Enhancing Education with Electronic Portfolios

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Enhancing Education with Electronic Portfolios
Presented by Dorothy L. Baldwin, Ed.D.
Assistant Professor QUEST Program Coordinator
Metropolitan Campus Fairleigh Dickinson
University
March 18, 2005 BEST PRACTICES SHOWCASE
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The focus of todays presentation is share my
journey as it relates to the the use of
electronic portfolios

• as a means to integrate technology into the
  curriculum and
• assess learning outcomes of the pre-service
  teacher based on the New Jersey Professional
  Standards.

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In Spring 2004, a Pilot Project for the QUEST
Program in the School of Education on the
Metropolitan Campus of Fairleigh Dickinson
University was implemented.
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Background

• New Jersey Professional Standards
• http//www.state.nj.us/njded/profdev/profstand/sta
  ndards.pdf
• MARTEC Grant
• http//www.temple.edu/martec/about.html
• Workshop by Helen Barrett
• http//edfolio.fdu.edu/BarrettH/

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Our journey began with the question

• "How can the e-portfolio be used to effectively
  support the milestones to measure teaching
  success and learning achievement for the
  pre-service teacher as designated in the New
  Jersey Professional Standards?"

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Prior to implementation

• Reviewed the New Jersey Professional Standards
  and analyzed them in relation to course syllabi
  and required activities.
• Identified specific tasks designed to elicit
  competencies outlined in the New Jersey
  Professional Standards so that students work
  samples would be aligned with the standards.

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The e-portfolio gave concrete evidence of the
road traveled.
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• Reflection

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• Reflection
• Affirmation

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• Reflection
• Affirmation
• Goal Setting

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• Students in the QUEST Program took pride in and
  found meaning in the collection of their work,
  experiences and thoughts recorded and published
  in an on line electronic format.

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• They displayed a high level of motivation
  throughout the semester as a meaningful sense of
  competence emerged and were eager to use and
  incorporate a variety of software, such as Power
  Point for presentations and Inspiration for note
  taking.

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Noteworthy was the shift in my role as professor
from conveyor of information to that of academic
coach and the change to a more collaborative
learning environment.
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A little about the web authoring software

• Content Management System (CMS)
• Only needs to be installed on central web
  server.
• With a password, some word processing skills
  and a web browser, you can be on your way to
  becoming an author with direct access to your
  work on a web site.

• School of Educations server runs on
  Frontier/Manilla software developed by Userland
  Software as the CMS.

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The greatest learning curve is the technical
mastery during the hour long training period.
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The first step in becoming an author is to Log
In.
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Edit this page links make authoring easy!
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To create a new page, simply click on the link to
create a new story.
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• The toolbar, like that of a word-processing
  program, makes writing and posting of
  information easy.

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To upload files, such as word documents and power
point presentations, simply click on Gems.
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Pictures are posted in a similar way.
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Easy links can be made from any page to a gem
(document) or picture or even another page.
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What I have discovered on my journey

• The Electronic Portfolio has many advantages.
• It can
• Save space by eliminating piles of papers.
• Encourage creative and critical thinking.
• Promote cooperation.
• Be made public or private.
• Inspire and spark the thinking of the person
  creating the portfolio as well as those reviewing
  the portfolio.

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What I have discovered on my journey

• In the beginning, the technical aspects and
  concern for embellishments may take precedent to
  the content.
• Therefore, criteria should be carefully
  established to make the evaluation piece
  transparent to the student for both the web page
  aspect and the thinking and content piece of the
  portfolio (as the latter is really main purpose
  of the portfolio.)

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What I have discovered on my journey

• It is important to slow down and take the
  necessary time to look at what was accomplished
  and what needs to be done.
• The reflection piece can become overwhelming if
  left until the end of the project, therefore,
  time needs to be provided on a regular basis
  throughout the semester.

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What I have discovered on my journey

• The process of documenting the learning journey
  is a powerful one.
• There is a sense of awe on the part of the
  student as they reflect upon all they have
  learned in a semester.
• There is a sense of accomplishment as they
  collect, sort and select content for the
  portfolio.
• There is a sense of pride in the final product,
  the electronically published portfolio as they
  share their work with their peers.

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What I believe

• The electronic portfolio has the capacity to
  redefine the culture of education as students
  publicly share what they have learned and receive
  responses to their learning from a network well
  beyond that of a single teacher. As such an
  opportunity, to have a discussion about ones
  craft with others, opens the door to a cycle of
  continuous professional growth and development
  there will be changes in way instruction is
  delivered.

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Thank you for coming! If you would like to
see examples of my students web sites, they
can be found at Edfolio.fdu.edu/baldwind Click on
courses and then Sem 2209