Penn State launched e-portfolios (www.portfolio.psu.edu) this fall to help students document their experiences.

Students can attract potential employers by posting academic information, skills and activities using the personal Web space provided by Penn State.

"It's been going really well, considering it's something brand new," Glenn Johnson, project manager, said.

The goal of the project is to have students create portrayals of their student careers.

"We want students to display what they've gained as a result of their Penn State education," David DiBiase, director of e-Education Institute, the group that initiated the project.

The portfolio should show more than just college courses, but the college experience as a whole, Johnson said.

The project's Web site encourages the use of Web space to display coursework, clips from extra-curricular activities and reflective pieces regarding those experiences.

However, surveys taken last December indicated that only 37 percent of students activate their Penn State Web space, and of that figure only 8 percent use it to display academic content, DiBiase said.

This low average might be due in part to only 7 percent of faculty expecting students to use the space.

"Faculty is a little slower to embrace this new technology," DiBiase said.

John Harwood, senior director of the Center for Education Technology Services, said that faculty and students need to be made aware of the technology.

"There is tremendous enthusiasm among people who work with student affairs," he said.

The project might be included in some first-year seminar classes.

"In an ideal world, I'd like all undergraduates to be aware of the project and a significant amount to make use of it," Harwood said.

The e-Education Institute conducted several seminars last fall to begin organizing the project.

The institute is a group of faculty, staff and students from the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (EMS) who work to improve education through network computing.

Last spring, the group published "Using e-Portfolios at Penn State to Enhance Student Learning" which discusses potential benefits of the e-Portfolio to students, faculty and institutions. It also notes the associated costs, obstacles and risks.