When I came to Stony Brook in the early 1990s, my first writing class was EGL 202, in which we read and discussed articles on current events. These ranged from a newspaper column arguing how disrespectful it was for students to wear baseball caps to class (we laughed because every student who was late for this discussion drifted in wearing a baseball cap), to an article on abortion, which was followed by a pro-choice/pro-life discussion completely lacking trigger warnings. Our products were frequent in-class hand-written responses, and two printed essays. One of my essays covered the horrors of 3rd trimester partial-birth abortion, the other looked at police evidence indicating that neighborhood crime always rises wherever a pornography store opens.  I don’t know when EGL 202 ceased to exist, but I do know from currently tutoring in the Writing Center that WRT classes present a wider choice of assignments that don’t force students into subjects which may be uncomfortable.

The student essays that I see during Writing Center consultations are always works in progress on paper, so it was fascinating for me to see the final creative presentations in the ePortfolio showcase. I especially noted how the visuals add another dimension to the work, and that even the way each portfolio is organized is individual. I found that student writers naturally brought their own cultural and social influences into their personal essays, which made their contributions richer. This caused me to connect with another way individuality in student writing can be encouraged, as expressed in the “Cultural Encounters” section of Lauren Klein’s “The Social ePortfolio: Integrating Social Media and Models of Learning in Academic ePortfolios.” Writing about one’s own culture is particularly helpful for international students, who already have their experiential content in their minds. This allows them to be able to focus on the language and mechanics of writing. I understand that it takes seven years for a non-English speaker to develop proficiency in the vocabulary and usage of academic English. When you add the fact that they may be unfamiliar with the organization required by college writing, or with many other conventions, such as thesis statements, topic sentences, and transitions, they are required to undertake multiple processing tasks at one time. A personal, or cultural essay is a good step for an international student to take before tackling a research argument, because in the latter case the effort of introducing citations as supporting evidence to the main thesis presents another layer of difficulty.

Calling a digital assignment “Cultural Encounters,” is also inclusive of all students who are American citizens. While some may have relatives who previously immigrated and still continue international traditions within the family, there are many students who feel that they don’t have anything to offer in an essay about their own culture because they are no different than anyone else in this country. Including the word “Encounters” in the assignment gives such students the freedom to write about something they’ve taught an immigrant about life in America, something they’ve learned from a citizen of another country, or impressions from a vacation.

Although this is only one of many viable ePortfolio options, I note that whatever the students’ origin, the “Cultural Encounters” theme allows writers to choose what they’re comfortable sharing.  It also provides a great opportunity for meaningful connections between students within the class, as well as with wider digital audiences.