90 likes | 166 Views
ePortfolio Research Team:. Common Understandings. ePortfolios are in their infancy. Conversations with individuals and institutions involved with ePortfolios have revealed that people across the country are in the beginning stages of this process
E N D
ePortfolio Research Team: Common Understandings
ePortfolios are in their infancy • Conversations with individuals and institutions involved with ePortfolios have revealed that people across the country are in the beginning stages of this process • They too are grappling with the very same questions we are posing • There are not yet institutionalized answers to many of our questions
LaGuardia has identified many purposes for the portfolio including: an institutional assessment tool, a student performance assessment tool, a transfer tool, and a resume-building tool Our research has pointed us toward the need for a more focused purpose A rationale for the ePortfolio needs to be articulated to the college community Clarity of Purpose
Institutions and their use of ePortfolios: • AAHE ePortfolio Clearinghouse • Alverno • Elon • Kalamazoo • Wesleyan
Institutional Culture of ePortfolios • Faculty must be involved early on in the process of development and implementation • Students must be involved early on in the process of development and implementation • Linking core competencies to curriculum and faculty development efforts is crucial to ensure widespread implementation, practice, and sustainability • A common language centered around ePortfolios and core competencies must be developed and spoken throughout the college community
Institutional Culture of ePortfolios (continued) • The ePortfolio may require rethinking courses, curriculum, and student and faculty life • Successful implementation requires a transformation of the institutional culture; implementing a practice of reflection within an institution that values action and innovation may prove to be an initial struggle
Reflection • A collection of on-line documents is a virtual file-cabinet; a collection of on-line documents with a carefully written reflective piece is a portfolio • Teaching students how to write the reflective piece has proven difficult at other institutions
Ideal Practices/Hard Questions • Should ePortfolios be required? • In what other ways can we successfully structure the ePortfolio without the ePortfolio becoming a barrier to student graduation? • Should ePortfolios be housed in credit-bearing, content courses? • Should ePortfolios be assessed at different benchmarks throughout a student’s career? • How do we imbed reflection in the curriculum? • How do we attract wide-spread institutional commitment?
No Longer Questions… • Paper versus Digital: Digital wins the day • Plagiarism: Plagiarism is plagiarism • The initial benchmark needs to take place almost immediately and in a credit-bearing, content course • The subsequent benchmarks should follow quickly to allow students to engage in a sustained ePortfolio process • Privacy concerns: The software we choose will help to deal with this issue • The ePortfolio does require more work • Since ePortfolios are primarily used at four year or university institutions, they are not using them for transfer—what we decide to do may define this practice