ePortfolios, Reflections and Meaning Making: Learning from Reflecting on Experience

Presenters: 

  • Dr. Doris Jakobsh (Religious Studies)
  • Students from Fall 2010 RS 495: The Living Traditions of India: Devon Spier, Stephen Prentice, Amberlee Boulton, Zabeen Khamisa

“Nothing is easier than to have an experience and miss the meaning.” — William Sloan Coffin

“We don’t learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience.” — John Dewey

In the fall of 2010, students in RS 495: The Living Traditions of India travelled to India with Professor Doris Jakobsh.  During their travels, the students were required to complete a series of weekly reflective activities within their ePortfolios, complete a number of readings, and participate in group discussions.   A month after they returned from their three month trip, they were required to reflect on their learning experience in their ePortfolios by revisiting journal entries, reviewing artifacts from their trip and sharing their ePortfolios with their classmates.  

During this session, Doris Jakobsh shared what she learned through this experience, the impact that learning in community had on the learning experience, and how the eportfolio activities facilitated this learning. The students described how the time given to review and reflect upon the journal entries, and how the addition of images and artifacts combined with the ability to share these reflections in their eportfolio had a significant impact on their learning experience.