The end of spring 2018 marked the end of the first full year of implementation for Career Connect, the SACSCOC Quality Enhancement Plan for the University of North Texas’s for the 2016-2026 school years.
Based on the experiential learning framework of John Dewey (1916), Kolb (1984) and Kuh (2010), Connect works collaboratively with UNT faculty, staff, and other partners to enhance, assess, and showcase UNT students' marketable skills by engaging them in high-impact practices, experiential learning, reflection, and ePortfolio activities in and outside of the classroom.
The following Career Connect highlights are a snapshot through spring 2018 of our significant, campus-wide achievements:
40 academic units had a Connect partnership of some type
1,739 skills badges earned by students (communication, teamwork, critical thinking) based on the evaluated project templates that will “stack” toward digital extended transcripts. A badge is digital recognition of student acquisition of skills based on evaluation of a specific learning activity that is recorded in the Connect system
Over 10,000 students accessed their ePortfolios
4,491 students created 12,663 online project templates and 2,326 ePortfolio templates that showcase what they have learned and provide evidence of learning from classroom and co-curricular activities
ePortfolio integrated in College of Education Teacher Prep and Certification
Connect has been included as a leader in national initiatives with Lumina Foundation and Pearson Education to support UNT’s push for alternative, digital credentials transcript – often called a comprehensive learner record.
74 Connect activities developed and completed with more than 295 faculty/staff ePortfolio accounts to support student projects and assessment
Faculty development project and grants for more than 20 faculty to develop new high impact community based and experiential learning activities – summer 2018
UNT ePortfolio is available to over 69,000 users (includes recent graduates) – meeting a key goal of making the ePortfolio available to all UNT students, faculty, staff
As of August 1st, 2018, faculty and students will be able to use the ePortfolio within Canvas LMS – a full integration of evidence of learning systems
College of Education teacher preparation completed their transition to the Connect Foliotek ePortfolio, bringing hundreds of students into an updated assessment and showcase technology
Connect named national innovation partner with Pearson Higher Education
We will update these accomplishments for fall 2018 in 2019, but preliminary results suggest participation in Career Connect from more than 90 UNT courses and programs across campus!