Darren Cambridge, George
Mason University, and Steve Ehrmann, TLT Group
Educators
exploring the use of eportfolios on their campuses often
begin with two assumptions: First, they believe that
using eportfolios will require a significant departure
from existing educational practice, and, second, they
believe that there is little research and few documented
models in which to draw. In fact, many of the most
promising applications of eportfolios build on
educational activities many faculty and staff already
value and are engaged in with students, and there is a
growing body of research and narratives of practice that
can guide them in using eportfolios effectively to
support them. It may become easier to see these
connections once national and international practices
for measuring the learning represented in eportfolios
are available.
This
workshop will deal with three major issues:
a) What activities are participants already invested in that
ePortfolios might support?
b) How have other campuses and programs been using
ePortfolios to support these activities, and how
successful have they been?
c) How can we measure the learning that ePortfolios capture
in a way that helps us make connections across
disciplines and institutions?
Course
Outline
Week 1, November 4
Eportfolio Capabilities and Educational
Activities
This week we will:
-
Define key
capabilities of eportfolio software and the
eportfolio genre, drawing on findings from the
Inter/National Coalition for Electronic Portfolio
Research
-
Identify
educational activities already underway at
participant's campuses, both curricular and
co-curricular, that relate to these capabilities,
taking into account disciplinary differences and the
existing roles of technology
-
Discuss
how ePortfolio use might enhance and extent these
activities
Week 2,
November 11
Models of and Research on Eportfolio
Practice
This week we will:
-
Examine
cases of institutions and programs using eportfolios
to support the educationally purposeful activites
identified as important to participants in Week 1.
-
Discuss
research on the application of eportfolios to these
activities.
-
Develop
strategies for using these models and findings to
guide the use of eportfolios on participants'
campuses.
Week 3,
November 18
Comparable Assessment of Eportfolios as
Evidence of Learning
This week we will:
-
Use
assessment rubrics from
AAC&U's VALUE project that correspond most
closely with the participants' chosen activities to
score actual student portfolios.
-
Discuss
our experience of the assessment process and the
appropriateness of the rubrics to our institutional
an programmatic contexts with leaders of the VALUE
project.
Participants for this
Workshop:
-
This
workshop will be most useful to faculty, learning
support staff, academic technologists, librarians,
and academic administrators leading or considering
the use of ePortfolios beyond the context of an
individual course at their institutions.
-
To get
the most out of the workshop, participants will need
to spend about 30 minutes each week reading
materials and viewing examples. Actually
implementing an ePortfolio initiative can take as
much time as there is in the day and then some.
However, participants should come away with insights
that inform their individual practice as learners
and teachers that may prove useful in less formal
engagements.
