Abstract:
As educators are increasingly called upon to justify their effectiveness, the connection between educational programs and professional success is receiving greater scrutiny by students and other stakeholders (parents, future employers, etc.). We believe that student portfolios can play an important role in strengthening industrial ties, assessing student performance, and enhancing learning. Practicing biological agricultural engineers and agricultural professionals were interviewed to determine the role of portfolios in industry. Also, examples of portfolios used in industry were collected, such as company technical marketing documents and statement of qualifications packages. Based on these data and on prior work concerning student portfolios, we designed an instrument to document the student's learning process with respect to the connection between educational concepts and their application in industry. This instrument was assigned as a major component of two agricultural/biological engineering courses and an agricultural construction systems management course. We emphasized industrial ties through use of the portfolio and by direct interaction with industrial models and personnel. In this paper we detail the methods for preparing student portfolios and discuss the success of these methods.
Keywords:
student portfolios, enhance learning, industrial ties, undergraduate education
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