ePortfolios and the Challenge of Reconnecting the Curriculum to a Life of Practice

1. ePortfolios and the Challenge of Reconnecting the Curriculum to a Life of Practice Randy Bass (Georgetown University) AAEEBL Annual World Conference ePortfolios & the Emergent Learning Ecology July 20, 2010

2. Authentic Evidence-based Experiential

3. Authentic Evidence-based Experiential

4. "Clay lends itself to making mess upon mess until something emerges. When people praise me for achievements, I think of the mistakes I'm willing to make--" Joan Lederman, Ceramics artist Woods Hole, MA

5. Joan Lederman, Ceramics artist Woods Hole, MA

8. Joan Lederman, Ceramics artist Woods Hole, MA

9. “As the number of materials I use increases, my mental agility increases. I bond with materials by concentrating and by memorizing their visual identities at various stages--being present with them is a way I love them. If I maintain attention, I remember stored data well and can decide things faster than my mind can track chains of logic.” Joan Lederman, Gaia’s Glazes: Mysteries of Sea Mud Revealed

10. "The way I work forces me to develop habits of mind that are useful for managing chaos and complex thought with increasing effectiveness. I'd say my success rate has improved from about 30% in 1997 to about 87% in 2009. I'm measuring success by what people agree is beautiful.” Joan Lederman, Gaia’s Glazes: Mysteries of Sea Mud Revealed

11. “I call it contingency thinking when I visualize what each glaze might do in a range of temperatures and atmospheres, on concave or convex surfaces, and how calligraphic writing will survive when the glazes flow. I think on multiple--sometimes parallel--tracks. If this, then that; if this, then that. I project likelihoods as my livelihood.” Joan Lederman, Gaia’s Glazes: Mysteries of Sea Mud Revealed

12. Authentic Experiential Evidence-based “…develop habits of mind that are useful for managing chaos and complex thought with increasing effectiveness.” “I call it contingency thinking”

13. Authentic Evidence-based learning Experiential Not an outcome but a way of working, a way of living “…develop habits of mind that are useful for managing chaos and complex thought with increasing effectiveness.” “I call it contingency thinking”

14. What are the features of Authentic Learning activities? Herrington, J., Oliver, R. and Reeves, T. C. (2003). Patterns of engagement in authentic online learning environments. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 19(1), 59-71. Why today’s students value authentic learning. Carie Windham. EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative Paper 9, 2007.

15. Authentic Learning activities • have real-world relevance; • are ill-defined; comprise complex tasks to be investigated by students over a sustained period of time; • provide the opportunity for students to examine the task from different perspectives, using a variety of resources; allow competing solutions and a diversity of outcomes. • provide the opportunity to collaborate; • provide the opportunity to reflect; • can be integrated and applied across different subject areas and lead beyond domain-specific outcomes; • are seamlessly integrated with assessment; • create polished products valuable in their own right rather than as preparation for something else; Herrington, J., Oliver, R. and Reeves, T. C. (2003). Patterns of engagement in authentic online learning environments. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 19(1), 59-71.

16. Experiential Authentic Evidence-based • Real-world relevance • Ill-defined problems • Diversity of outcomes; applied across different subjects • Opportunity to reflect • Seamlessly integrated with assessment ePortfolios and authentic learning? “…develop habits of mind that are useful for managing chaos and complex thought with increasing effectiveness.” “I call it contingency thinking”

17. Where does authentic learning happen? What does authentic learning have to do with the curriculum?

18. “You know. It was taught as a Gen Ed course and I took it as a Gen Ed course.” Georgetown student, end of first year, focus group: reflecting on a particular course in which, he claimed, he was not asked to engage with the material.

19. High Impact Practices (National Survey of Student Engagement--NSSE) • First-year seminars and experiences • Learning communities • Writing intensive courses • Collaborative assignments • Undergraduate research • Global learning/ study abroad • Internships • Capstone courses and projects

20. High Impact Activities and Outcomes • High Impact Practices: • First-year seminars and experiences • Learning communities • Writing intensive courses • Collaborative assignments • Undergraduate research • Global learning/ study abroad • Internships • Capstone courses and projects • Outcomes associated with High impact practices • Attend to underlying meaning • Integrate and synthesize • Discern patterns • Apply knowledge in diverse situations • View issues from multiple perspectives • Gains in Skills, knowledge, practical competence , personal and social development

21. So, if high impact practices are largely in the extra-curriculum (or co-curriculum), then where are the low-impact practices?

22. Formal curriculum = low-impact practices?

23. Participatory Culture of the Web How do we make classroom learning more like participatory culture? • Features of participatory culture • Low barriers to entry • Strong support for sharing one’s contributions • Informal mentorship, experienced to novice • Members feel a sense of connection to each other • Students feel a sense of ownership of what is being created • Strong collective sense that something is at stake Jenkins, et. al., Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture

24. Six Characteristics of high impact practices AND features of participatory culture • Features of participatory culture (on the Web) • Low barriers to entry • Strong support for sharing one’s contributions • Informal mentorship, experienced to novice • Members feel a sense of connection to each other • Students feel a sense of ownership of what is being created • Strong collective sense that something is at stake • High impact experiences (co- curriculum) • Attend to underlying meaning • Integrate and synthesize • Discern patterns • Apply knowledge in diverse situations • View issues from multiple perspectives • Skills, knowledge, practical competence , personal and social development

25. High impact practices Experiential Co-curriculum Informal Learning Participatory culture The Formal Curriculum

26. High impact practices Experiential Co-curriculum Informal Learning Participatory culture The Formal Curriculum Can we continue to operate on the assumption that the formal curriculum is the center of the undergraduate experience?

27. Authentic Learning and ePortfolios? High impact practices Experiential Co-curriculum Informal Learning Participatory culture The Formal Curriculum Where do you put your interest in ePortfolios, with regards to the relationship between the formal curriculum, the co-curriculum and beyond?

28. The Post-Course Era

29. The Post-Course Era End of the era of the self-contained course as the center of the curriculum “The fragmentation of the curriculum into a collection of independently ‘owned’ courses is itself an impediment to student accomplishment, because the different courses students take, even on the same campus, are not expected to engage or build on one another.” (AAC&U, 2004)

30. If the formal curriculum is not where the high impact experiences are then what are the options? (1) Make courses higher impact

31. Authentic Learning “in” the Classroom courses designed as inquiry-based & participatory Community-based Course Connections Virtual Labs

32. Authentic Learning: “approximations” of the authentic Using social tools at scale Leveraging “the crowd” as a way of teaching Michael Wesch (Kansas St U) world hunger simulation

33. If the formal curriculum is not where the high impact experiences are then what are the options? (1) Make courses higher impact (2) Create better connections between courses and the high impact experiences outside the formal curriculum (3) Accept that there is a ‘low impact’ formal curriculum that constitutes an essential base for the high impact co-curriculum. (…i.e. make this a premise for curricular design)

34. All of the above… Whether we turn to improving the quality of courses, or try harder to connect courses to experiences, “courses” will no longer be the bounded experiences they have been. the post-course era

35. High impact practices Experiential Co-curriculum Informal Learning Participatory culture The Formal Curriculum Less likely that the formal curriculum (center) will become defined by the edge, then that it might get pulled towards it.

36. From Push to Pull

37. “The Big Shift” • Forecasting needs; designing most efficient systems to meet those needs • Knowledge stocks • Carefully scripted and standardized processes • Knowledge primarily held centrally Push

38. “The Big Shift” Pull Push • Forecasting needs; designing most efficient systems to meet those needs • Knowledge stocks • Carefully scripted and standardized processes • Knowledge primarily held centrally • Find and access people and resources when we need them • Knowledge flows • Emergent, often function by serendipity • Knowledge exists primarily at the edge, often across institutions, boundaries, distances

39. John Seely Brown: Practice to Content content practice “Minds on Fire”

40. “The Big Shift” Pull Push • Forecasting needs; designing most efficient systems to meet those needs • Knowledge stocks • Carefully scripted and standardized processes • Knowledge primarily held centrally • Find and access people and resources when we need them • Knowledge flows • Emergent, often function by serendipity • Knowledge exists primarily at the edge, often across institutions, boundaries, distances

41. From Push to Pull What does this have to do with authentic learning and ePortfolios?

42. From Push to Pull • “We are literally pushed into educational systems designed to anticipate our needs over twelve or more years of schooling and our key needs for skills over the rest of our lives.” (Power of Pull) Formal education is based on the “push” model

43. From Push to Pull The formal curriculum is designed on push…[center] The co-curriculum (the experiential curriculum) has always functioned by pull… [edge]

44. From Push to Pull The formal curriculum is designed on push…[center] Are ePortfolios the essential bridge between the push and pull dimensions of HE? The co-curriculum (the informal curriculum) has always functioned by pull… [edge]

45. High impact practices Experiential Co-curriculum Informal Learning Participatory culture The Formal Curriculum College-based ePortfolios are a space for creating an identity between the experiences the institution largely chooses for you and the experiences you largely choose for yourself.

46. High impact practices Experiential Co-curriculum Informal Learning Participatory culture The Formal Curriculum College-based ePortfolios are a space for creating an identity between the experiences the institution largely chooses for you and the experiences you largely choose for yourself. Experiential… Evidence based… Authentic?

47. “Shaping a Life of the Mind for Practice ” (Sullivan & Rosin) • A practice-focused curriculum • Teaching for practical reasoning (beyond critical thinking) • Reflective judgment in conditions of uncertainty

48. “Shaping the Life of the Mind for Practice ” (Sullivan & Rosin) • “Teaching for practical reason means providing students with educational experiences that model what it means to put skill and knowledge to work through judgment and action.”

49. “Shaping the Life of the Mind for Practice ” (Sullivan & Rosin) • “Teaching for practical reason means providing students with educational experiences that model what it means to put skill and knowledge to work through judgment and action.” “…develop habits of mind that are useful for managing chaos and complex thought with increasing effectiveness.” “I call it contingency thinking”

50. The challenges of designing a curriculum focused on practical reason and reflective judgment • Rethink the formal curriculum as being in service to high impact experiential learning • Design for habits of mind curriculum (contingency thinking), creating more opportunities for appreciating (and reflecting on) failure and uncertainty • Reimagine the distribution of resources on principles of most / least?