Constructing Professional Portfolios: Sense‐Making and Professional Identity Development for Engineering Undergraduates

Abstract

a BACKGROUNDWhile previously researching the educational impacts of single-course and cross-curricular portfolios, investigators noted that student participants described their portfolio activities as positively impacting their growing identities as engineering professionals. These impacts were seen particularly in studies regarding cross-curricular portfolios. PURPOSE (HYPOTHESIS)This study was designed to explicitly investigate identity-related impacts of cross-curricular portfolios and to explore the processes students employed during portfolio construction to identify themselves as budding engineers and as future professionals. DESIGN/METHODEngineering undergraduate students attended four weekly workshops where they wrote a professional statement, selected artifacts that demonstrated their engineering abilities, and wrote annotations that explained how the artifacts served as concrete examples of their claims for professional standing. Online surveys were administered at each workshop asking participants about their ongoing experiences of creating their portfolios and sharing these portfolios with their peers. RESULTSAnalysis of the survey responses revealed that participants had two primary frames of reference for the construction of professional identity during portfolio creation. The external frame of reference focused on students' understanding of the expectations of potential employers and recruiters. The internal frame of reference, which accounted for twice as many responses as the external frame coding, focused on students' emerging realizations of their own values and interests as professional engineers. CONCLUSIONSAs engineering educators, we often support the external frame of reference in terms of building professional identity. We need to provide students with opportunities to engage the internal frame of reference with which our participants were particularly concerned.

Understanding Reflection Activities Broadly

“…This factor bears much in common with Stevens et al's (2008) identification of identity as an important part of the trajectory of engineering education. Further, calling out this factor as separate from professional knowledge recognizes recent attention to identity in engineering education (i.e., a chapter on identity in the recent Handbook on Engineering Education, Johri and Olds, 2014) and the role of reflection in supporting identity work (Eliot and Turns, 2011). In talking with students to explore whether the reflection activity did result in personal knowledge, we might be interested in statements from students such as: "I learned about myself as a result of doing this reflection activity," and "The reflection activity helped me see that I fit in.…”

“…In contrast to a focus on reflection leading to distal outcomes, another type of study focuses on the type of proximal knowledge that results from engaging in specific reflection activities. For example, Eliot and Turns (2011) focused on how portfolio construction resulted in students having insights related to their own sense of professional identity. It is this latter type of proximal knowledge gain that we seek to better understand in the work reported in this paper.…”

“…al., 2015). For example, reflection, facilitated through portfolio construction, has also been identified as a way to help students grapple with engineer identity and "feel more like an engineer" without additional courses or experiences (Eliot & Turns, 2011). Reflection activities may enable students to do things such as consolidate their learning and think critically about how their current course material can be applied to future work in the real world.…”

Creating Inclusive Environments in First-year Engineering Classes to Support Student Retention and Learning

“…There are three main processes that must occur to develop a professional identity 7,13 . The first is doing -participating in the activities of the profession, learning the necessary skills and knowledge, and developing an affinity for professional activities.…”

“…When identity is considered as a narrative, this sensemaking is a story we tell ourselves about who we are and how we fit. This part of professional identity development is a process of negotiation between the roles and expectations placed on a profession by society, and the individual who enters the negotiation with their own abilities and desires 7 . This process of negotiation can be made more difficult, depending upon desired profession and existing identity.…”