It isn’t often that you get to have “like minds” meet and present on the same doctoral
dissertation topic, but that is what happened at the Southern Association of Colleges and
Schools, Commission on Colleges (SACS) 2011 Annual Conference on December 5, 2011.
Dr. Lynette Olson, vice president for institutional sustainability, St. Cloud Technical and
Community College was invited to present with Dr. Mary Sue Baldwin, associate provost at
Samford University on the use of the institutional electronic portfolio in the accreditation
process.
Both Baldwin and Olson share common thoughts regarding the demands of the effectiveness of
higher education that the government, accrediting agencies, and the public are exercising.
Showcasing an institution’s distinctiveness, effectiveness of programs, and compliance with an
ever-increasing set of standards to a diverse set of constituents is a challenge. Performing this
with relative ease and cost-effectiveness is another. The session illuminated Samford
University’s development of a template designed for compliance reporting for SACS using the
eFolioWorld electronic portfolio tool.
Olson was instrumental in applying eFolioWorld as a project site for other accrediting bodies;
such as the Higher Learning Commission and use within the Minnesota State Colleges and
Universities system. Olson’s work with eFolioMinnesota and the National Coalition for
Electronic Portfolio Research is published in Electronic Portfolios 2.0: Emergent Research on
Implementation and Impact by Stylus Publishing, 2009.
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