Eportfolio, General Education, & Undergraduate Learning Goals

1. Eportfolio, General Education, & Undergraduate Learning Goals An ePortfolio and Learning Goal Matrix Case Study

2. Nicholas Schiller • Library Instruction Coordinator • Library Faculty, Reference Librarian • Information Literacy Instruction • Instructor for GE 101/301 • Also teach technology seminars • As part of the GE 101/301 course • VIS Workshops • schiller@vancouver.wsu.edu • http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/schiller/nicholas.html

3. Slides on the Web For those viewing these slides on the web, please feel free to contact me with questions about the content. The slides themselves give a basic outline of my presentation at the Educause Western Regional Conference 2007, but for specific details or explanations, please give me a call or send an email. ~Nicholas Schiller

4. My Roles with the ePortfolio • Instruction Librarian • Information literacy sessions • Classroom Instructor • GE 101 (1st year) • GE 301 (3rd year transfers) • Technology Seminar Instructor • Technology fluency sessions

5. About our Campus • Urban (regional) campus in the Washington State University system • Enrollment 2,300 (1,667 FTE) • Young Campus • First courses held in 1990 • Campus opened in 1996 • Lower Division students added • Fall 2006

6. The Path to the ePortfolio Preparing for Lower Division Students & General Education

7. Timeline • January 2005: Lower-division planning committee launched • April 24, 2005: Funding for lower-division approved by the legislature • Fall 2005: ePortfolio planning committee launched • August 2006: First class of freshman students appear on campus

8. General Education Program • Learning Goals • Series of courses • GE 101/301, GE 303, GE 401 • ePortfolio platform • Learning goal matrix

9. The Learning Goals Critical Thinking Information Literacy Quantitative and Symbolic Reasoning Communication Self in Society Specialty http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/gen_ed/learning%20goals.html

10. General Education Series • GE 101/301: Introduction to the University Learning Goals • Introduction to the ePortfolio • GE 303: Research across the disciplines • Learning goals in specific context • GE 401: ePortfolios for the real world • Using the ePortfolio to create a resume

11. The Learning Goal Matrix • Students attach documents from their course work to specific learning goal • Students write brief essays explaining why their documents provide evidence of mastery of the learning goal • This process is repeated in all three courses (101/301, 303, &401), providing snapshots of progress throughout the undergraduate experience

13. Selecting an ePortfolio: Choosing a platform that met our needs

14. ePortfolio Selection Major factors in ePortfolio selection: • Learning Goal Matrix • Live in August 2006 • Must be turn-key (no in-house development or programming) • Campus philosophy embracing open-source (faculty) • Desire for a product with a proven track record

15. OSP/Sakai/rSmart • Learning Goal Matrix • Local University had a positive experience with OSP/Sakai/rSmart • Center for Teaching & Learning Technology • Pullman center exploring OSP at the time • Ability to grow • Development and hosting can be brought in-house, eventually

16. Competing Products? • Some discussion of Sharepoint • Deliberations ceased once it was determined that contracting with rSmart to develop OSP would provide us with a turnkey ePortfolio live in August 2006

17. The ePortfolio in practice: Observations, results, & assessment

19. Outcomes • GE 101 • Introducing the ePortfolio • Student understanding and buy-in is key • The have been trained how to write essays and take multiple choice exams • Learning how to assess and defend their own work is a similar skill • Having a 1 credit introduction to ePortfolio course helpful to that end

20. Outcomes • Changes to GE 101/301 after Fall Semester • Focused on the learning goals • Each week students wrote essays on a specific learning goal • Not well received by transfer juniors • Self assessment did not match our assessment

21. Outcomes • Changes for Spring Semester • Each course chose a theme • Biotech foods • Intellectual property • Climate change • Police violence • Learning goals were presented in assignments related to the course topic • Care was taken to remind students that the course was about the learning goals, not the theme

22. Outcomes • GE 303 (completed last week) • Familiarity with the ePortfolio and the matrix freed students to focus on the course material

23. Outcomes Other GE courses • ePortfolio use required (no matrix) • Popular (well received) • Course Management Light • Discussion forum most heavily used module • Helps get student documents into their repositories

24. Assessment • Pending • External reviewers evaluated certain matrix cells from Fall semster GE 101/301 courses

25. Review Rubric From: Phelps, S. F. and Diller, K. R. (2007). Transforming the library: Applying multiple assessment methodologies to library instruction and planning. Pre-publication Manuscript

26. For more details • Contact me • schiller@vancouver.wsu.edu • http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/schiller/nicholas.html • 360 546 9171 • Contact Karen Diller • diller@vancouver.wsu.edu • http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/diller/home.html • 360 546 0981