Students majoring in Plant Sciences and enrolled in PLSCI 1110 presented their ePortfolios on Thursday November 17 at an afternoon open house in Mann Library.

PLSCI 1110 “Collaboration, Leadership, and Career Skills in the Plant Sciences”, taught by Marvin Pritts and Leah Cook, provides students with opportunities to meet other students and faculty associated with the Plant Sciences Major; develop collaboration, leadership, and career skills in the discipline; and make connections with the world beyond the campus.  Twenty-nine students are currently enrolled in the class.

Students presenting on Thursday come to the Plant Sciences Major from diverse backgrounds, but all reflected enthusiastically upon their experiences at Cornell.  Freshman Matthew Szarzanwicz from Buffalo discussed the value of seeing the breadth of plant science and hearing faculty talk about their varied career paths. Kady Maser, a junior transfer student from University of Michigan, raved about the many resources and research opportunities available and how much she loves being at a place where plant science is valued.  Megan Dodge, a junior double majoring in Animal Science, started her Plant Sciences major this year after a 2016 CCE summer internship with the Schuyler County Community Garden.  She has enjoyed connecting with faculty through PLSCI 1110 and is pursuing a concentration in “Ecology of Urban Landscapes”.

ePortfolios function as an online curriculum vitae, capturing student training, experiences and interests using a variety of media. Students in the Plant Science Major are required to add to their ePortfolios throughout their course of study, including information on courses, papers, and projects, a reflection on an out-of-class experience, seminar summaries, and research experience where relevant. Each student’s final portfolio is presented to their faculty advisor to show that learning objectives have been achieved. PLSCI 1110 currently uses the Digication platform for making ePortfolios.

Leah Cook commented that one of the main goals of PPLSCI 1110 is to build a sense of community among the students before they move through the core curriculum together.