions on their writing.
So, so they do like three modules.
So they write something, we, wegive them suggestions and then they
edit it and add a new paragraph.
And then we, Edit the first paragraphagain, and the second paragraph the
(22:41):
first time, and then they add a thirdparagraph, and we do that one more time.
So, but we do that very quickly becauseour, the, the online learning specialist
we talked to said one thing that thatprevents attrition in these, these
free classes is a delayed feedback.
So we're real prompt with that.
(23:01):
However, during the semester, whenthe, the projects are, are more spaced
out, then, then the students will dothe work and then the feedback will
come, you know, in, in a reasonabletime, like within a few days.
Within a few days or a week, but stufffor things like the final project.
Yeah, I'm going in and really lookingat the, at the, the language and giving
(23:23):
them a ton of suggestions, and thenthey just go in and most different
ones have different processes, butthey just address the issues and
delete the comment and just keep going,going on about, about their work.
Nice.
And I even comment on their reflectionsas well, you know, cause I think they,
they, you know, I'll, cause it's anotherway to workshop how to write reflections,
(23:47):
which is good for students to learn howto do, you know, and I'll maybe encourage
students to expand a little more orhighlight what this is a very insightful
point, you know, that sort of thing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that was actually my next question.
Cause you mentioned when the studentswere coming to your course, You know,
in order to really take advantageof that High-Impact Practice around
(24:12):
developing a Portfolio is thiskind of coaching around reflection.
And I'm imagining many of the studentsthat are coming into your courses, that
this is something that they may not befamiliar with, you know, again, once
again, this kind of active learningthat you're not just standing in
front of the classroom, telling them,What they should be doing, right.
(24:34):
They're kind of figuringthings out for themselves and
working with other students.
Um, so as part of this kind of coachingor reflection, how do you embed that
into, um, teaching a new language?
You know, is it something thatyou're kind of scaffolding directly?
(24:55):
Within the pages that they're forming,are you using specific prompts
or templates with the students?
Is it something that you, you know, talkabout with them when they're in class?
You know, it sounds like you do givethem feedback on it as they're developing
it, but how do they even get to that?
First stage of starting toreflect on what they're doing.
(25:15):
Yeah.
So we, we use the instruction featureon Digication, you know, the instruction
slide to give them all of their prompts,no matter what the content, what
the, what the, the project would be.
So for the reflection one, so we havequestions and we have tips of course,
but we also, in the AcceleratedBeginning Spanish class, we do, we
(25:36):
do these reflection workshops, right?
And so a workshop is like toward the.
Toward the end of thesemester, we only do it once.
Um, but so the students share, they dothese little mini presentations in English
about their learning for the semester.
And so students are writing, I havestudents write things on the board,
(25:58):
and then I, if a student says somethingthat's particularly insightful or
profound, I'll I, I then re-...
Rephrase that in terms of likereflective, reflective pedagogy or
second language acquisition theorythat they touch on in their own ways.
And then so at the end, I'm like, youguys should take pictures of these
(26:19):
bullet points that your classmates wrote,because these are the sorts of things
that you're going to want to, you'regoing to want to, your teachers are going
to want to see in all your reflections.
And so I feel like, It would begreat to do that more frequently
in, in all classes, um, but again,we have the accelerated class.
So, you know, that's howwe're doing it for right now.
(26:40):
Yeah.
Yeah.
But that's such a great idea justto kind of have this workshop kind
of space where, you know, you're notjust giving them feedback on their own
reflections, but they're able to see someof their, their classmates right there
and your immediate response to those.
And what a great idea just to kind of takea picture so they can have it with them.
(27:02):
So if they're ever having,you know, one of those.
Blank page.
What am I going to say moments that theycan refer back to that and kind of frame
their thinking based on those examples.
Yeah.
Cause they, they all have verysimilar, similar experiences.
Right.
And so one of the featuresis like a callback, right?
(27:23):
So the first person obviouslycan't call back, but the,
after the first person speaks.
Then the other person can get uplike, just like Kelly said, I also
feel this, but you know, and then, soit kind of prompts more discussion.
And then by the end it works thesame way when they start writing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Do you ever have, uh, just out ofcuriosity, do you ever have students
(27:47):
go in and use the conversationsfeature to give feedback on each
other's work within their portfolios?
Not without being prompted.
No.
Okay.
Yeah.
I mean, they do comment on eachother's work, you know, but
it's part of the assignment.
It's part of some of the assignments.
Yeah.
I haven't seen a student just go,um, maybe they have, and I don't
(28:09):
monitor the comments that closely,but yeah, I know we make them comment
on other students work, but yeah.
Yeah.
So how do you prompt them to do that?
Are there a certain number of otherstudents that they need to look at?
Are there projects that you feel likelend themselves more to having that kind
of yeah, we just part of part ofthe actual the assignment right?
(28:33):
It's the reflection and commentingpart before you reflect.
Go view 3 of your your partner'sprojects and comment on some
aspect of their project.
And we do the first half of thesemester, we do this commenting in
English because it's going to generatethe more sincere and genuine answers.
And then toward the end, we switchto Spanish when the students have a
(28:54):
little bit more ability to create withthe language and, you know, and say,
say some, some things that make sensethat don't need a lot of correction.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, that's great.
Um, so I know, you know, in learning alittle bit about you, I mean, it just
sounds like you're involved in so manythings that is for the institution.
(29:16):
So, and I learned some of thisand looking at your own personal
portfolios, um, but that you'reinvolved or were involved in a Spanish
theater group and, um, have also been.
It sounds like working in, let me seeif I made a note of what it was called.
(29:37):
One of the other, um, oh, the SigmaDelta Pi, um, faculty advisor.
So, would you mind sharingsome of those things?
Because you're just so deeplyrooted and really celebrating.
Spanish culture and Spanishlanguage and literature.
I'd love to hear more about that too.
Yeah, so these, these postershere are some of the plays
(29:58):
that we've done, um, here.
The Spanish Theater Grouphas been existing with UVA.
They celebrated 40 years, uh, 2019, right?
So those are 40th 40th year to do plays.
And of course I came 11 years ago.
So I just jumped right in.
My, one of my mentors here,Fernando Opere is the one that
(30:19):
started the Spanish theater play.
So I do a lot of the behind thescenes tech stuff with that.
And then the Spanish honorsociety, Sigma Delta Pi is just
a national Spanish honor society.
And, you know, it's geared to positionstudents to be more active, right?
To, to look for opportunitiesin the community.
And, you know, some of these things canlead to scholarships and awards and stuff.
(30:42):
So my job there is to kind of gentlypush students towards things and
encourage them to organize on their own.
And sometimes that requires me to do alittle bit more organizing than them,
or at least get them headed that way.
And, um.
Yeah, so that's, that's been a prettyactive group and I've also been working
with the honor fraternity Sigma,Sigma Phi Epsilon, which is, which
(31:07):
is, I'm a faculty fellow for them.
And 1 of the things that I hope we canget to talk about is the professional
portfolios that I've been working onin the Spanish classrooms and also
outside of the Spanish classrooms.
But Sigma Phi Epsilon is a, is anhonor fraternity that's been around
for, I guess, about 100 years or so.
(31:27):
And, and so I, because of astudent took my class and created a
professional portfolio in my class,asked me if I would be the faculty
fellow for them, um, to help them.
To help them to, to beable to market themselves.
And none of these are Spanish majors.
They're all like engineering, computerscience and math, uh, math majors
(31:50):
and accounting and very analyticaltypes of super responsible young men.
And so working with them on, youknow, creating professional portfolios
to expand their digital ecosystems,providing templates and feedback has
been, it's been really rewarding to seethose, that sort of work come together.
Oh, that's wonderful.
(32:10):
I didn't even realize that there was abridge there with the, those students.
So did they initially get inspiredbecause they were part of one of
your Spanish language courses andthen saw that this was something that
they could really use to develop kindof their professional persona and.
Yes.
(32:31):
So, yeah, their, their currentpresident was in my class when I piloted
the professional portfolio option.
Which is something that you, Idon't, not sure if you remember,
but a couple of years ago, well, theUniversity of Virginia participated
in the AAC&U Institute on ePortfolios.
(32:51):
And I know Digication was a bigcontributor to that whole Institute.
And so my.
We all had little projects.
And so my project was todevelop a professional portfolio
template rubric guidelines.
And, um, because of that amazinginstitute, I got to meet with Helen Chin
on Zoom for like one, like two hour call.
(33:14):
And so I got a lot of feedback fromher and ideas and just, you know,
engaging with, uh, my, my students.
Previous mentor that's retirednow, Yitna Firdyiwek, you know, he
was a real big fan of what I wasdoing with professional portfolios.
And, and so then we createda rubric and a template.
And so this, this student was inthat, that class that did the first
(33:37):
round of professional portfolios.
And has since continued to usehis, as you know, and Digication
on the back end, you can see whenstudents access their portfolios.
So, you know, there's several studentsthat have continued to use their
professional portfolios and get,get scholarships and, and awards
and send them for internships andevery student that has created one
(34:01):
and has used it has been successful.
And I mean, I know it's notexactly the Portfolio, but
it definitely does help set.
Someone apart from an asequally qualified person.
If you have something that really showswhat you're all about and what you've been
learning, yeah, and the sort of thinkeryou're involved, you're evolving to be.
(34:23):
Here's a preview of what's coming upnext in part two of my conversation with
Matthew Street, Senior Lecturer in Spanish
at the University
of
Virginia.
From an accessibility standpoint, itmakes sense from the cost aspect and also
from an equity standpoint for, um, thecoverage of different minority groups
(34:44):
and, and equality aspects all around.
Welcome to DigicationScholars Conversations.
I'm your host, Kelly Driscoll.
In this episode, you'll hear partone of my conversation with Matthew
Street, Senior Lecturer in Spanishat the University of Virginia.
More links and information about today'sconversation can be found on Digication's
Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
(00:22):
Full episodes of Digication ScholarsConversations can be found on
YouTube or your favorite podcast app.
Welcome to DigicationScholars Conversations.
I'm your host, Kelly Driscoll.
And today I am so pleased to introduceMatthew Street, a senior lecturer
at the University of Virginia.
(00:43):
Welcome Matthew.
Thanks Kelly.
Thanks for having me.
I'm really excited to be here andtalk about ePortfolios with you today.
Yeah, I'm excited to have you here too.
So I wanted to just kind of let youknow, I love it when there's these
kind of connections with things.
So I actually grew up in, uh,Stanton, Virginia, just on the
(01:04):
other side of the mountain.
And, um, I have so many.
Teachers in my family.
And one of them was my deargrandmother, who was actually
a Spanish teacher at Waynesborohigh school for many, many years.
And, um, yeah, and I've justbeen so excited to speak to you.
(01:24):
Um, I did want to let you know thatas I was kind of preparing for a call
today, I saw a beautiful, um, quotefrom a student that was talking about
what a wonderful teacher you are.
And that, um, you emphasize creating withthe language rather than memorization.
And I just love that at Digication we'reso much about project based learning
(01:51):
and, um, You know, students reallydeveloping their identity alongside
their work and I just thought thatthat was just a wonderful description
of you as a teacher and got me evenmore excited to, to talk to you today.
Um, I know you've been very active withePortfolios and using Digication in
(02:12):
a number of different ways, both foryourself personally and in the classroom
and As well as part of your research, um,and your students are developing their
own kind of ePortfolios, documentingwhat they're learning in your courses.
So we have lots to chat about today.
And, um, I thought I'd kick thingsoff just with you telling our
(02:32):
listeners a little bit about.
Your journey and how you became asenior lecturer in Spanish at UVA.
Yeah.
Well, thanks.
And thanks for this opportunity.
Yeah.
My, my journey wasn't quite aslinear as other people's journey.
And when I was 18 years old, if you wouldhave told me I would be sitting here
(02:55):
now, I would have never believed you.
Um, I grew up in the South, deep Southof Louisiana, near Baton Rouge, and
College really wasn't something thatI was in going to do, you know, so
I started college right out of highschool, but it didn't really work out.
So I took some time off and starteddoing some construction work.
(03:17):
There's a lot of constructionworkers in my family.
And I quickly saw there's alot of Spanish being used on
these various carpentry crews.
And so I started just trying topick it up, just trying to speak,
just trying to speak and over the,over the development of a couple
of years, I got pretty good with itand I was very passionate about it.
(03:37):
And so I decided to re enroll in college.
And that was a, a.
An excellent idea to have that break.
So I was kind of a non traditionalstudent and I majored in Spanish at
the University of Louisiana, Monroe,and did exceptionally well there.
And then applied for graduate school andwent to the University of South Carolina
where, um, I was just a wonderful program,a very pedagogical and applied linguistic
(04:03):
sort of angle that, that they haveopportunities to, to learn about there.
So I, took those opportunities and then,um, I didn't, I was applying for jobs,
but I was going to go back to work atthe University of Louisiana, Monroe.
And one of the conditions was tobe a, uh, an ESL teacher as well.
(04:23):
So to be certified.
So when I graduated college,I went to Costa Rica.
To do a, an ESL trainingclass for six weeks.
And it was there that I interviewedfor the university of Virginia.
And I only had like one polo shirtand no pants, you know, just shorts.
I'm on a Skype call with them.
(04:44):
And I didn't know anything about theuniversity of Virginia growing up in
the, in the South and SEC country.
Um, and so two days later theyget, they offered me a job.
And when I came back home.
My wife was reminding me thatit's only an hour, six hours away.
So we drove from South Carolina toVirginia and, and then, and then, you
(05:06):
know, that's where, this is where I'vebeen ever since I'm on my 11th year here.
And so it's just kind of a great,a great story of, you know,
figuring out what you want to do.
So it's okay if you don't know whatyou're going to do, you don't have
to follow the path that everyoneelse follows in order to end up doing
something at the end that you're reallypassionate about and that you like.
(05:26):
Yeah.
Well, thank you so muchfor, for sharing that story.
And, you know, I'm, I'm a big fan ofthat kind of approach to, to life.
Also, if someone had told methat I'd be sitting here doing
what I am today, when I was 18, Iwouldn't have believed them either.
Um, and it's something that I definitelytalk, I have five children and it's
(05:48):
something that we talk a lot about aroundthe table and driving around town, you
know, you just kind of follow your gut andthings will generally work out for you.
And, um, I appreciate hearingyour story and I'm sure it's
one that you share with your.
Students too, um, many of them that comeinto your courses, uh, I'm imagining,
(06:12):
you know, just in what I've learnedabout you so far, probably maybe
expecting something a little differentwhen they first come in the door.
Um, so tell me a little bit about the,the courses that you currently teach and,
um, maybe some of the, the approachesthat you have to get students in, engaged
(06:33):
in, in learning a foreign language.
Yeah, sure.
So my, my main course in the academicyear is the Accelerated Beginning Spanish,
and I'm the course coordinator for that.
So it's kind of, it's kind of my baby,you know, I work with, with our program
director to develop the, all of thematerials and, and those sorts of things.
But, but it's a flip classroom.
(06:54):
So this, so that, that automaticallyhits the students with something new.
They're usually used to being taught atin high school and not expected to do
much work other than just sit there andlisten and fill out some, some papers.
And so when they get to the class onthe first day and it's all Spanish and
I'm, you know, don't let them use cellphones or any sort of technology in the
(07:16):
classroom, unless, you know, we're, we'redoing that sort of thing that day and
just encourage them to, to start creatingwith the language, like you mentioned,
like you mentioned earlier, you know, Iwant the students to, to be comfortable.
So I also work with Active Learningspaces, Collaborative Learning spaces
where there's no front or back to theclassroom and it's all interactive stuff.
(07:39):
So I always have the studentssit across from each other.
And this last semester I prohibitedphones even before class.
And I, at first, um, the students werekind of bummed out about it, but I put
kind of icebreaker questions up and wantedthem to get to know each other in English.
And I basically told them, if, if youdon't do this before class, then we're
(08:02):
going to spend class time doing it.
And so our class is an accelerated class.
so every minute counts.
So two of the three sectionsreally got it right away.
I didn't even need the, the, the, thequestions after a couple of weeks.
The 9am class, you know, it took alittle bit more prodding, but they
were, they were into it too, and thatwas their comment at the end of the
(08:22):
semester, that that was one of thethings that helped them feel more
comfortable getting uncomfortable.
And, and working with the, workingin those confines of the class, I've
kind of shifted instead of teachingspecific individual rules that coincide
with whatever chapter, I'm encouragingstudents to develop more of a conceptual
(08:44):
understanding of the concepts as we goand have how they link to each other
and so they can chunk these elements intheir brain and in their file system,
retrieve them a little bit easier and andthen so some of the practice with that
is when we get to different topics havethe students explain what this topic is,
(09:05):
what do we need to look out for, whatare some of the exceptions, how does it
relate to English and we do all of this inEnglish so there's a So there's a lot of
Spanish spoken in the class, but I thinkthere's definitely a need, especially
for the beginning levels, to alsospend some time talking about English,
talking about language pragmatically inEnglish is the easiest way to do that.
(09:30):
So what are some of the kindof, um, icebreakers that you use
to help them start to become,you know, just comfortable.
So...
at first, it's just like, hey!
Want to find out informationabout your partner.
And I'm going to ask you about it.
So, where are they?
If it's the beginning of thesemester, where are they from?
(09:53):
What are they, what are their hobbies?
What do they like to do?
But as we're getting deeper intothe semester, I sometimes put some
questions that may make studentsget a little bit more vulnerable,
like Tell, tell us about a challengethat you had to overcome, something
that was hard and how did you do it?
And what do you rememberabout something that you look
forward to to get you through?
(10:15):
And so some of these questionsreally help form the community in
the class where they're comfortable.
It's almost like a littletherapy session, I guess.
They get just comfortabletalking with each other and also
working with different people.
I move the students aroundregularly in the class.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's great.
And so when you, um, joined the,the faculty at UVA, were, was
(10:42):
Digication something that was alreadybeing used in the foreign language
courses, or is that something thatyou really helped to integrate?
Yeah, so there was not being used.
So this was 11 years ago, right?
So, um, I think it was, I thinkwe've been using Portfolio for
about eight, Eight or nine years.
And so it was after my first or secondyear that we were tasked with creating
(11:06):
a portfolio for our individual classes.
And the coordinators were taskedwith this and we had pretty much
creative license to do this.
So I spent the summer thinking about whatI would want my students to do from a
project based standpoint, to be able touse the language with minimal scaffolding
to create sort of things that, that would.
(11:29):
That would demonstrate theirlearning, their speaking, listening,
and reading, um, learning.
And so, so I created, youknow, a portfolio that we
used WordPress at the time.
I didn't, we didn't even know, Ididn't even know about Digication then.
And, you know, we use WordPress fora year or two, and then we switched
to Digication, which was much more,um, intuitive and, And, and helpful.
(11:53):
And I'm even one of the ones that reallyliked the backend assignment features
of, of Digication and all of that.
The problem with thatwas kind of our faculty.
We have a big faculty, you know, andso the buy in with the faculty and
the technology aspect was a bit of a,a bit of a downer for some of them.
So.
(12:14):
So, you know, we ended up just kind ofsticking to using the Portfolio only,
but if it were up to me, I would be usingthose assignments and all of that stuff.
Cause then you can see when people turnedin things and all of that, and there's
rubrics and those sorts of things.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I don't know if you've had a chanceto, um, See the new Kora features that
(12:36):
we've been rolling out for Kora courses,but the, I know that integration with
the learning management system wasreally key for some of the faculty.
And there's a lot more options now tokind of ease into using some of those
course features that you enjoyed, evenfor those that may not, um, be familiar as
(12:58):
much with that, that side of Digication.
So we'll have a chance to, yeah,share, share more of that too.
Yeah, I'm supposed to be used.
I was supposed to be using that inthe summer with my summer class.
So hopefully I'll beworking with that soon.
And the summer class thatwe created is a, is an.
As free Spanish refresher class to getstudents to test into a higher Spanish.
(13:22):
So we created our own materials,but we used Digication exclusively
on that program for writing,revisions, speaking, and commenting.
And it's amazing because thestudents can literally see their
progress over the six week period.
Period where they're primarilyworking on their own.
Mm-Hmm.
and, you know, asynchronouslyexchanging with their partners,
(13:44):
um, along the semester.
But the Portfolio in that realm,I've shared some fantastic portfolios
with some of the team here abouthow much progress students have made
over just studying on their own withthe content that we made for them.
Yes, and it's so clear for them whenthey're able to see, you know, the kind
(14:04):
of progress that they have from the, thoseearly classes to where they are at the
end, you know, in terms of their writingand their speaking abilities, right?
Um, so for some of our listenersthat may not be as familiar with, um.
You know, what an ePortfolio is or howstudents in a foreign language class
(14:26):
may be using a platform like that.
Could you talk a little bitabout maybe what kind of prompts
or projects that they're doing?
What kind of tools that they'reusing as part of, um, kind
of documenting that learning?
Right.
So yeah, so the ePortfolio, you know,as you guys know, the Digication
(14:48):
is, is a High-Impact Practice thatwas denoted by the AAC&U years ago.
And a High-Impact Practice isa, is a very respected practice.
It shows that this is somethingthat actually really helps, right?
Like capstone classes aren't thesame level as ePortfolio use, right?
So it's very important to, to, to,to kind of put it in context right
(15:11):
there because the Portfolio, itmakes the learning visible, right?
The students can see what they'relearning and they can engage in
a virtual community in real time.
They can see examples of work.
They can get resourcesfrom other students.
To either guide the direction of their ownwork or as study resources that I use in
(15:33):
various concept map sorts of activities.
So, and the metacognitive part that'sso easy on the Portfolio cannot be left
out either, because when students havethe ability and are coached on how to
reflect on their learning and identifywhere they're actually learning, that's
when students really see the value ofdevoting time and effort into the class.
(15:59):
In many of these activities thatwe, that we do would be done
without any ePortfolio, but I thinkthe effect of the student, as the
student's perspective would be,um, less evident of their progress.
the Portfolio shows them, you madea video for me in week one where you
could barely speak for 20 seconds.
(16:19):
At week 16, you spoke for threeminutes with a very open ended prompt,
incorporating many structures, andbasically you went over the time.
So like, that's, that's, that isWhat's possible on an ePortfolio.
So some of the projects that we do onportfolios are beginning reflections,
end reflections, and we also doindividual assignment reflections.
(16:45):
We also do project based learning,right, where at, you know, certain
points in the semester or aligning withparticular units from the curriculum
that we're using, we'll provide studentswith an open-ended prompt where they
need to, you know, uh, interpret someinformation, maybe from a calendar and
then compare it and answer some questionsand then create their own calendar and
(17:10):
explain what they do in a given week.
So you have some scaffoldingto get them identifying some
structures that they need to use.
And then they can create with it, right?
And we also use it forrevision revisions, right?
Where I love the inlinecommenting feature.
So students, you know, right?
And you, you make some, you makesome suggestions and then, then they
(17:31):
can post the other one under that.
And you, you know, You can correctthat and they can add more and
it just kind of keeps going.
So the reflective things that we alsouse it for big summative assessments,
like end of semester projects that arelike multi step, multi modal things
where unlike a PowerPoint or unlike aWord document, you know, you can have.
(17:53):
You can get all of the samples thatyou need for a language class or
writing samples, speaking samples.
And then we include multimedia use,which is so important, not just, just
in everyday life, um, those sortsof aspects and, uh, and the concept
map stuff, which is what I reallyliked that the students, that the
students do, um, where they, they.
(18:16):
Since we teach an acceleratedclass, it's two classes in one
semester, so many concepts.
After the second exam, which studentsusually score way less than they
thought they were going to, wegive them an opportunity to take
the structures that will be on thethird test and formulate some sort
of a graphic, like an infographic.
And we give them creative..., we show themsome examples, but we give them creative
(18:40):
license to do it however they want.
And then those become studyresources for other people.
And this last semester, Ieven saw students using them
in class without prompt.
Like they would pull up or print outa concept map and bring it to class.
And so, so these sorts of things, Ithink, make the ePortfolio invaluable.
(19:02):
And just an amazing tool thatI think any language program
is better off because of it.
Oh, well, thank you somuch for describing that.
And I was curious as you were talking,you know, you were speaking a little
bit about how Within Digication, you'reable to get evidence, you know, all of
(19:23):
the different types of evidence thatyou're looking for, um, for your course.
And is it, and something that's a bitdifferent than PowerPoint, um, where
maybe before a tool like Digication wasavailable, would have been a space for
the students to create kind of a Slidepresentation of, of what they had done.
(19:45):
Um, are they sometimes usingDigication now as more of that kind of.
creation space.
So are they recording directly intotheir ePortfolio, whether it's video
or audio, or is it something wherethey're kind of capturing it and
then, and then loading things in?
(20:07):
No, our students in the Spanish classper the assignments are recording
right into Digication becausethat's the easiest way, right?
Like just open up your phone oryour tablet or your computer,
hit record, record it.
If you don't like it, recordit again, and then upload.
Some students will create, if it's,if it's, if it's some sort of a video
that requires editing, some studentswill create that somewhere else
(20:30):
and then put it on the Portfolio.
But for most of the, like the, um,The, the monologue videos that we do
at the, the presentational speakingthings at the beginning and the end
of the semester, they just record thatright on, on, on Digication with, and
we give them prompts like, you know,don't read, we should see errors in this.
If it's too perfect, you know,you're going to have to do it again.
(20:51):
You know, those sorts of, those sorts ofthings, which, you know, if it's re if
it's cast in enough ways in the class,students really get it, you know, and
they, They, if they trust that they can,they can give you their true work without
any use of Chat GPT or translators,and you're going to fairly assess them
(21:12):
and they trust you on this journey.
That's, that's been the most, um, you getthe best results from students that way.
Yeah,
Yeah, absolutely.
Um, so you mentioned one of theother features that you like to use
is that kind of in line commenting.
Um, so it's known as the, theconversations feature and the
(21:34):
platform for listeners that may beinterested in, in where that is found.
Could you talk a little bit aboutMaybe what your process is as students
are developing these throughoutthe course, you know, what kind of
frequency are you going in and lookingat their work and providing feedback
and are they responding to you there?
(21:54):
Are they going through and making edits?
Could you describe a littlebit about what that is?
Yeah, I'll talk about it intwo, two different ways because
we use it a bit differently.
So in the, in the summer class, right?
So again, it's a free non credit class.
So students, they, the only caretthat they have to finish is that
we give them guaranteed placementin a Spanish class if they commit.
(22:20):
And so we give them prompt feedbackon their writings and we, we, we
do revisions on their writing.
So, so they do like three modules.
So they write something, we, wegive them suggestions and then they
edit it and add a new paragraph.
And then we, Edit the first paragraphagain, and the second paragraph the
(22:41):
first time, and then they add a thirdparagraph, and we do that one more time.
So, but we do that very quickly becauseour, the, the online learning specialist
we talked to said one thing that thatprevents attrition in these, these
free classes is a delayed feedback.
So we're real prompt with that.
(23:01):
However, during the semester, whenthe, the projects are, are more spaced
out, then, then the students will dothe work and then the feedback will
come, you know, in, in a reasonabletime, like within a few days.
Within a few days or a week, but stufffor things like the final project.
Yeah, I'm going in and really lookingat the, at the, the language and giving
(23:23):
them a ton of suggestions, and thenthey just go in and most different
ones have different processes, butthey just address the issues and
delete the comment and just keep going,going on about, about their work.
Nice.
And I even comment on their reflectionsas well, you know, cause I think they,
they, you know, I'll, cause it's anotherway to workshop how to write reflections,
(23:47):
which is good for students to learn howto do, you know, and I'll maybe encourage
students to expand a little more orhighlight what this is a very insightful
point, you know, that sort of thing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that was actually my next question.
Cause you mentioned when the studentswere coming to your course, You know,
in order to really take advantageof that High-Impact Practice around
(24:12):
developing a Portfolio is thiskind of coaching around reflection.
And I'm imagining many of the studentsthat are coming into your courses, that
this is something that they may not befamiliar with, you know, again, once
again, this kind of active learningthat you're not just standing in
front of the classroom, telling them,What they should be doing, right.
(24:34):
They're kind of figuringthings out for themselves and
working with other students.
Um, so as part of this kind of coachingor reflection, how do you embed that
into, um, teaching a new language?
You know, is it something thatyou're kind of scaffolding directly?
(24:55):
Within the pages that they're forming,are you using specific prompts
or templates with the students?
Is it something that you, you know, talkabout with them when they're in class?
You know, it sounds like you do givethem feedback on it as they're developing
it, but how do they even get to that?
First stage of starting toreflect on what they're doing.
(25:15):
Yeah.
So we, we use the instruction featureon Digication, you know, the instruction
slide to give them all of their prompts,no matter what the content, what
the, what the, the project would be.
So for the reflection one, so we havequestions and we have tips of course,
but we also, in the AcceleratedBeginning Spanish class, we do, we
(25:36):
do these reflection workshops, right?
And so a workshop is like toward the.
Toward the end of thesemester, we only do it once.
Um, but so the students share, they dothese little mini presentations in English
about their learning for the semester.
And so students are writing, I havestudents write things on the board,
(25:58):
and then I, if a student says somethingthat's particularly insightful or
profound, I'll I, I then re-...
Rephrase that in terms of likereflective, reflective pedagogy or
second language acquisition theorythat they touch on in their own ways.
And then so at the end, I'm like, youguys should take pictures of these
(26:19):
bullet points that your classmates wrote,because these are the sorts of things
that you're going to want to, you'regoing to want to, your teachers are going
to want to see in all your reflections.
And so I feel like, It would begreat to do that more frequently
in, in all classes, um, but again,we have the accelerated class.
So, you know, that's howwe're doing it for right now.
(26:40):
Yeah.
Yeah.
But that's such a great idea justto kind of have this workshop kind
of space where, you know, you're notjust giving them feedback on their own
reflections, but they're able to see someof their, their classmates right there
and your immediate response to those.
And what a great idea just to kind of takea picture so they can have it with them.
(27:02):
So if they're ever having,you know, one of those.
Blank page.
What am I going to say moments that theycan refer back to that and kind of frame
their thinking based on those examples.
Yeah.
Cause they, they all have verysimilar, similar experiences.
Right.
And so one of the featuresis like a callback, right?
(27:23):
So the first person obviouslycan't call back, but the,
after the first person speaks.
Then the other person can get uplike, just like Kelly said, I also
feel this, but you know, and then, soit kind of prompts more discussion.
And then by the end it works thesame way when they start writing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Do you ever have, uh, just out ofcuriosity, do you ever have students
(27:47):
go in and use the conversationsfeature to give feedback on each
other's work within their portfolios?
Not without being prompted.
No.
Okay.
Yeah.
I mean, they do comment on eachother's work, you know, but
it's part of the assignment.
It's part of some of the assignments.
Yeah.
I haven't seen a student just go,um, maybe they have, and I don't
(28:09):
monitor the comments that closely,but yeah, I know we make them comment
on other students work, but yeah.
Yeah.
So how do you prompt them to do that?
Are there a certain number of otherstudents that they need to look at?
Are there projects that you feel likelend themselves more to having that kind
of yeah, we just part of part ofthe actual the assignment right?
(28:33):
It's the reflection and commentingpart before you reflect.
Go view 3 of your your partner'sprojects and comment on some
aspect of their project.
And we do the first half of thesemester, we do this commenting in
English because it's going to generatethe more sincere and genuine answers.
And then toward the end, we switchto Spanish when the students have a
(28:54):
little bit more ability to create withthe language and, you know, and say,
say some, some things that make sensethat don't need a lot of correction.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, that's great.
Um, so I know, you know, in learning alittle bit about you, I mean, it just
sounds like you're involved in so manythings that is for the institution.
(29:16):
So, and I learned some of thisand looking at your own personal
portfolios, um, but that you'reinvolved or were involved in a Spanish
theater group and, um, have also been.
It sounds like working in, let me seeif I made a note of what it was called.
(29:37):
One of the other, um, oh, the SigmaDelta Pi, um, faculty advisor.
So, would you mind sharingsome of those things?
Because you're just so deeplyrooted and really celebrating.
Spanish culture and Spanishlanguage and literature.
I'd love to hear more about that too.
Yeah, so these, these postershere are some of the plays
(29:58):
that we've done, um, here.
The Spanish Theater Grouphas been existing with UVA.
They celebrated 40 years, uh, 2019, right?
So those are 40th 40th year to do plays.
And of course I came 11 years ago.
So I just jumped right in.
My, one of my mentors here,Fernando Opere is the one that
(30:19):
started the Spanish theater play.
So I do a lot of the behind thescenes tech stuff with that.
And then the Spanish honorsociety, Sigma Delta Pi is just
a national Spanish honor society.
And, you know, it's geared to positionstudents to be more active, right?
To, to look for opportunitiesin the community.
And, you know, some of these things canlead to scholarships and awards and stuff.
(30:42):
So my job there is to kind of gentlypush students towards things and
encourage them to organize on their own.
And sometimes that requires me to do alittle bit more organizing than them,
or at least get them headed that way.
And, um.
Yeah, so that's, that's been a prettyactive group and I've also been working
with the honor fraternity Sigma,Sigma Phi Epsilon, which is, which
(31:07):
is, I'm a faculty fellow for them.
And 1 of the things that I hope we canget to talk about is the professional
portfolios that I've been working onin the Spanish classrooms and also
outside of the Spanish classrooms.
But Sigma Phi Epsilon is a, is anhonor fraternity that's been around
for, I guess, about 100 years or so.
(31:27):
And, and so I, because of astudent took my class and created a
professional portfolio in my class,asked me if I would be the faculty
fellow for them, um, to help them.
To help them to, to beable to market themselves.
And none of these are Spanish majors.
They're all like engineering, computerscience and math, uh, math majors
(31:50):
and accounting and very analyticaltypes of super responsible young men.
And so working with them on, youknow, creating professional portfolios
to expand their digital ecosystems,providing templates and feedback has
been, it's been really rewarding to seethose, that sort of work come together.
Oh, that's wonderful.
(32:10):
I didn't even realize that there was abridge there with the, those students.
So did they initially get inspiredbecause they were part of one of
your Spanish language courses andthen saw that this was something that
they could really use to develop kindof their professional persona and.
Yes.
(32:31):
So, yeah, their, their currentpresident was in my class when I piloted
the professional portfolio option.
Which is something that you, Idon't, not sure if you remember,
but a couple of years ago, well, theUniversity of Virginia participated
in the AAC&U Institute on ePortfolios.
(32:51):
And I know Digication was a bigcontributor to that whole Institute.
And so my.
We all had little projects.
And so my project was todevelop a professional portfolio
template rubric guidelines.
And, um, because of that amazinginstitute, I got to meet with Helen Chin
on Zoom for like one, like two hour call.
(33:14):
And so I got a lot of feedback fromher and ideas and just, you know,
engaging with, uh, my, my students.
Previous mentor that's retirednow, Yitna Firdyiwek, you know, he
was a real big fan of what I wasdoing with professional portfolios.
And, and so then we createda rubric and a template.
And so this, this student was inthat, that class that did the first
(33:37):
round of professional portfolios.
And has since continued to usehis, as you know, and Digication
on the back end, you can see whenstudents access their portfolios.
So, you know, there's several studentsthat have continued to use their
professional portfolios and get,get scholarships and, and awards
and send them for internships andevery student that has created one
(34:01):
and has used it has been successful.
And I mean, I know it's notexactly the Portfolio, but
it definitely does help set.
Someone apart from an asequally qualified person.
If you have something that really showswhat you're all about and what you've been
learning, yeah, and the sort of thinkeryou're involved, you're evolving to be.
(34:23):
Here's a preview of what's coming upnext in part two of my conversation with
Matthew Street, Senior Lecturer in Spanish
at the University
of
Virginia.
From an accessibility standpoint, itmakes sense from the cost aspect and also
from an equity standpoint for, um, thecoverage of different minority groups
(34:44):
and, and equality aspects all around.
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