ePortfolio: Making Learning Visible and Accessible

Professional Leave Report

Submitted by Jennifer Wu
North Seattle Community College

                                         

ePortfolio FAQ for the Accoounting A-Team

NSCC Essential Learning Outcomes (ELO) Matrix ePortfolio Publication

A Student ePortfolio with Artifacts and Reflection (Michelle Yong)     

A Sample Student ePortfolio

 

"The portfolio has been so useful in helping me realize what skills I've learned through the experiences I've had and classes I've taken. Having my classes and jobs organized according to the skills I've gained from them allows me to see what I've actually accomplished through my education.... It brings a whole new way of thinking about classes; instead of just evaluating success through test scores and completed requirements. I'm seeing what valuable skills I've gained that will help me in the future"  - a Florida State University student (www.career.fsu.edu/techcenter/pdf/NCEPR.doc)

 

The concept of portfolio has been adopted in the academic field for some time as a device to present student work, such as writing samples and art work. With advances in computer and multimedia technology, portfolios have gone digital.  In the past two decade, there is a growing interest in ePortfolios among educational institutions ranging from elementary schools to professional graduate programs.  There are numerous ePortfolio websites created by colleges and universities around the world to demonstrate the innovative and diverse models of ePortfolio applications. (See Appendix)

 

My professional leave research focuses on the application of ePortfolio as a tool to enhance learning and teaching.  I reviewed some literature and visited many educational ePortfolio websites.  I created an ePortfolio prototype and shared it with a group of district librarians at our September meeting to gauge interest in ePortfolios.  In the fall quarter, I used a small cohort of accounting students to field test the ANGEL ePortfolio process and fine tune my ePortfolio instructional materials. (See FAQ)  I plan to incorporate ePortfolio activities into my Research in Electronic Environment (LIB 150) online course in winter.  My research findings will be shared with campus groups and with statewide faculty groups.

 

DEFINING EPORTFOLIOS

An ePortfolio provides both students and an institution a digital archive to collect evidence of educational growth and assessment.  Below are two sample definitions:

 

The multiple purposes of ePortfolios

 

ePortfolios are used to archive student work, reflect on learning, provide feedback for improvement, and showcase achievements for accountability.  “E-portfolios are an NLII key theme because their use has the potential to transform teaching and learning so that it is more learner centered and outcomes oriented.”  (EDUCAUSE)  According to Helen Barrett, ePortfolios can be used both as assessment FOR learning at an individual level and as assessment OF learning at an institutional level.  The balancing act can be challenging and there are opportunity costs of emphasizing one or the other.  

 

Student

A learner-centered ePortfolio provides a fuller picture of the student than grades on a transcript.  Students prove what they know with their work samples, reflect on what and how they learn, observe their own growth over time, and develop strategies to progress toward specific learning outcomes.  They can create and customize different ePortfolios to showcase their specific knowledge, skill sets and aptitudes to transfer institutions and potential employers.  ePortfolios can help students develop their creativity, critical-thinking and presentation skills.

 

Faculty

ePortfolios can be used by faculty to better understand individual students’ learning progress, adjust instruction and provide formative feedback based on assessment data and their reflections to guide students.

 

Institutional

Student ePortfolios can be linked to program and institutional learning outcomes, standards and rubrics.   Institutional ePortfolios can be used as a summative assessment tool to document achievement of standards for program self-study and accreditation review. 

 

Eportfolio options and considerations

 

Below are three main options and considerations in choosing an ePorfolio system:

 

In 2009 the college switched to the ANGEL Learning which is also the only eLearning system subsidized and supported by the statewide CTC system.  I decided to focus my research on ANGEL ePortfolio.  I also investigated the potential of the free, fast-evolving Google Apps Education Edition which is a free suite of hosted communication, authoring and collaboration applications designed for schools and universities.  It features Google’s free tools such as Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, GTalk, and Sites (wiki).  Google Apps Education Edition is gaining popularity as an ePortfolio platform among educational institutions.

 

The strengths and weaknesses of ANGEL and Google Apps are listed below:

 

ANGEL ePortfolio

Pros:

.

Cons

 

Google APPS

Pros

 

Cons

·         Need high speed Internet connection.

·         Using Google Site for setting up ePortfolios does not have the comprehensiveness and interconnectivity as ANGEL ePorfolio offers.

·         An institution may need to set up separate spreadsheets or databases to sustain aggregate data.

·         The numbers of Google Docs, Google Calendar, or Google spreadsheet users on campus may be small at this time.  Probably no one on campus has set up a Google site at this time. 

 

Questions and Issues

Based on my own experience on creating Angel ePortfolios, student feedback from the pilot group, and review of other educational ePortfolio sites, I list the following questions and issues for consideration:

 

RESOURCES

American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) will hold an E-Portfolio Assessment Focus of 2010 symposium at their annual meeting in January 2010.  <http://campaign.aacu.org:81/CT00027901MjM4MDEw.HTML>

Barrert, Helen. electronicportfolios.org. N.p., Sept. 2009. Web. 11 Dec. 2010. <http://www.electronicportfolios.org>.

"ePortfolio Compilations of Resources." EPAC Electronic Portfolio Action and  Communication. Stanford University and K-20 California Educational Technology Collaborative, 4 Jan. 2010. Web. 7 Jan. 2010.  <http://epac.pbworks.com/ePortfolio-Compilations-of-Resources>.

ePortfolio of ePortfolios. Washington State University, n.d. Web. 23 Dec. 2009.
<https://teamsite.oue.wsu.edu/progeval/eport/default.aspx>.

Shavelson, Richard J., Stephen Klein and Roger Benjamin.  “The Limitations of Portfolios.”  Inside Higher Education.  Blog.  October 16, 2009.  <http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2009/10/16/shavelson>  See also Comments.   

Lorenzo, George, and John Ittelson. "An Overview of ePortfolio." EDUCAUSE.
 EDUCAUSE, July 2005. Web. 11 Jan. 2010. <http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI3002.pdf>.     

Yancey, Kathleen Blake, Kathleen Blake, and Kathleen Blake • Yancey. "Electronic
  Portfolios a Decade into the Twenty-first Century: What We Know, What We
  Need to Know." Peer Review 11.1 (2009): 28-32. ProQuest Direct. Education Module, Web. 21
  Dec. 2009.

 Zubizarreta, John. The Learning Portfolio: Reflective Practice for Improving
  Student Learning. N.p.: Jossey-Bass, 2009. Print.
 

APPENDIX

Examples Around the Nation (Click the graphic to visit the site.)

 

 

·         www.eportfolio.lagcc.cuny.edu

·        
http://eportfolio.citytech.cuny.edu/ePortfolio_examples.shtml

 

·        
http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/angel/students/ePortfolio/index.html

·         http://teachingcommons.cdl.edu/eportfo

·          

·          http://eportfolio.sfsu.edu/

 

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Special thanks to Ron Woods and his accounting student cohort for pilot testing the ANGEL ePortfolio process.  Their questions and input guide my preparation of the ePortfolio FAQ and the how-to guides. 

 

ePortfolio_JWu.htm,   Jan. 10, 2010.  Rev. Jan. 24, 2010.