2018-19 Award

Joy JamesName: Dr. J. Joy James
Department: Recreation Management and Physical Education


The RM faculty has integrated Aportfolio into its core RM curriculum allowing Recreation Management student Aportfolios to be assessed and reviewed by faculty throughout their course of study. Additionally, this approach begins the process for students early in RM major to reflect on their experience and education, allowing them to archive experiences, tell their professional story and seek out training/certifications/jobs that will help them to step into their career upon graduation. While Dr.James was the impetus and lead for this project,  the RM faculty wassupportive of the innovation, contributing to its development and success. Faculty discussions centered on APortfolio brought the faculty together and will help in sustaining accreditation with the Council on Accreditation of Parks, Recreation, Tourism and Related Professions (COAPRT).

The award for  Dr. James  is unique, as it recognizes the entire program’s efforts to use Aportfolio rather than a single teacher. The Recreation Management program’s use of Aportfolio throughout its curriculum is a teaching innovation that helps Recreation Management students with their careers and also brings the faculty together to improve the student educational experience.


Eportfolio Pedagogy in Recreation Management
As a program, Recreation Management courses identified “portfolio assignments” that students showcase throughout their course work as well as specific instructional assignments for developing their APortfolio digital presence. Beyond the “portfolio assignments,” three classes have specific assignments for further reflection. RM 2110 Introduction to Recreation and Leisure, students set up an APortfolio site with very basic information. Later in RM 3315 Career Development, students revise as well as add to their site with instructor guidance and feedback. Lastly, RM 4210 Senior Seminar, students complete their APortfolio representing their professional experience and education.

Implementation of Aportfolios
After attending an Aportfolio workshop in 2016 and discussing the RM program’s use of Aportfolio in our capstone course with Dr. Gaskill, Dr. James spearheaded integrating APortfolio into the RM major’s core curriculum. Previously, Dr. Gaskill had been using APortfolio to encourage students to develop an electronic representation of themselves in our senior capstone course (RM 4210). Unfortunately, he found that students had not kept up with their ePortfolio assignments and consequently their Aportfolio was lacking and missing key information. The idea developed to have APortfolio be a program initiative to not only help the students develop a digital presence but also utilize faculty feedback for reviewing the student sites throughout their course. By implementing Aportfolio earlier in a students’ coursework (RM 2110 Introduction to Leisure), they not only have the opportunity to begin thinking about how to represent themselves digitally but also collecting and keeping artifacts in one place. At the mid-point in their coursework (RM 3315 Career Development), they have a professor who specifically looks at and helps the students with developing their site prior to internship. Integrating APortfolio into RM curriculum allows RM professors to encourage students to gain experience, organize quality course work, reflect on their educational experience as well as take time to create a professional digital presence.

The Embedded RM Core Curriculum Aportfolio project was started in the Fall of 2016. Since that time, we have made a few additions to enhance the experience for students and faculty. In 2018, Dr. Elaine Gray helped us to create a Recreation Management template to help students format their Aportfolio as well as allow them to utilize it throughout their coursework (rather than have multiple and separate course Aportfolios). Based on student suggestions to provide more assistance, in 2019 the RM program implemented Drop-In Aportfolio Labs, an out-of-the-classroom experience with an RM senior and faculty to provide assistance for students from all classes. This event was quite successful, many students commented on how much more excited they were about creating their Aportfolio. Another extension of how RM is using Aportfolio is their implementation of the Outstanding Recreation Management Senior Aportfolio Award in Fall 2018. Olivia Huff was the inaugural award winner (see her Aportfolio: https://appstate.digication.com/olivia-huff/menu-1). This award will be given out each semester, along with honorable mentions. With this award, we hope to not only inspire students to have quality Aportfolios but also to provide examples of RM Aportfolios to future students and parents. The Embedded Aportfolio Assignment in the RM program has taken a life of its own. Each class assignment helps the student work towards building a professional digital presence. The Drop- In Aportfolio Labs provide students opportunities to not only work on their Aportfolio but also see the different stages and expectations of the assignment, along with interacting with peers and faculty. Lastly, the RM program is recognizing the outstanding Aportfolios of its seniors.


Assessment and ePortfolios
The RM program has begun to use the Embedded Aportfolio assignments to assess student learning in the individual classes as well as evaluating student learning in the overall RM program. As a part of the class assignments, in RM 3315 and RM 4210, students write a reflection on the Aportfolio creation process. This reflection focuses on how the Aportfolio has helped the student understand their academic accomplishments, what is missing that they should try to accomplish before they graduate and to write goals to accomplish before graduation. The RM Program hopes to use these written reflections as evidence of student learning in our upcoming COAPRT accreditation process.

To evaluate student learning in the overall RM program, they have begun looking at ways to use the Embedded Aportfolio assignment in assessment. In the summer of 2018, Drs. James and Weddell completed a Curriculum Mapping exercise for the Recreation Management Core Curriculum and in preparation for our upcoming Accreditation by the Council on Accreditation of Parks, Recreation, Tourism and Related Professions (COAPRT) in 2019-2020. In that process, the program determined a Student Learning Outcome in RM 4210 (capstone course and last course with Aportfolio assignment) for assessment.

COAPRT Goal 4 – Application of Practice: Students graduating from the program shall demonstrate the potential to succeed as professionals at supervisory or higher levels in park, recreation, tourism, or related organizations. (COAPRT 7.04) SLO 4.1 – Students will create and compile a digital representation of their education and professional experience (Aportfolio). Assessment 4.1: 80% of students will earn 85% or higher on APortfolio Assignment in RM 4210.

They have collected assessment data starting with Fall 2018 for SLO 4.1 and on average 47% of RM Students scored 80% or higher. While not meeting our SLO, we feel this is a baseline measurement that will guide them in the future on how to better integrate the Embedded Aportfolio Assignment throughout the RM Core Curriculum and begin to determine other ways to assess the assignments success.

Recreation Management Student Aportfolio Awards

In fall 2018 the RM Program gave out its inaugural Outstanding RM Senior Aportfolio Award. Instructors from the three classes (RM 2110, RM 3315 and RM 4210), using a rubric chose Olivia Huff’s Aportfolio as the best of the best! We felt that Olivia told a story of her educational experience, which not only included her major but her minor, extracurricular activities, study abroad, and community involvement. Her Aportfolio was robust and a reflection of her engagement with the platform since she took RM 2110.

Olivia Huff 2018  https://appstate.digication.com/olivia-huff/menu-1.