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)
"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.cfa.arizona.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.