Examining the Value and Creation of Faculty ePortfolios

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Examining the Value and Creation of Faculty
ePortfolios

• Nancy Chism and Megan Palmer, IUPUI
• AACU Conference on Faculty Work in the New
  Academy

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Documentation of Faculty Work

• For Formative purposes
• Self-assessment
• Formative peer review
• For Summative purposes
• Hiring decisions
• Annual reviews
• Promotion, tenure, merit or contract decisions
• Awards competitions
• Post-tenure review

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Problems with Current Documentation Systems

• Reliance on paper, fragments, personal system (or
  lack thereof) of faculty member
• Lack of common organizational framework
• Inefficiency of repeated requests for information
  in different formats
• Inattention to flow between formative and
  summative dimensions

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Attributes of Good Documentation Systems

• Foster processes that are developmental as well
  as enable good personnel decisions
• Establish processes that are practical as well as
  capable of capturing data that create
  well-rounded portrait
• Enable adaptation yet rely on some common values
• Are user-friendly and make sense to faculty

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ePortfolios as Faculty Career Planners and
Repositories

• Elements
• Professional development planning
• Recording of accomplishments
• Reflective practice
• Peer review

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System Would

• Consist of database with friendly user interface
• Be the main storage vehicle for information about
  ones career
• Be able to retrieve and display information in
  various formats (for annual review, promotion and
  tenure dossiers, awards nominations)

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Components Might Include

• Professional Development Planner
  (examplehttp//www.opd.iupui.edu/uploads/library/
  APPD/APPD480397.doc )
• Templates for entering standard CV information
  (publications, presentations)
• Locations for reflective commentary
• Focused peer review comments
• Capacity for supporting attachments (print,
  audio, video, graphic)

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Sample of Professional Development Planner
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Users Would

• Develop and update professional planner
• Enter accomplishments as they occur
• Upload/compose reflections periodically
• Make portfolio available for peer review
  periodically
• Download information for multiple uses as needed
  in required format

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Sample ePortfolios

• Seton Hall
• Purdue University
• Case Western Medical School
• Maricopa Community Colleges
• Indiana University

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Implementing the Faculty ePortfolio at IUPUI
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What Do You Think?

• Purpose
• Components
• Ownership
• Technology
• Implementation
• Advantages and Disadvantages

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Advantages

• Unites multiple components in one system
• Keeps information in one location
• Eliminates continually reformatting data
• Enables display for robust peer review
• Shows reflective component of work
• Integrates course portfolio, teaching portfolio,
  professional portfolio concepts

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Disadvantages

• May not be compatible with some preferred styles
  of working
• Would have to be tailored to particular academic
  contexts
• May not be accepted or valued within some
  contexts
• Resources to support may be unavailable
• Security would be tricky