E-Portfolios in Higher Education: Case Study & Literature Review

Stefanie Panke

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Center for Faculty Excellence

2016

E-Portfolios in Higher Education:

Case Study & Literature Review

E-Portfolios in Higher Education

Originated in art-related programs, adopted in multiple domains since the mid 1990s (Lorenzo & Ittelson, 2005).

We are on the ‘brink of an era of expanded adoption and impact of e-portfolios’ (Kahn, 2014).

57 % of US postsecondary institutions made some use of e-portfolios (ECAR, 2013).

ECR 2015: e-portfolios as ‘technologies may be achieving their potential’.

What are e-portfolios?

Systematically curated exhibition of learning products

Title: Square 1Description:Discuss, Share Reflect

Types of Portfolios (Hewett, 2004)

• Documentation portfolios: growth toward learning goals

• Process portfolios: phases of the learning process

• Showcase portfolios: accomplishments and competences

From ‘assessment of learning’ towards ‘assessment for learning’

Knowledge imparted by the instructor (input)

Competencies students can apply (output).

Carolina MPA E-Portfolios (2014)

• Graduation requirement

• Campus-wide WordPress Multisite

• PUBA 746 portfolio course (peer feedback/ milestones)

• Portfolio Guide

• Competence Memo

• Portfolio Assessment Rubric

Competence-based Curriculum

http://mpa.unc.edu

Integrated, complex construct of knowledge, skills and attitudes that can be used in order to solve arising problems and succeed in handling (new) situations (Baartman et al., 2007).

Combination of knowledge, skills, understanding, values, attitudes and desires, which lead to effective, embodied human action in the world, in a particular domain. (Buckingham et al., 2012)

• Peer-reviewed articles

• Higher education context

• 2004-2014• Instructional context

information • Empirical data on

portfolio outcomes

Literature Review

Portfolio Goals

• Accreditation standards

• Reflection, self-regulation, metacognitive awareness

• Reflective leadership / professionalism

• Community of Practice

• Student autonomy

• Employability

Curricular Integration

1 2

3

Facilitation & Scaffolds

• Portfolio guides

• Rubrics

• Frequent instructor feedback

• Technical support

• Portfolio workshops

• Peer learning opportunities

Tools and Infrastructure

• Portfolio systems (Mahara, PebblePad)

• HTML editors

• Blogs

• Wikis

• GoogleSites

• PowerPoint

• Word

Assessment

• Why and how to re-assess graded assignments?

• How to establish fair / transparent criteria?

• Rubrics• Evaluation templates• Student-developed

criteria

Benefits of e-portfolios

• Encouraging reflection (Roberts, Maor & Herrington, 2013).

• Promoting self-regulation (Abrami et al, 2008, Meyer at al, 2010).

• Improving knowledge management (Chang, Tseng, Liang & Chen, 2013).

• Acknowledging diversity and transfer learning (O’Toole, 2013).

Benefits of e-portfolios

• Fostering digital literacy /multimedia storytelling (Wakimoto & Lewis, 2014).

• Supporting career development (Reese & Levy, 2009).

• Strengthening organizational ties (cf. Lorenzo & Ittelson, 2005; Reese & Levy, 2009).

Reflective Leadership and Professionalism

• Enter shared-goal conversation that values the leader and his or her expertise (Hyland & Kranzow, 2012)

• Fostering critical reflection as means of developing expertise, critical self-surveillance whereby professional experiences are revisited and explored (McNeill, Brown & Shaw, 2010).

Barriers to Implementation & Use

• Implementing e-portfolios is a complex process fraught with challenges and dilemmas (Chau & Cheng, 2010).

• The promotion of reflective thinking and practice are not an automatic result of creating a portfolio (Wray, 2007).

Barriers to Implementation & Use

• Tensions between personal reflection and institutional requirements (Tosh, Light, Fleming & Haywood, 2005)

• Written reflection vs. metacognitive processes (McNeill, Brown & Shaw, 2010)

• Unclear expectations and assessment strategies

• Conflicting portfolio goals

Portfolio Evaluation (2014)

• Faculty focus group • Course evaluation

results PUBA 746 • Student online survey. • Participants:

• 18 students (15 female, 3 male)

• 17 faculty members (10 female, 7 male).

Student Online Survey

• Administered July 2014, 2 month after graduation

• Survey software Qualtrics

• Incentive $10 gift certificate

• 23 Likert scale items: Strongly Disagree (1) -Strongly Agree (6)

• 3 open-ended questions• 15/18 students (83%)

http://tinyurl.com/nzk7lr6

Learning Trajectories and Transfer Learning

• 60% included products created outside class. • 73% agree that the portfolio brings together

classroom learning with professional experiences and personal background.

• 2% plan to use the portfolio in the future.

Foster Digital Literacy

% who agree or strongly agree• Web publishing is an important skill: 73% • The portfolio has improved

the general technical abilities to develop a professional website: 1%

• It was easy to set upthe portfolio in WordPress: 53%

Support Career Prospects

• Only one student shared the portfolio with a potential employer.

• ‘It's too personal. Changing the portfolio to be less introspective would make it a less useful assignment, though’.

• ‘By the time I could share the portfolio, I had a job’.

Assessment

Students diagreed:• that the assessment process was fair: 40% • that they received helpful feedback: 33% • that the committee reviewed thoroughly: 33% • ‘a bit of inconsistency with the expectations of

different faculty committees made the process seem unfair’.

• ‘by allowing us to put as much material in the portfolio as we wanted, it was simply too much for them to review’.

Reflection

• 80% were proud of their portfolio. • 93% agreed that the portfolio process prompted

them to reflect their competencies as public service leaders.

• ‘extremely worthwhile exercise’.• ‘excellent opportunity to increase self-awareness

and plan for future development’ • ‘Overall, the portfolio did help me reflect on what

I learned in the program’.• ‘I appreciated the flexibility we were given to

design our portfolios to reflect our strengths’.

Summary

• Faux reflection based on institutional requirements

• Consistency in assessment: clear and shared expectations

• Increased ownership: Roadmap for future use of portfolio?

• Balance between structure and autonomy during portfolio process

• Learning opportunities for students and program leadership / faculty

• Dialogue on how to interpret central learning outcomes of the program

• Bridge between classroom reality and professional experiences

• Reflective Leadership • Peer Learning Community

through shared portfolios within cohort

Conclusion

• Diverse landscape

• Various infrastructures

• Differences in curricular integration

• Best practices for instructional orchestration

• Assessment challenging

• No silver bullet for student autonomy and reflection

Further Resources

http://www.theijep.com

Further Resources

https://www.aacu.org/publications-research/periodicals/e-portfolios-look-where-weve-been-where-we-are-now-and-where-were