Eportfolio, General Education,

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Eportfolio, General Education, Undergraduate
Learning Goals

• An ePortfolio and Learning Goal Matrix Case Study

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Nicholas Schiller

• Library Instruction Coordinator
• Library Faculty, Reference Librarian
• Information Literacy Instruction
• Instructor for GE 101/301
• Also teach technology seminars
• As part of the GE 101/301 course
• VIS Workshops
• schiller_at_vancouver.wsu.edu
• http//www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/schiller/nicholas
  .html

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Slides on the Web

• For those viewing these slides on the web, please
  feel free to contact me with questions about the
  content. The slides themselves give a basic
  outline of my presentation at the Educause
  Western Regional Conference 2007, but for
  specific details or explanations, please give me
  a call or send an email.
• Nicholas Schiller

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My Roles with the ePortfolio

• Instruction Librarian
• Information literacy sessions
• Classroom Instructor
• GE 101 (1st year)
• GE 301 (3rd year transfers)
• Technology Seminar Instructor
• Technology fluency sessions

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About our Campus

• Urban (regional) campus in the Washington State
  University system
• Enrollment 2,300 (1,667 FTE)
• Young Campus
• First courses held in 1990
• Campus opened in 1996
• Lower Division students added
• Fall 2006

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The Path to the ePortfolio

• Preparing for Lower Division Students General
  Education

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Timeline

• January 2005 Lower-division planning committee
  launched
• April 24, 2005 Funding for lower-division
  approved by the legislature
• Fall 2005 ePortfolio planning committee launched
• August 2006 First class of freshman students
  appear on campus

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General Education Program

• Learning Goals
• Series of courses
• GE 101/301, GE 303, GE 401
• ePortfolio platform
• Learning goal matrix

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The Learning Goals

• Critical Thinking
• Information Literacy
• Quantitative and Symbolic Reasoning
• Communication
• Self in Society
• Specialty
• http//www.vancouver.wsu.edu/gen_ed/learning20goa
  ls.html

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General Education Series

• GE 101/301 Introduction to the University
  Learning Goals
• Introduction to the ePortfolio
• GE 303 Research across the disciplines
• Learning goals in specific context
• GE 401 ePortfolios for the real world
• Using the ePortfolio to create a resume

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The Learning Goal Matrix

• Students attach documents from their course work
  to specific learning goal
• Students write brief essays explaining why their
  documents provide evidence of mastery of the
  learning goal
• This process is repeated in all three courses
  (101/301, 303, 401), providing snapshots of
  progress throughout the undergraduate experience

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(No Transcript)
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Selecting an ePortfolio

• Choosing a platform that met our needs

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ePortfolio Selection

• Major factors in ePortfolio selection
• Learning Goal Matrix
• Live in August 2006
• Must be turn-key (no in-house development or
  programming)
• Campus philosophy embracing open-source (faculty)
• Desire for a product with a proven track record

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OSP/Sakai/rSmart

• Learning Goal Matrix
• Local University had a positive experience with
  OSP/Sakai/rSmart
• Center for Teaching Learning Technology
• Pullman center exploring OSP at the time
• Ability to grow
• Development and hosting can be brought in-house,
  eventually

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Competing Products?

• Some discussion of Sharepoint
• Deliberations ceased once it was determined that
  contracting with rSmart to develop OSP would
  provide us with a turnkey ePortfolio live in
  August 2006

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The ePortfolio in practice

• Observations, results, assessment

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(No Transcript)
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Outcomes

• GE 101
• Introducing the ePortfolio
• Student understanding and buy-in is key
• The have been trained how to write essays and
  take multiple choice exams
• Learning how to assess and defend their own work
  is a similar skill
• Having a 1 credit introduction to ePortfolio
  course helpful to that end

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Outcomes

• Changes to GE 101/301 after Fall Semester
• Focused on the learning goals
• Each week students wrote essays on a specific
  learning goal
• Not well received by transfer juniors
• Self assessment did not match our assessment

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Outcomes

• Changes for Spring Semester
• Each course chose a theme
• Biotech foods
• Intellectual property
• Climate change
• Police violence
• Learning goals were presented in assignments
  related to the course topic
• Care was taken to remind students that the course
  was about the learning goals, not the theme

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Outcomes

• GE 303 (completed last week)
• Familiarity with the ePortfolio and the matrix
  freed students to focus on the course material

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Outcomes

• Other GE courses
• ePortfolio use required (no matrix)
• Popular (well received)
• Course Management Light
• Discussion forum most heavily used module
• Helps get student documents into their
  repositories

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Assessment

• Pending
• External reviewers evaluated certain matrix cells
  from Fall semster GE 101/301 courses

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Review Rubric

• From Phelps, S. F. and Diller, K. R. (2007).
  Transforming the library
• Applying multiple assessment methodologies to
  library instruction and planning. Pre-publication
  Manuscript

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For more details

• Contact me
• schiller_at_vancouver.wsu.edu
• http//www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/schiller/nicholas
  .html
• 360 546 9171
• Contact Karen Diller
• diller_at_vancouver.wsu.edu
• http//www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/diller/home.html
• 360 546 0981