Journal #2 - June 15,
2015
What
is an academic ePortfolio?
An ePortfolio is basically an electronic collection of thoughts and
authentic evidence of learning acquired through formal, non-formal, informal,
accidental, and incidental learning (Barnstable & Barker, 2008; Mueller, 2014). Requiring learners to develop an ePortfolio puts responsibility for learning on the learner
and helps the learner focus on the learning process as well
as the finished product (Barnstable & Barker, 2008; Pelliccione
& Dixone, 2008; Schrager, n.d; Wickersham, & Chambers, 2006). Educators use ePortfolios
to assess learner learning as well as the quality of a course; ePortfolio assessment
involves using products in a portfolio as evidence of learning for assessment
purposes (Pelliccione & Dixone, 2008; Wickersham, & Chambers, 2006).
Do
you think there is a place in your teaching for ePortfolios?
Why or why not?
Why or why not?
I teach Fundamental Computer and
English courses within the Faculty of Access and Continuing Education. Many of the learners I teach have limited
digital literacy and technology skills.
As well, many are returning to formal learning after being away from
school for several to many years. Most
learners would describe themselves as having been ‘unsuccessful’ in prior
formal learning situations.
Consequently, not only do many learners lack technology skills, but many
also have low self-esteem and may not have had an opportunity to develop
self-management skills such as personal organization and independent learning. Research
confirms that one of the disadvantages of ePortfolio are that some learners
might not have the technical know-how and consequently feel over-challenged (Wickersham, & Chambers, 2006).
Moreover, learners might lack confidence or the motivation to work
independently. Many learners will also likely need
to develop the meta-cognition skills needed for reflective writing (Barnstable & Barker, 2008).
Time
constraints are another challenge because the computer courses meet for only 7
weeks, and the English courses meet only for a semester. Both courses already have a long-list of
learning outcomes that must be met.
Adding the requirement for learners to create and develop an ePortfolio
could become too burdensome for many learners.
However, there is a place for
introducing learners to the ‘idea’ of an ePortfolio in the courses I
teach. I will encourage those who are
interested in creating one, to do so as one of their ‘choice’ assignments. However, because I have experienced how
learning the technology to submit a learning piece can easily detract from key
learning principles in a course, I will be cautious in terms of expecting all
learners to create an ePortfolio; doing so is not one of the key learning outcomes
at this level. Instead, I will teach learners how to access and evaluate
information from the web, how to create an annotated bibliography that requires
copying the URL into a document, and how to save files, and create and organize
folders. I believe the ‘reflective’
component of learning is an important skill for learners to develop; to help
learners develop meta-cognition skills, I will include guided reflection for
some assignments that learners will be required to save in a folder. At course end, I will encourage learners to
submit ‘best samples’ of their work.
Rather than require learners
to create and use an ePortfolio in one course, I will encourage our Faculty to
consider how we might, together, create a supplement module or course in which learners
can focus solely on the technical aspects in creating their ePortfolio. I
believe that would be a more amenable way for learners to develop the necessary
digital literacy skills. For ePortfolio content, learners could be encouraged
to include not only course work from a variety of courses but also to add
volunteer or student involvement. For
example, the course could include elements listed by Pellicconne & Dixon
(2008) that were used in the process of helping education students develop
ePortfolios (pp.754).
ePortfolios
are increasingly being used to illustrate personal
professional development and achievements in teaching.
professional development and achievements in teaching.
What is a
professional ePortfolio?
According to Gabriele Bauer (n.d.),
“The [professional] academic ePortfolio is a selective set of online, reflective, integrative,
and personal documents that present how you have developed as a scholar-teacher
in your discipline. It offers evidence of your accomplishments and activities
across all aspects of your academic life; i.e., research, teaching, and service
and outlines your growth. It extends your CV and provides future employers with
a comprehensive portrait of your academic training, achievements, and future
career goals. It’s a living document that needs to be modified over time” (para 1).
What
value do you see in creating your own personal teaching ePortfolio?
Based on Bauer’s (n.d.) definition,
the value for personally creating an ePortfolio is so I can more
effectively represent myself for job performance evaluations. An ePortfolio is an effective way to organize
professional goals and include documented evidence of scholarly work; professional development for teaching along with teaching and learning reflections; service activities including those within the Institution and community, and any additional professional
activities.
Currently, I am required to submit a
self-reflection of service, teaching, and scholarship of the past academic
season and include goals that I will focus on for the upcoming years. At this time, the information is submitted via a Word document that, not
only limits the types of documented information that can be included, but tends
to be much more static. It is a cumbersome task that requires checking my
calendar to produce a mere ‘list’ of all activities completed, but this list is one without
reflection or explanation regarding the why or how of each activity.
An ePortfolio makes it easier to add
and organize entries easily and to provide real-time reflection. Furthermore, it is possible to include images,
video clips, direct links for additional information, and samples of
professional work or even samples of learner work with their permission. An ePortfolio is also accessible from
anywhere, so adding or sharing entries is easily done in real-time.
What
kind of artifacts would you think of including in this portfolio?
Even though I recognize the value of
developing an ePortfolio, I have not yet created one. I know that building the shell for an ePortfolio
requires more digital technology skills than I currently have. To my chagrin, I still do not find Web 2.0
tools to be ‘intuitive or easy-to-use’ as often is stated in tool
tutorials. However, when I do organize my professional eportfolio, I anticipate having a home page with a short
introduction to myself along with contact information and possibly a brief
overview or summary of what or why an ePortfolio. Bauer (n.d.) has provided a template of items
that might be included in a professional ePortfolio. Because our work is
evaluated based on service, scholarship, and teaching, I would create a
separate folder for each:
In the teaching folder: link to
teaching philosophy, subsections for different courses with a link to
professional articulation guide for each course followed by course syllabus
that clearly indicates parallels between the two in terms of learning activities;
lesson or project information—especially innovative lessons –followed with
reflection pieces, samples of learner work, learner feedback of teaching, the
course, or specific assignments, and/or learner comments… updated goals for
teaching.
In the professional development/scholarship
folder: evidence of participation in
professional development activities followed by brief summary of the activity
as well as attendance verification, certificates, screenshots of webcast
participation, course completion information and/or grades, annotated biography
of readings or webcasts; links to blogs, journals, (RSS feeds), evidence of
presentations for scholarship, … updated goals for scholarship and/or
professional development.
In the service folder: evidence of
service by serving on university-wide committees, specific faculty or
department committees or councils, volunteer activities, in-house workshops
presented…updated goals for service.
Additional
Resources
Academic
Portfolio What is an
academic portfolio? A PowerPoint
presentation describing ePortfolio goals, advantages, disadvantages, etc. Developed by Schrager, S.
Assessment and Electronic Portfolios includes topics such as characteristics of ePortfolios, characteristics,
connections to learning theories, assessment techniques, advantages and
disadvantages, sample ePortfolios, and additional resources
ePortfolio
Rubric for General or Course-Based Learning This
rubric provides the assessor with multiple general categories. These focus not
only on artifacts and reflection but the general layout, design, and
functionality of the ePortfolio.
References
Barnstable,
K., Barker, K. (2008). Introducing
ePortfolios. In Hirtz, S. (Sr. Ed.), Education for a Digital World: Advice, guidelines, and effective practice
from around the globe (pp. 469-472).
Retrieved from http://hets.org/virtualplaza/files/2014/05/Education_for_a_Digital_World_complete.pdf
Bauer,
G. (n.d.). Elements of a professional
academic ePortfolio. [PDF] Newark, DE: Center for Teaching and Learning,
University of Delaware. Retrieved from http://www2.udel.edu/ePortfolios/sites/udel.edu.ePortfolios/files/users/user19/epelements11j.pdf
Mueller,
J. (2014). Authentic assessment toolbox. [web]. Naperville, IL. Retrieved from http://jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/portfolios.htm
Pelliccione
l., Dixone, K. (2008). ePortfolios: Beyond assessment to empowerment in the
learning landscape. [PDF] Proceedings
Ascilite Melborne, 2008 pp. 750-760.
Retrieved from http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/melbourne08/procs/pelliccione.pdf
Schrager,
S. (n.d.). What is an academic portfolio? [web powerpoint] Retrieved from https://inside.fammed.wisc.edu/system/files/dmt/academicportfolio.ppt
Wickersham,
L., Chambers, S. (2006). ePortfolios: Using technology to enhance and assess
learner learning. Education, 126 (4),
738-746.
Reflection – Creating an academic ePortfolio – Questions
that remain…
When thinking about the process of creating and value in
having an academic ePortfolio, I find myself wondering about the following:
1.
Is there an ideal amount of time to wait between
reflections to be able to see growth?
2.
When institutions require faculty to develop a
portfolio for professional development and performance reviews, do institutions
typically provide training opportunities? How readily can help be
accessed when problems occur?
3.
How much ‘push back’ from faculty does
administration get from tenured faculty when introducing an ePortfolio
initiative?
4.
Even though ePortfolios appear to be the latest
‘bandwagon’ for learning, how much evidence is there to determine long-term
effectiveness?
5.
What will happen to ‘current’ ePortfolios when
learning management systems are discontinued or merged with another one?
6.
If I would have used a system such as Mendeley,
does a ‘viewer’ have to download that to view my ePortfolio?
7.
Is the outcome from ‘transferring a current
paper portfolio’ into digital format worth the time and effort to scan the
documents and to learn how to develop an ePortfolio for those with limited
technological skills? Has this been seriously considered? If so,
how do we know this?
8.
When presenting an ePortfolio, it seems
unrealistic to expect administrators, who are already overworked, to have the
time to review the reflections, the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ for the ‘what’.
So might it not be as effective for faculty to submit a shorter piece of
writing to include a personal discussion related to past goals, a reflection of
learning, challenges, successes, and growth along with a summary of new
goals?
9.
If I need to make my ePortfolio accessible for
others to read, will I be able to monitor who accesses my information?
What are my concerns about this?
10.
Will the angst and long hours spent developing
an ePortfolio prove to have personal value for the creator beyond contemplating
‘old learning demons’ and the just-in-time learning that comes in creating the
ePortfolio versus the ‘old-fashioned’ ways of evaluating, reflecting, and
submitting analysis of performance for reviews and yearly goal-setting?
11.
Because I am not yet convinced of the value of
learning in relation to time and effort spent to create an ePortfolio, how
might I adapt the concept without requiring students to ‘design’ a blog or
ePortfolio?
12.
At UFV, we may not use ‘public’ sites due to
privacy issues, so is there an ePortfolio template in Blackboard that is
amenable for students to use? If so, how do students transfer their
completed assignments to a different format after leaving UFV, or can they?
13.
Finally, if I have an ePortfolio, will I use it
effectively and update it at regular intervals?
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