Diane J' Goldsmith,

1

Electronic Portfolios Enhancing Teaching and
Assessment

• Diane J. Goldsmith,
• Dean of Planning, Research, Assessment
• Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium
• Academic Impressions
• December 6, 2005

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Todays Agenda

• Introduction
• Why ePortfolios, Q A
• Platform Decisions, Q A
• Implementation, Q A
• Challenges and Suggestions,
• Resources
• Questions and Answers

3
Introductions
Dean of Planning, Research and Assessment Ct
Distance Learning Consortium ePortfolio Project
supported by FIPSE and Davis Educational
Foundation 15 Partner Institutions
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Introductions

• Who Are You?
• Faculty
• Student Services Staff
• Information Technology
• Assessment Personnel
• Administration
• Other

?
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Introductions

• Where are you in terms of ePortfolios?
• Considering it should we or shouldnt we?
• In the planning stage were figuring out how
• Piloting a small number of classes, departments,
  students, programs, etc. are trying it.
• Implementing a larger number of classes,
  departments, students, programs are using it.
• Experienced users several years of experience.

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Why ePortfolios?
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Its not the E

• Electronic Portfolios

Portfolios are tools with a long history
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It is the E

• But the Electronic has led to the explosion in
  Use.
• Portable
• Available any time, any where
• Can maintain over time
• Include any type of digital material

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Why ePortfolios?

• Portfolio is a warm fuzzy idea. Bruce Landon
  fromEduTools
• Google search found 199 million portfolio
  pages.
• 30 different names for educational ePortfolios
• From B. Landons presentation at WCET
  conference, 11/2005, San Francisco, CA.

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ePortfolio names
Personal Portfolio Student Portfolio Web
Folio Application Port. ePortfolio Website
Port. Electronic Port. Application Port. Teaching
Port. Work Portfolio
Chart from Bruce Landon, Douglas College and WCET
EduTools, presented at the 2005 WCET Conference
in San Francisco, CA
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Your Interest
?

• Student Learning
• Career Planning and Job Search
• Assessment
• Accreditation
• Showcase

• Advising
• Teaching
• Promotion and Tenure
• Institutional
• Other

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Commonalities

• Portfolios, electronic or paper based, share
  certain features

Collect
Reflect
Present
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Collect

• Allows students and institutions to collect work.
• Over time (formative)
• Exemplars of best work (summative)
• Variety of work

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Collect

• Issue Helping students know what to collect and
  why.
• Example Kalamazoo College Portfolio Framework

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Reflect

• Reflection is the essence of portfolios its
  what makes them more than a collection
• Mindful Engagement
• with work, education, goals

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Present

• All Portfolios can be showcases.
• ePortfolios make this available on the web.
• Issues
• Privacy,
• Access,
• Portability,
• Plagiarism

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Assessment

• Portfolios allow a focus on institutional
  assessment
• What do we want students to learn and be able to
  do with what they learn?
• How well can they demonstrate what theyve
  learned?
• How can we help them do better?

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Other Features

• Career Section
• Education
• Experience
• Resumes
• Advising Section
• plan of study
• Goals section
• set and review goals

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Q and A

• ?

Before we move to a discussion of platforms let
me answer any questions about his section.
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Platforms?
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Platforms Issue 1

• Its a tool!

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Its a Tool

• WHY do you want to use ePortfolios?
• Primary Purpose? Other purposes?
• WHO will be using it?
• Who will put work in it, review it, view it?
• HOW will implementation grow?
• Who is piloting? How will it Grow?
• WHO is leading the drive for ePortfolios and Why?
• Who is the change agent?
• WHAT resources do you have to implement
  ePortfolio
• Staffing, Money, Infrastructure

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Platforms Issue 2

• Platform Dilemma
• It is a challenge to get people to use the
  rich, flexible tool as is (meets 90 of their
  needs) rather than looking at it and finding
  reasons not to use it. When folks say "this is a
  really great tool, but we cannot use it because
  it lacks X, they are often simply resisting
  altering existing practices, curriculum, or
  processes. How can we get beyond this?
• Tom Lewis, University of Washington

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Why?

• Student Learning
• Career Planning and Job Search
• Assessment
• Accreditation
• Showcase
• Advising
• Teaching
• Promotion and Tenure
• Institutional
• Other

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Issue 3 Who Designs It?

• Students use web page design software to create
  their portfolios (Penn State, Kalamazoo)
• Institution designs its own platform (Wesleyan,
  Alverno, University of Washington)
• Open Source OSP
• State Initiatives, Consortiums, Non-Profits
  (Minnesota, Connecticut, Carnegie)
• Commercial Task Stream, TrueOutcomes, Foliolive

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Cost Considerations

• Software
• Maintenance
• Upgrades
• Infrastructure
• Hosted Internally
• Servers
• Storage Space
• Hosted Externally
• Storage included in cost of software

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Cost Considerations

• Staffing to build or customize
• Network admin (set up the servers, check the
  operating system, backup the files).
• Database admin (backups and tunes the database
  server).
• Developer (develops the platform or develops
  integration points or customizations).
• And whether you build or buy
• Project manager (coordinate the resources,
  coordinate additional development, coordinate
  training, tech support, etc.).
• Tech support and training (coordinate and answer
  faculty and student questions).
• Pedagogical Support and training (work with
  faculty on how to use ePortfolios).

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Cost Considerations
High
Low
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Other Considerations

• Integration with Learning Management System
• Vertical integration K-12 to College and Beyond
• How Long can you keep it
• Minnesota from birth to death
• Sustainability
• Technical Skills Required of the users.

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Other Considerations

• Assessment Focus
• Rubrics
• Way to keep material
• Link to Standards
• Who Owns It
• Student or institution
• FERPA Considerations
• ADA Considerations

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Platform Review

• Issue 1 WHY??
• Issue 2 Nothing is Perfect
• Issue 3 - Resources, Staffing
• Need to Customize
• Assessment features
• ADA
• Integration
• Leadership

Before we move to a discussion of Implementation
let me answer any questions about this section.
?
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Implementation?
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Critical Thinking

• Emphasize peer review in English Composition
  classes.
• Use ePortfolio to develop critical thinking and
  communication skills of students in the nursing
  program.

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Advising

• Move from a paper-based pre-professional health
  advising portfolio to an electronic form.
• Use ePortfolios to assess student progress in a
  Career Search Initiative.
• Use ePortfolios as part of an advising process
  with undeclared majors to help them articulate
  and reflect on their goals.

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Showcase

• Dental Hygiene students will create a
  comprehensive ePortfolio to showcase their
  skills.
• Students will use ePortfolios to articulate their
  career goals, post resumes, and present course
  work to demonstrate academic progress towards
  their goals.

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Skills

• Use ePortfolios in Experimental Psychology to
  help assist students in making the transition
  from science student to science professional.
• Improve Student Learning in First Year
  Seminar/Orientation Courses.
• Use ePortfolios as part of Learning Communities.

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Assessment

• Use ePortfolios as part of a capstone course, to
  demonstrate competencies.
• Use ePortfolios as part of articulation agreements

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Assessment

• General Education
• Writing Across the Curriculum
• Nursing
• Business
• Dental Hygiene

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Study Abroad

• Students keep a portfolio while abroad reflecting
  on their experiences

On their return, use the portfolio to make
connections to their major at the university.
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For Athletics

• Pioneers win Gold in Australia!!!
• Summer 2005

Pioneers win North East Conference Field Hockey
Championship, Fall 2005
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Q and A

• ?

Before we move to a discussion of challenges let
me answer any questions about his section.
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The Challenges
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Implementation

• If we build it (or buy it), they wont
  necessarily come.

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Change

• Moving to portfolios or ePortfolios requires a
  culture shift at the institution.
• Change can be difficult or can be embraced
  eagerly by faculty and staff who are engaged
  across the institution in a process of discovery
  and problem solving.
• Mellow, G. and Talmadge, R. Creating the
  Resilient Community College in Change May/June
  2005

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It Takes an Institution

• or at least a program or major.
• ePortfolios are software packages which require
  new ways of thinking and practice.
• Portfolios allow for documenting learning over
  time.

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Work Load

• ePortfolios create work for both faculty and
  students, especially at the beginning because it
  requires planning and change.
• Both need to believe that the extra work has
  benefits.
• Success breeds success.

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Build in Assistance

• Technical How do I use the software?
• Pedagogical How do I use portfolios?
• Peer Lab Assistants
• In Class Training
• Training for Faculty and staff

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Assessment Issues

• ePortfolios can an excellent tool for Assessment.
• Need a well thought-out robust assessment
  strategy before deciding that portfolios are the
  correct tool
• Learning objectives delineated
• What Evidence?
• How evaluated?
• Who evaluates?
• Ex Truman State University

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Where to Begin?

• First-Year Seminars, Orientation Programs,
  Student Development Courses.
• Issues
• Goal Setting
• Self-Assessment
• Reflection
• One more software to learn

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Who Is In the Room?

• Faculty Driven
• Assessment Infused
• Leadership around Change

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Create Your ePortfolio

• Dont ask your students to do what you havent
  done.

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Administrative Portfolio

• It is a factual description of an
  administrators activities, strengths, and
  accomplishments. It includes documents and
  materials that collectively suggest the scope and
  quality of an administrators performance. It
  allows administrators to display their
  accomplishments for examination by others.
• Selden, P. and Higgerson, M. (2002, January)
  Adopting the Administrative Portfolio. AAHE
  Bulletin 14 (5), 3-6.

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A Teaching portfolio
Carnegie Foundation for Advancement of
Teaching http//gallery.carnegiefoundation.org/
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Create Your ePortfolio

• Promotion and Tenure Portfolio
• For Professional Interests
• For Fun
• My fun ePortfolio
• A Professional ePortfolio

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Institutional Examples

• Truman State University
• http//assessment.truman.edu/components/portfolio
  /
• Laguardia Community College
• http//www.eportfolio.lagcc.cuny.edu/
• Kalamazoo College
• http//www.kzoo.edu/pfolio/index.html
• University of Washington
• http//catalyst.washington.edu/method/portfolio.h
  tml

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Institutional Examples

• Penn State create web pages
• http//portfolio.psu.edu/build/index.html
• Kent State Collage Career based
• https//collage.kent.edu/guest/index.html
• ePortfolio.org CT Distance Learning Consortium
• www.ePortfolio.org

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Other Resources

• References at www.ePortfolio.org
• http//www.eportfolio.org/resources.pdf
• Links to
• institutional examples
• assessment information
• handbooks
• lists of other references

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QA

• Diane J. Goldsmith
• Dgoldsmith_at_ctdlc.org
• 860.832.3893
• www.eportfolio.org