ERIC Number: EJ1322805
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2157-622X
EISSN: N/A
Developing Student Agency: ePortfolio Reflections of Future Career among Aspiring Musicians
Whitney, Ian; Rowley, Jennifer; Bennett, Dawn
International Journal of ePortfolio, v11 n1 p53-65 2021
Career preparation has gained increasing prominence in higher music education as governments and students alike demand a stronger focus on workplace readiness. While the existing graduate metrics work well for professions which feature traditional, full-time jobs, the potential for such a linear career path is limited for graduate musicians by fierce competition for work and a labor market in which precarious work is the norm. Music graduates tend to experience a career-long portfolio of part-time, casual, and contract-based work within and outside the music industry. This article reports on an innovative internship program that engaged student musicians in an in-curricular intervention related to their career thinking. The program and its assessments purposefully placed students into authentic learning contexts where their musical skills and their understanding of being a professional were challenged and expanded. Using the examples of scaffolded assessment tasks including an ePortfolio and a presentation of on-the-job learning, the article highlights students' reflections on how the internship engaged their career thinking and how the ePortfolio process helped them to curate that thinking. Students reported that the combination of an ePortfolio and scaffolded career thinking assessments enabled them to realize the relevance of their learning tasks and to create clearer career connections. Implications for the use of ePortfolios within WIL (work integrated learning) are discussed.
Descriptors: Personal Autonomy, Electronic Publishing, Portfolios (Background Materials), Musicians, Music Education, College Students, Internship Programs, Scaffolding (Teaching Technique), Professional Identity, Foreign Countries, Student Attitudes, Professional Development
Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Georgia. North Instructional Plaza, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. e-mail: ijep@vt.edu; Web site: http://www.theijep.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A