2011 UAA e-portfolio Summer institute

1. 2011 UAA e-portfolio Summer institute

2. Presentation for UAA E-portfolio Summer Institute 9 May 2011 Dr. Bart Quimby, P.E., F.ASCE Eportfolios

3. Goals of Institute(as determined by groups)

4. What is a Portfolio? • a set of pieces of creative work collected to be shown to potential customers or employers; "the artist had put together a portfolio of his work"; "every actor has a portfolio of photographs" http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=portfolio • A collection of evidence organized to demonstrate competence

5. What is an “e-portfolio”? • “A digitized collection of artifacts, including demonstrations, resources, and accomplishments that represent an individual, group, or institution.” (Lorenzo & Ittelson, 2005) • An electronic portfolio, also known as an e-portfolio or digital portfolio, is a collection of electronic evidence assembled and managed by a user, usually on the Web. ... E-portfolios are both demonstrations of the user's abilities and platforms for self-expression, and, if they are online, they can be maintained dynamically over time. …. An e-portfolio can be seen as a type of learning record that provides actual evidence of achievement. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_portfolio

6. Portfolios need purpose • The purpose is generally defined either explicitly or implicitly by the audience: What are you trying to demonstrate to the audience? • Typical purposes come from: • A set of learning outcomes and their associated defined competencies • Expectations of the audience

7. What goes into a portfolio • The basic essential components are: • Artifacts: Actual examples of competency • Reflection: Narrative of what the artifacts really mean relative to the required competencies • Other options • Definition of Purpose: What is the objective of this portfolio or portfolio entry? • Feedback: This comes from the audience • Profile information

8. Artifacts • “… learning occurs in many places, takes many forms, and is exhibited through many modes of representation.” (AAC&U, Electronic Portfolios and Student Success) • Evidence of competency • Should be original work products which clearly demonstrate abilities and competency • Should limit the number of artifacts to just those necessary to inspire confidence of one’s abilities in their audience • A single artifact can usually be used to demonstrate more than one competency

9. Reflection • Reflection is essential for making sense out of your artifacts—both to you and your audience • A narrative which makes the case for your opinion of your own competence perception • “If you haven’t written it, you haven’t thought it.”—Will Jacobs, UAA History Professor • Good reflections require good communication skills

10. Definition of Purpose • Obtained from faculty • Derived from outcomes • HOW it’s scaffolded is important • CE A433 example

11. Feedback • Feedback is essential to getting buy in from students. • Feedback must be constructive and instructional. • Example from CE A432

12. So… Why Eportfolios? • “An ePortfolio helps substantiate your claims of achievements, strengths and potential by incorporating appropriate evidence. ePortfolios facilitate the process and documentation of whole-person development and life-long learning.” http://sites.google.com/site/cityueportfolio/Home/why-eportfolio

13. Miller and Morgaine, peer review, winter 2009 • Students generally use e-portfolios to collect their work, reflect upon strengths and weaknesses, and strive to improve. Equally beneficial are the data that faculty, departments, and institutions derive when they assess the work in portfolios, reflect upon it in curricular contexts, and use the data and reflections to plan for improvement. E-portfolios provide a rich resource for both students and faculty to learn about achievement of important outcomes over time, make connections among disparate parts of the curriculum, gain insights leading to improvement, and develop identities as learners or as facilitators of learning.

14. Focus, Synthesize, and Report Learning • “Electronic portfolios are emerging on campuses across the country as a means for students to reflect systematically on their own learning; for faculty to represent and evaluate multimodal ways for students to demonstrate their learning through text, performance, and visual or audio media; and for institutions and programs to assess, document, and share student learning through the curriculum and cocurriculum.” (AAC&U, Electronic Portfolios and Student Success.)

15. Enhancing Learning Through Ownership • Several researchers report that students tend to take more ownership for their own education when they understand where it is heading and they get the opportunity to document their progress towards the goal. • They understand the ‘why’ of what they are doing.

16. Process & Product • Much of the value comes from the process of portfolio process (“Folio Thinking”) • Deeper learning and knowledge transfer “by fostering the student’s ability to make connections between his or her learning experiences in a variety of classroom, workplace, and community settings” (AAC&U, Electronic Portfolios and Student Success.)

17. Try a web search on “why eportfolios” • Enhances learning • Holistic view of learning • Puts learning in perspective by helping learners make connections between learning experiences • Document achievements, strengths and potential with evidence. • For academic or professional purposes • Creates a digital identity • Shows the world your digital identity

18. The Three Uses of E-portfolios • Teaching & Learning • Helps students document their progress towards attaining the attributes for which their program is designed. • Assessment • When centered on expected outcomes , it is possible to see if students are—in fact—becoming what your program wants them to become. • Showcasing • Use for showing interested parties (family, friends, employers, etc) what the learner is capable of.

19. Teaching & Learning • “The Quebec Education Program lists the following as possible advantages of portfolios, they: involve students in their learning (as a tool for reflection); allow students to increase their ability to self-evaluate; teach students to make choices; encourage students to better understand themselves and focus on their strengths; allow students to reflect on their procedures, strategies, and accomplishments so that they can improve and correct them and ultimately succeed; promote feedback during the learning process, particularly during individual conferences; encourage students to reflect on their strengths, needs, errors, interests, challenges, and objectives; encourage interactive processes among students, teachers, and parents; shows student progress because it tracks performance over time; and they are used to assess competencies developed by students.” • http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Learning_e-portfolio

20. More Teaching & Learning • Allows students to “integrate their learning across courses, programs, curricula, and years.” (AAC&U, Electronic Portfolios and Student Success) • Allows students to integrate their formal and informal learning experiences. (AAC&U, Electronic Portfolios and Student Success) • PWSCC reports that general education portfolios have helped their students to see the reason for and connection between the required courses.

21. Characteristics of Good Assessments (AAC&U, Electronic Portfolios and Student Success) • Grounded in work students are already asked to do • “The work that we ask our students to do should and can be the basis for assessing their learning.” • Guided by aims and outcomes • Consistent with clearly articulated expectations • Focused on student’s best work • Evaluated at multiple points • Communicated in meaningful ways

22. Assessment • E-portfolios are being viewed as an excellent way to assess student attainment of course, program, or institutional outcomes. • They provide a holistic view of a student’s learning and abilities. • They allow students to pull together evidence from multiple sources to demonstrate how well they attain the skills and abilities for which a program of study is preparing them. • They allow mobile students to connect learning from multiple institutions and experiences to demonstrate attainment of outcomes.

23. Showcasing • Students can express their learning and accomplishments • Allows student to demonstrate to faculty, family, friends, etc… their accomplishments • Allows institutions to demonstrate what the results of their teaching efforts through the accomplishments of individual students.

24. Central Issues to E-portfolio implementation(AAC&U, Electronic Portfolios and Student Success) • Defining Learning Outcomes • Understanding your Learners • Identifying Stakeholders • Designing Learning Activities • Including Multiple Forms of Evidence • Using Rubrics to Evaluate E-portfolios • Anticipating External Uses of Evidence • Evaluating the Impact of E-portfolios

25. Who does the work? • Faculty design the framework and define content • Students create the actual portfolio and populate the electronic portfolio with their work. • Student ownership of the portfolio appears to be a key concept • Faculty assess and give feedback to student, develop opinions of program performance, and report on student performance to stakeholders

26. “The electronic portfolio holds the promise of enriching our understanding of learning, communicating the dimensions of that learning, and creating a powerful mechanism for engaging students, faculty, employers, and policy makers in the exploration of what is important for all our students to know and be able to demonstrate for civic discourse, economic health, and global engagement.” Terrel L. Rhodes, AAC&U, Electronic Portfolios and Student Success

27. Presentation for UAA E-portfolio Summer Institute 9 May 2011 Dr. Bart Quimby, P.E., F.ASCE E-portfolio Platforms

28. “Free” Eportfolio Platforms • Mahara • http://eport.uaa.alaska.edu/mahara/ • Adobe Acrobat • Google Sites • http://sites.google.com • Lots more out there but most are not freely available • Develop your own • UAA CCEL Portfolio

29. Using Mahara • Artifacts • uploaded into a file structure • Views • The basic portfolio pages—each has an outcome or competency which it is trying to demonstrate. • Can draw on uploaded artifacts as well as external content (youtube, blogs, websites, etc.) • Can add other features—such as text boxes—where you can write reflective statements • Collections • Collections of views which work together to address an audience.

30. Artifact Storage Area Artifact Artifact Artifact Artifact Artifact Artifact Artifact View Problem Statement View Problem Statement Artifact Artifact View Problem Statement Artifact Artifact External Content Artifact Artifact Collection External Content Reflective Statement External Content Reflective Statement Reflective Statement

31. Steps to creating a portfolio • Determine what it is you are trying to prove/demonstrate • In a class, find out what the teacher’s expectations are (i.e. what are the course outcomes? Or, what is the specific assignment? What does the instructor need to see in order to give you a grade?) • For job hunting, find out what the typical knowledge and skills need for the position you are seeking. • For showcasing, determine the point you want to make.

32. Creating a portfolio (continued) • Assemble the artifacts • Upload—as necessary—the key artifacts which demonstrate the required competence. • Don’t upload everything you’ve ever done. • Organize the artifacts • In mahara, this is creating a view. Include only those items which can be used to demonstrate you’ve met the objective of the view. • It is good practice to state what you are trying to do (i.e. put in the outcome and competencies so the reader knows what you are trying to prove)

33. Creating a portfolio (continued) • Reflect on how the artifacts make the case for meeting the objectives/outcomes/required competencies • Insert a text box in the view with your reflective statement • It’s a good idea to have someone review your narrative to make sure it makes sense • Use those writing skills you’ve learned in your English courses – not typical facebook language!

34. Creating a portfolio (continued) • Organize your views into a collection • Once you get a few views, put them in a collection • A collection has all the views needed to address a particular audience on a particular subject. • Share your views and collections • In mahara, the portfolio owner has complete control over who gets to see your work. • Can submit views to “groups” for evaluation.

35. Instructor Feedback / Grading Anna View View View View View Group Group Owner (Instructor) Michael View View View View View Brittany View View View View View Once submitted, views cannot be changed until they are released by the Group Owner

36. Demonstration & Practice • This is the part where YOU get to play with the system. • http://eport.uaa.alaska.edu/mahara • More online information (including an instructional video) on the CE A433 website: • http://anc-tbquimby01.uaa.alaska.edu/courses/11CE433/index.php?q=node/47

37. Adobe Professional • Not an on-line option • Creates a large PDF file which can be transferred as a single file. • Allows you