Electronic Portfolios
Electronic portfolios: Emerging practices in student,
faculty and institutional learning.
(2001).
Cambridge,
B.L., Kahn, S., Tompkins, D.P., & Yancey, K.B. (Eds.).
Washington,
DC: American Association for Higher Education.
INTRODUCTION
Electronic Portfolios as Knowledge Builders
Four Characteristics of Portfolios:
1)
Portfolios can feature multiple examples of work
2)
Portfolios can be context rich.
3)
Portfolios can offer opportunities for selection and
self-assessment.
4)
Portfolios can offer a look at development over time.
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Electronic Portfolios permit reflection and social
construction. |
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EPs can be part of an effort to link learners across a
society. |
Assessment
Most assessment focuses on product, but EPs permit
evaluation of process as well. It also more fully
incorporates assessment into learning and allows the
assessment to be more "transparent".
Turning Failure into an Occasion for Learning
We
all fail sometimes. But most systems merely punish
failure without exploiting the opportunities to learn
that may be inherent in that failed performance. We
also disallow explanations of what reasoning led someone
to choose a wrong answer.
PART I: STUDENT PORTFOLIOS
Paper portfolios got started about 15 years ago.
“Collection, selection, reflection” were the buzzwords.
Then, within the past 5 years or so, portfolios began to
go electronic.
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Portfolios show not only the understanding of
concepts, but the ability to apply those
concepts. They also show a person’s development over
time. |
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They encourage the critical process of reflection.
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Program
portfolios transcend the classroom and draw from more
than one class and may include materials from
extracurricular, service-learning, and other
experiences. They are more cumulative in nature.
How
Portfolios Foster and Enhance Learning
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They make learning visible. |
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They exhibit multiple lines of evidence. |
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They can be used for both formative and summative
assessment. |
Patterns in Electronic Portfolios (EPs)
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Learning is constructed both in and out of the
classroom |
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Students reflect on past experiences |
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This reflection is used to plan for the future |
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EPs are social documents used as a vehicle for
dialogue |
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EPs are live texts that evolve over time. |
Six
Critical Issues
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Storing the Portfolio
-
Exploiting the Potential of the Electronic
Environment
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Defining Technological Skills and Pedagogical
Changes required
-
Defining the Role of Design in Students' Electronic
Portfolios
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Deciding When Faculty Will Read and Review the
Portfolios
-
Determining the "Life Cycle" of an EP
Reflective Webfolios in a Humanities Course
"Webfolios":
see
http://onlinelearning.tc.cc.va.us/faculty/tcreisd/resource/webfolio/intro.htm
Elements of a WebFolio
a)
individual webfolio
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Curriculum |
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Career |
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Personal |
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Classes |
b)
class web page
c)
Reflective writings
d)
Hyperlinks
Composing the Intranet-Based Electronic Portfolio Using
"Common" Tools
Common Tools: Microsoft PowerPoint, Word
(they also had a common synchronous/asynchronous
communication tool)
Electronic Portfolios in a Management Major Curriculum
1)
students assigned to "company" teams
2)
Each team given information about its firm
3)
Students given lists of possible management decisions
they could make for their team (other teams are
"competitors").
4)
Decisions are forwarded to the instructor, who inputs
and "runs" them on a computer simulation.
5)
Each team get a report on its firm. Another round of
decision-making commences.
Process
-
Dissemination of competencies
-
Tech training and support
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Prescribed portfolio organization
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Preliminary (formative) submission
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Final (summative) submission
-
Grading
Results
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Increased reflection |
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More student involvement in their own learning |
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Better job preparedness |
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Content was judged more arduous than the technology |
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Zip disks emerged as the media of choice |
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Instructors had to work harder, but had more
information and were better able to assess
individuals |
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Students accepted instructor differences in how they
approached the portfolios |
Well, that should give you an idea of the content on
Student Portfolios. Let's move on to Faculty
Portfolios. Here’s a list of the other chapters in the
“Student” section.
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A
Major Redesign of the
Kalamazoo Portfolio |
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Using on-Line Portfolios to Assess English Majors at
Utah
State
University |
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Development of Electronic Portfolios for Nursing
Students |
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Comparing Electronic and Paper Portfolios |
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Conclusion: General patterns and the future |
PART II: FACULTY PORTFOLIOS
Introduction: Ambassadors With Portfolios: Electronic
Portfolios
Two
General categories
1)
teaching
2)
course
Possible Materials
|
executive summary |
|
cover letter |
|
table of contents/index |
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teachig responsibilities |
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teaching philosophy |
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teaching strategies and objectives |
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course design |
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description of course materials |
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efforts to improve teaching |
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essays about the portfolio |
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summary of what was learned from the portfolio |
Sample Faculty Portfolios
Teaching Great Books on the Web
In
providing materials online (introductions, notes,
overviews, paper topics, exam questions, etc.) this
professor says "By providing it, I am in effect more
than doubling the time I spend with them."
About 85% of his students use the materials, about 65%
extensively.
Electronic Portfolios = Multimedia Development +
Portfolio Development: The Electronic Portfolio
Development Process
Five Stages in the Portfolio Process
1)
collection
2)
selection
3)
reflection
4)
Projection (aka Direction)
5)
Presentation
Five Stages of Faculty Portfolios
1)
Defining the portfolio's context
2)
The working portfolio
3)
The reflective portfolio
4)
The connected portfolio
5)
the presentation portfolio
Now
let's move on to the chapters on Institutional
Portfolios. Here’s a list of the other chapters in the
“Faculty” section:
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From Bach to Tupac: Using an Electronic Portfolio to
Analyze a Curricular Transformation |
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Wired for Trouble? Creating a Hypermedia Course
Portfolio |
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Conclusion: Ambassadors With Portfolios:
Recommendations |
PART III: INSTITUTIONAL PORTFOLIOS
Linking Learning, Improvement, and Accountability: An
Introduction to Electronic Institutional Portfolios
Definition of an Institutional Portfolio:"...A
focused selection of authentic work, data, and analysis
that demonstrates institutional accountability and
serves as a vehicle for institution-wide reflection,
learning, and improvement.
Functions of an Institutional Portfolio
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Demonstrating accountability |
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Highlighting institutional distinctiveness |
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Stimulating Internal Improvement |
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Spotlighting student learning |
Suggested Materials
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Narrative on outcome and why it’s important |
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Required or typical course sequences that aid progress
toward the outcome |
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Enrollment patterns and grade distributions in those
courses |
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Examples of grading rubrics |
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Examples of student work as rated by the rubrics |
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Examples of syllabi and assignments |
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Examples of student work related to the learning
outcome |
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Video clips from class sessions related to the outcome |
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Stories about individual students’ progress |
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Example materials from faculty, department or program
portfolios |
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Results of current student and alumni surveys |
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Results of assessments of the outcome |
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Information on relevant faculty development
initiatives |
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Hyperlinks to provide context for the above |
Well, that’s it. If any of this intrigues you, I urge
you to read the source material. Here are the rest of
the chapters in the “Institutional” section:
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Snake Pit in Cyberspace: The IUPUI Institutional
Portfolio |
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Portland State University's Electronic Institutional
Portfolio: Strategy, Planning, and Assessment |
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The Role of Institutional research and data in
Institutional Portfolios |
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Electronic Department Portfolios: A New Tool for
Departmental Learnin and Improvement |
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The Role of instructional Portfolios in the Revised
WASC Accreditation Process |
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Conclusion: Recommendations |
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