LaGuardia Community College received $4.4 million in federal grants that will allow it to work with other City University of New York (CUNY) campuses and other schools throughout the country to develop a program that use the student electronic portfolio (ePortfolio) tool.
The biggest grant, a $3.7 million award from the U.S. Department of Education, allows LaGuardia and four CUNY campuses, including Queens College and Queensborough Community College, to use the ePortfolio system to help minority and low-income students improve academic performance. LaGuardia also received a $700,000 Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) that will allow the school to work with 20 schools nationwide that want to integrate ePortfolio into their curriculum.
“These two grants recognize LaGuardia’s national leadership in developing innovative projects that have a profound and lasting impact on improving student success,” said Peter Katopes, Interim President of LaGuardia Community College. “Receiving these highly-competitive grants will broaden LaGuardia’s ability to implement strategies that help students graduate and fulfill their academic dreams.”
Eight years ago, LaGuardia began integrating ePortfolio, which is a collection of a student’s academic work – essays, course assignments, fine arts projects and résumés – that they post on their website, allows classmates, faculty, college admissions officers and prospective employers to view the students’ work, into its curricula.
LaGuardia will use the $3.7 million grant, which is spread out over five years and will involve 400 faculty members and 30,000 students, to partner with Queens and Lehman Colleges and Queensborough and Bronx Community Colleges to strengthen the transfer link between these institutions by integrating ePortfolio into instruction, advisement and assessment.
“Through the ‘Making Transfer Connections’ program, these partnerships will aim to create a pervasive culture of transfer that will help speed student progress towards the bachelor’s degree,” said Dr. Brett Eynon, executive director of the LaGuardia Center for Teaching and Learning.
