Evidence-Based Medicine at KCC …...previously seen as disparate facets!of their lives. E-Portfolios can facilitate the integration of student onal, professional, and personal life

Chancellor’s Newsletter Issue No. 3, 1/17/2014

Evidence-Based Medicine at KCC

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Jung Eun Kim (Instructor, Respiratory Care) explains that the purpose of the 12/11/13 research poster session was to provide Respiratory Care Practitioner students with the opportunity to explain and discuss their research experiences in terms of evidence-based medicine (EBM), which they have to practice in their health care profession.

The 1st-year students worked on the assignment in RESP 201 (Cardiopulmonary Anatomy and Physiology) throughout the fall 2013 semester. Each student chose a respiratory-related medical problem to research, such as issues related to pneumonia, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pulmonary tuberculosis, etc.

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Berestecky (Professor, Math/Science) reports, “Education in Liberia is revered and desired; but although there has been a proliferation of schools, secondary and primary, there are not enough teachers for

the number of students. You end up with a high school diploma that is not worth much.” He explained that all West African students must take the West African Education Council

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(WAEC) exam at the end of high school. There are three levels or divisions. Of the approximate 27,000 students that took the test in 2012, while 18,523 (69.3%) of the candidates made a successful pass, no one passed at the Division 1 level, the skill level necessary to be able to pass the University entrance exam test. According to Berestecky, “This is an indication of the problems in education.”

John Berestecky in Liberia: Part II

Issue No. 3, January 17, 2014

Contents

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Evidence Based Medicine at KCC

EPortfolio Opportunities at KCC

John Berestecky in Liberia: Part II

Faculty/Staff Spring 2014 Convocation

(Continued on page 2)

Tyson Cagasan explains his research on the effects of Smoking Cigarettes on Asthma

Fu Hua Chu discusses her research into Smoking and Lung Cancer with Chancellor Richards

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Student Success Survey

Research by Biology Lab Students

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Chancellor’s Newsletter

Issue No. 3, 1/17/2014

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Berestecky stated that although some questioned the WAEC high school Division 1 results, he thought they

Liberian students sitting university entrance exams at GW Gibson high school in Monrovia, Liberia. Photograph: Ahmed Jallanzo/EPA

were corroborated by what happened with the University of Liberia’s entrance exam for 2013. No one passed it either! This caused a national furor. In response, UPI News reported, that “ the President of Liberia, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said the country's education system “… is in a mess 10 years after a brutal civil war ended there. Many schools lack basic education materials

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and teachers are poorly qualified...”

To Berestecky, all of this meant that the overcrowded university might not have any new first-year students when it reopened in September 2013, and therefore, would reduce class size. He explained, “Last year 2,158 students were admitted as Biology majors alone. The Biology department did not have faculty, classrooms, or equipment for that many students – sections of the freshman biology classes were increased to 120 students per class. In 2012, the University was pressured politically to accept the student regardless of the test scores.

Applicants have expressed outrage at the result, accusing university officials of pocketing exam fees and then denying them admission in a bid to address overcrowding on campus.

According to Berestecky, “the education industry in Liberia runs substandard schools with many unqualified teachers; and the government schools are understaffed.” The real culprit he suggests, is the private schools. “Private schools turn out graduates but there are not jobs for them. They award diplomas that have no meaning. The politicians then put pressure on the University to let these students into college.” University spokesman Momodu Getaweh told the BBC, "In English, the mechanics of the language, they didn't know anything about it. So the government has to do something." Berestecky’s account of University students is in agreement, i.e., “A large proportion of the students at the University find it difficult to read and write; they function around the 8th or 9th grade level; they speak pidgin English and spell phonetically, for example, I received an email from a student, ‘I tri call you on my phoe.’ ”

The presentations were visited by many of the faculty in attendance and rightfully so, as the two faculty members shared student ePortfolios, their expertise, and their enthusiasm for this educational process. What is so special about ePortfolios and what has been happening at KCC in this area?

According to Clark and Eynon (EPortfolios at 2.0-Surveying the Field. Peer Review, 11(1), 18-23, 2009) of LaGuardia CC, the growing interest in and efforts to support ePortfolios over the past 15 years includes educational, technological, political, and economic forces. First, there is the

EPortfolio Opportunities at KCC

Professor Susan Inouye demonstrates the attributes of Kukui, the KCC-developed ePortfolio platform

John Berestecky in Liberia: Part II (Continued from page 1)



The C4Ward Poster Session on 12/13/2013 included a variety of fascinating presentations, including two examples of the use of ePortfolios at KCC, one by Kawehi Sellers (Hospitality/Culinary) and the other by Patricia Taylor (Nursing).

growing importance of and interest in student-centered active learning that includes valuing student reflection and emphasizes the importance of helping students understand, utilize, and develop metacognitive skills. The authors state that defining students as creators of knowledge suggests that faculty can work with students as co-learners, both having the possibility of experiencing discovery, insight, and transformation. In the process of creating an ePortfolio, the student has the opportunity to integrate knowledge, experiences, and values, connecting learning across courses, disciplines and semesters and linking their classroom experiences with their real-world experiences.


Issue No. 3, 1/17/2014

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How was this situation resolved for 2013-14? In August 2013, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf held discussions with University officials and it was announced afterward that 1,800 students would be admitted. The University evidently lowered the standard for passage on the entrance exam (in English to 50% and Math to 40%) and accepted the students with the proviso that they must pass college-level English and Math classes before they can take degree required courses and petition for a major. Berestecky also reported about a similar situation that occurred at the national nursing and physician assistants’ school in 2013. At the Tubman National Institute of the Medical Arts, (TNIMA), “none of the high school graduates passed the entrance examination, TNIMA decided to place the students it did accept provisionally into a remedial Biology course before allowing entry into the nursing school.”

Two Tubman National Institute of Medical Arts (TNIMA) educators participating in a USAID project that embraces new methodologies to save lives by providing baccalaureate nursing and midwifery degree programs starting in October 2014.

Berestecky confided, “This is a malignant thing – pursuing education not for education but just to get a piece of paper – it is so important to many Liberians – it is their main goal – it is heartbreaking.” He said, “They start late; go back into school, then drop out because of no funding; and typically many in their mid-twenties go back to get a high school diploma. It sounds good but it isn’t because most of the high school diplomas aren’t worth much.” He said he had met one young man who was 25 years old and in the seventh grade who approached him asking if he would consider paying his school fees. When Berestecky asked him, “Why?” the student responded, “I want a high school diploma and then I want to go to university.” When Berestecky asked him what he wanted to study in college the young man responded, “sociology and demographics,” but when pressed, this aspiring student admitted that he wasn’t sure what these majors were, only that he understood that some relief organizations hire people with these majors. Berestecky commented, “To further this problem there are “few or no good teachers, facilities, resources, etc.; yet the goal for most high school students is a university education even though many if not most students come out of high school functionally illiterate yet, astoundingly in possession of a high school diploma.” Further, Berestecky observes, “What Liberia really needs are good trades people like electricians,



EPortfolio at KCC (Continued from page 2)

A second force supporting the growth of e-portfolio use is the explosion of digital communication technologies and their application to enhance every aspect of our society. Our students, in many cases regardless of age, walk the campus, eyes focused on their smart phones while communicating through Twitter and Facebook, reading their favorite blogs, watching the latest viral YouTube sensation, and texting everyone they know about their latest major event. Thus, using a digital portfolio for student learning speaks the language of today’s student body.

The pressure in higher education for increased accountability for student, course, program, and institutional outcomes creates a third force for increasing use of ePortfolios. At KCC, during our efforts over the past two-plus years to meet ACCJC standards, we have experienced this pressure. Also, our state legislature and the UHCC System have focused in recent years on Performance-Based Funding. The growth of ePortfolios has been attributed in part to their use for outcomes

assessment, which can assist KCC in meeting its Accreditation standards as well as its funding criteria. More basically to the educator, it is suggested that ePortfolios can

facilitate a more classroom-based and faculty-driven alternative to

traditional assessments by students documenting, organizing and reflecting on their work and linking it to course, program, and institutional competencies.

Finally, the ePortfolio movement also responds to increasing changeability in employment and education. Given that KCC is part of the UHCC system and many of our students take courses at more than one of our sister community colleges, ePortfolios allow students the opportunity to represent their learning and to have that codification available as they move from one college to another. Educators are being asked to educate “the whole student,” and to challenge students to integrate what was previously seen as disparate facets of their lives. E-Portfolios can facilitate the integration of student educational, professional, and personal life experiences throughout the lifelong learning process.

Sheryl Fuchino-Ishida (l), and Kawehi Sellers discuss outcomes and assessment activities at C4Ward Poster Session



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According to Susan Inouye, Professor, Languages, Linguistics, and Literature and KCC’s coordinator for ePortfolio, the College has been involved in the study and implementation of ePortfolio as a pedagogical process for approximately 10 years. When speaking of ePortfolio at KCC, Inouye first explains the role of faculty members such as Judi Kirkpatrick (English). In 2004, Kirkpatrick was part of a research group organized by the Inter/National Coalition for Electronic Portfolio Research (INCEPR), a non-profit organization dedicated to conducting research on the impact of e-portfolios on student learning and educational outcomes. In that year, Kirkpatrick’s Cohort II (2004-2008), which included Nawa‘a Napoleon (LLL), Lisa Kanae (LLL) and Kelli Goya (Kahikoluamea), focused on reflection in ePortfolios. Inouye was part of INCEPR’s Cohort V group (2008-2011), which focused on ePortfolio as a professional development venue. Inouye credits Kirkpatrick for getting her involved in the ePortfolio discussion on a national level and for suggesting the need to “bring ePortfolio to the forefront.” Inouye also points to the involvement of many other KCC faculty members in the use of ePortfolio to improve student learning, such as Frank Leake (Culinary) and Krista Hiser (Kahikoluamea). Both Sellers and Taylor began their interviews with appreciation for the work of Inouye and others at KCC who have supported their efforts and both spoke of ePortfolio as a teaching/ learning process with a passion that was infectious.

Sellers stated that she works with the Culinary and Hospitality students who are finishing their programs and will graduate after the internship course, HOST 293E, one of the last courses in their program. She had taught career portfolios previously but only hard copy portfolios submitted in three-ring binders. Sellers attended an ePortfolio

Conference with Inouye, and Dave Evans (Hospitality & Tourism), Kevin Andreshak (Center for Excellence in Learning, Teaching and Technology, CELTT), Kelli Goya, Jonathan Wong (Kahikoluamea), and Frank Haas (Hospitality, Business & Legal Education). She said that at the conference she learned that Clemson and Virginia Tech were doing great things with ePortfolios. Upon returning to KCC she realized that she wanted to incorporate ePortfolio into the internship course but had only three weeks to put the concept into her curriculum. KCC, at the time, had only Laulima and she felt it was not a suitable platform for ePortfolio. Thus, she turned to free platforms, e.g., Weebly, Wix, Google Sites, etc. You can find easy-to-follow tutorials on how to create an ePortfolio using these different platforms at the following sites, i.e.: Weebly (http://youtu.be/x7V59KwVzdc); Wix (http://youtu.be/1vSF_nuNahw); and Google Sites (http://youtu.be/CQbW_0i29Vk). There are many other free sites available also, including KCC’s developing Kukui site (http://kukui.kapiolani.hawaii.edu).

Inouye and Andreshak are available to assist faculty interested in using ePortfolios, in general, and will assist in the use of the College’s Kukui website. In addition, Andreshak and Inouye offer a series of ePortfolio workshops to faculty every semester, which cover the basics of the ePortfolio pedagogy as well as an introduction to the Kukui system.

Faculty/Staff 2014 Spring Convocation

Chancellor Richards’ presentation, Looking Forward: The Road A head, included the following priorities for 2014:

1. Enrollment Management and Marketing

2. Student Success Center

3. Career Services

4. Undergraduate Research

5. Funding Strategies

6. Professional Development

What?

Trude Pang is congratulated by Chancellor Richards during the

Spring Convocation for her 40 years of service to Kapiolani CC. This semester, Pang will be department chairperson for the Business, Legal, and Technology Department.


Students working on ePortfolios – Kukui (KCC ePortfolio platform) Home Page picture


40 years of Service


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Sellers decided to go forward as she was impressed with the teaching and learning possibilities presented by ePortfolios. She knew the content that was needed for an ePortfolio and believed the students could figure out how to use one of the free platforms available; she decided to learn how to use an ePortfolio platform along with her students. One interesting aspect of ePortfolio for the beginner is that you may find that you already possess all or most of the skills needed to create and develop an ePortfolio! You simply have to integrate these different computer-related skills and processes into one product and label it an ePortfolio. The label may be new but the skills for most computer users are not. For Sellers, she proceeded by putting students in small groups and asking each group to choose a platform for themselves. She did an ePortfolio for herself on teaching and service that was mirrored on the contract renewal dossier. Students had to create five work samples showcasing school, work, and their internship. The premise was, “You are showing this to a potential employer to showcase your academic talents and professional skills.” As a confirmation of faculty co-learning referred to by Clark and Eynon above, she said, “ I keep revising mine with the class each semester.” She tells her students, “I am on the journey with you.”

By fall 2012, Sellers had realized the power in what her students were doing. She exclaimed, “What they did surpassed my expectations! They stated their philosophies, used text, videos, hyperlinks and photo galleries to showcase their knowledge, talents, and skills.” Sellers later showed the student ePortfolios to the Hospitality Advisory Board and says, “They were floored. They were really impressed with the tool and saw the value when applying for jobs.” In fact, Sellers related that one of her former students, while in New York, contacted her last spring to inform her that she had just landed a job as a baker. Sellers said, “She wanted me to know that the employer said one of the reasons for hiring her was how she had presented herself through her ePortfolio.”

Sellers states that upon thinking about ePortfolios, “It is reflection that is important, not just pretty pictures. I’m looking for how much thought has been put into choosing these artifacts, e.g., why the student is showcasing this

certificate rather than some other artifact she/he has collected… Many of the students pick moments in their education or internships that are defining moments for them; highlights they realize made them who they are now.” This observation is supported by research reported in the article, ePortfolio as a Measure of Reflective Practice, written by Parkes, Dredger, and Hicks, for the International Journal of ePortfolio, 2013, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp 99-115 (http://www.theijep.com). The authors address the importance of focusing on metacognitive practices that facilitate student ownership of their own learning and growth. The authors write, “… an ePortfolio goes beyond simply collecting and storing artifacts toward leveraging digital technologies’ potential to make unique linkages, connections, and reflections among multiple experiences and artifacts in ways that would not otherwise be possible with a traditional paper portfolio. The ability to select artifacts and make links among standards, learning principles, experience, and beliefs provides students with the opportunity and virtual space to develop layers of reflections … as they seek to explain and unpack how their ongoing pedagogical decisions and activities influence and shape their own students’ growth.”

Sellers explains that the ePortfolio platform forces the students to respond to “What?,” “So What,” and “Now What?” This rubric was borrowed from Inouye’s “Reflections” concept; “Susan is a valuable resource to the ePorfolio effort on campus,” Sellers states, “Susan Inouye helped me greatly.” In addition, when Sellers evaluates aesthetics, ease of navigation, spelling and grammar she says students “see the importance of corrections as their ePortfolios relate to not only their academic standing but also their future possibilities in getting a job.”

Sellers introduces ePortfolio in the first week to her students and informs them that it is due on the second to the last week of school. She has various exercises and activities in class to develop their ePortfolio sense. One of them is “junk drawer reflection.” This is an exercise in writing and reflection (two important components of an ePortfolio). “I take a box to class and the contents look like everyone’s junk drawer. Students pull an item out and write about it. One student pulled out a coffee sleeve. She explained that she had learned how to speak English in America by going to Starbucks and listening to people speak. That is why she chose the coffee sleeve. To her, it signified a defining moment. This is what the ePortfolio is about. They reflect, they speak and express; they figure out how and what they have learned, what to put in, and what story to tell.”


KCC Culinary Student ePortfolio


Chancellor’s Newsletter Issue No. 3, 1/17/2014

Sellers is teaching a “Showcase” portfolio. She is working on getting it into the Hospitality & Tourism Education curriculum so that students can maintain it throughout their program. She would like to see it introduced in the 100 level classes and used throughout the two-year program, culminating in the internship course she teaches. She says, “I know they are capable of great work.”

The next step, according to Sellers, is to align the ePortfolio with assessment. She says there is the need to work on student learning outcomes (SLOs). She wants students to format the ePortfolios according to their Program’s SLOs. For example, she explained, the Hospitality Program has connected SLOs to specific course assessment assignments and activities. “It is for students to identify whether something demonstrates a skill, knowledge, and/or attitude related to a

program-level student learning outcome. That is when the light bulb goes on! We need to marry the Showcase and assessment together. “

Sellers explained, “Students surprise us when they not only live up to our expectations but also go further. When I look at ePortfolios, they are tangible products of Chef Brown, Chef Warren, Chef Alan, Dr. Evans, Mrs. Fernandez, etc. I witness the reflection of what students have learned from them. I see the impact of these faculty members. I see what they do through the eyes of the students. I’m lucky. I don’t know if a lot of faculty have that vantage point.

mechanics, plumbers, masons, computer technicians, electronics workers, farmers, and the like, yet there are very few trade or vocational schools, or schools that teach the practical aspects of farming. The emphasis of the education establishment is on an academic track, which I think is ridiculous given Liberia’s pressing practical, development needs. Liberia does not even feed itself – it is a net importer of food, particularly the staple food -- rice, this,

in spite of being rich with fertile, arable land. It is a supreme irony to me that thousands of able-bodied men and women live in the city and enroll as agriculture majors at the university while good farming land in the country lays fallow because of a shortage of people who actually want to farm the land.”

Berestecky feels that drastic steps are needed and suggests Liberia first must “stop the system for 1 year and use that time to rethink the entire education industry – all 3,500 schools

with teachers.” He believes Liberia needs to rethink its “educational outcomes.”

Berestecky reflected a bit about his personal connection to Liberia and reminisced that thirty years ago - 1979 to 1982 - he had served as a Peace Corps volunteer there. In those days, as a microbiologist he was assigned to the Liberia National Tuberculosis Control Programme and his main job was to help establish a reference tuberculosis and leprosy diagnostic lab. “Those were crazy times,” he said, “Four months after arriving in country, the President was shot dead and the government was overthrown in a military coup d’état. This in a country many believed to be the most stable in Africa. Founded by freed American slaves and established as the first independent republic in Africa in 1847, over a hundred years before the wave of decolonization swept over the rest of Africa! The post-coup years were fascinating yet wrenching times to have lived through and the friendships forged then are some of the most significant in my life.” He continued, “In 1989, the country descended into a series of brutal civil wars that lasted about a decade. Finally, after the establishment of some kind of peace in 1997, I had the opportunity to return and work as an election observer with an organization called The Friends of Liberia. This was the election that made Charles Taylor President -- the same Charles Taylor who was recently found guilty of war crimes by the International Court in The Hague.” Berestecky concludes, “This is a fascinating place, wildly exotic yet capable of hitting an exquisitely personal nerve and pulling weirdly familiar archetypes out of one’s primal consciousness.”

A grateful thank you to Professor Berestecky for sharing his experiences in Liberia and for informing our KCC community of the conditions both students and faculty must endure to obtain an education in Liberia. Welcome Home!


Prof. John Berestecky as member of the 1997 Friends of Liberia Election Observer Team

Rehabilitating the micro hydro equipment will help to restore socioeconomic vitality to the village of Yandohun, in Lofa County near the border with Sierra Leone.


Modern Gingerbread House on display in 'Ōhi'a, Building, 12/2014, a possible student artifact for an ePortfolio to meet student learning outcomes


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Teaching this course, by nature, I get to see what the students showcase, what they learned to this point, and how faculty helped. The students need to document these milestones. I’m lucky.”

Pat Taylor and the College’s Nursing Department have developed the program-wide use of ePortfolio. Taylor stated that use of the ePortfolio has stimulated planning across the ADN (Associates Degree in Nursing) Program and motivated improvement of rubrics for assessment. As of spring 2013, all ADN students are creating ePortfolios. The KCC nursing student’s ePortfolio above shows sections for artifacts for Client Centered Care, Clinical Judgment, Collaboration, Communication, Ethics, Evidence-Based Practice, Health Care System, Leadership, and Reflection. Taylor says KCC is the only nursing program in Hawaii using ePortfolio. The May 2014 graduating ADN class will be the first KCC nursing class to have utilized the ePortfolio, having documented their best work and their achievements with video, pictures, text, and achievement documents. Starting in their first semester these students were asked to do more reflection on their learning than those before the use of ePortfolios. When they began, these students were excited about the use of ePortfolio and especially saw it as a positive, too, for the job market. Taylor believes that the ePortfolio may give the ADN graduates an advantage when competing for a job due to its technology base.

Taylor also expressed her appreciation for the support she has received from Susan Inouye and for having been sent to a national ePortfolio conference. Taylor, Sellers, and Inouye make a point of stating that attendance at these conferences is essential to maintaining knowledge, skills, and motivation. Taylor explained, “The conference helped me understand the possibilities of ePortfolios for student learning and for course and program management.” As a result, she stated that she went from knowing nothing about ePortfolios to being an advocate. Similarly, Sellers explained, “I’m extremely grateful that I was able to go to the conference. I knew very little; I was given support on campus from my department chair, dean, C4Ward, and Susan Inouye. I’m able to share. I want to show my students and colleagues. I want to share my student successes. That is what keeps me going.”

Student Success Survey

In November 2013, the Faculty Senate Ad Hoc Student Success Center (SSC) Committee was formed to recommend to the Faculty Senate a vision of a new Student Success Center (SSC) on campus. The Committee created a SSC Student Survey to capture the voices and perspectives of our students. Responses were collected from 523 students, representing over 40 different majors and ranging in age from 18-65+ years old. Students rated their academic and personal experiences, identified the most important things that contributed to their success in college, and commented on what encourages and discourages them from seeking supports and services. Additionally, students expressed their design concepts and what would motivate them to utilize the SSC and “hang out” there. Students also entered a drawing to win a $100 Ala Moana Gift Certificate. Keith Kashiwada, Student Engagement Coordinator, donated the gift certificate and randomly selected the winner. Thank you, Keith! Sgt. Russell Y. Matsumura, the winner, shown here receiving the gift certificate from Committee Chair Veronica Ogata, said he would like to see a SSC that would contribute to his academic and personal success, e.g., “a lounge area, strong internet connection (wifi or plug in), a snack bar that isn’t cash only, an area to sleep in, entertainment, and "tutors" available at all times.” He also mentioned that “friendliness of instructors and their willingness to stay after class” encouraged him to seek help outside the classroom.



Research by Biology Lab Students

Chancellor Richards announced at the 1/9/14 Faculty/Staff Convocation that 2014 is the Year of Undergraduate Research at KCC. The goal is to increase

research opportunities for students no matter what their major. Research projects such as those presented in December by Biology Lab 124 and 265 students require them to analyze, evaluate, and reflect on their learning; the same processes promoted when creating an ePortfolio. Above Brian White (l.), from Wendy Kuntz’s Biology 265 class, explains his research project on invasive algae in Maunalua Bay.


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Taylor explained that Nursing department students begin constructing an ePortfolio in their first class and add to it during each subsequent class, culminating in its use as a capstone project for graduation from the program. “In this way, ePortfolio can be used for assessment of knowledge, skills, and attitude related to each class, as well as to overall program outcomes. EPortfolios will contain a variety of student work, e.g., welcome, the student’s nursing philosophy, professional goals, resumé, community service, lifelong learning activities, and academic achievement.”

According to Taylor, faculty need to be familiar with ePortfolio software in order to assist their students’ success. Taylor said currently she uses Weebly software (http://www.weebly.com/ed-features.php) and offers this as an option to all ADN students. Taylor explains that she started from not knowing anything about the technology. “Students begin by making an “artifacts file cabinet. This allows them to compile their work so that at a later date they can reflect on it and select what they want to represent them in their ePortfolio.” Taylor says some faculty and students prefer using Google Apps for interactive ePortfolios (https://sites.google.com/site/eportfolioapps/Home), which allows for digital archival through Google Docs, reflective journal using Blogger, and presentations using Google Sites (see https://sites.google.com/site/eportfolios/How-To-Create-ePortfolios-with-GoogleApps). Taylor stated that Google docs offers step-by-step directions, e.g., How to use Google sites. Taylor says faculty must guide students in terms of the expectations for the ePortfolio, e.g., by informing students what reflections are needed, what lifelong learning opportunities are available to students (such as workshops and conferences), what is needed in the semester through timeline reminders (or if part of a program).

Another ePortfolio platform Taylor mentioned was Live Text (https://www.livetext.com/overview/student-overview.html), a system that has a strong assessment


Pat Taylor presents nursing student ePortfolios during the 12/11/2014 C4Ward Poster Session.

component. Live Text states that most student memberships remain active after graduation, affording students the opportunity to use their ePortfolios and documents as work samples for job interviews. Taylor stated that through the C3T grant, Health Science faculty will be using Live Text to assist in student assessment. They will be receiving iPads, which they will use to connect their real time evaluation of students to assessment software. According to Taylor, through the grant, the College will be hiring someone to assist in setting up this system.

Taylor explained that at Clemson University all students are required to complete an ePortfolio. In the Clemson system, students are hired to support other students in learning how to create ePortfolios; also, there is support for faculty, e.g., faculty development. Taylor and Sellers both point out that an increase in institutional support would help to increase ePortfolio use at KCC. Taylor believes that the support system at Clemson University allows it to use ePortfolio as an institution-wide system that provides an assessment tool.

Also, for more use of ePortfolio, Sellers believes that KCC needs more professional development and more time for professional development. Sellers said she appreciated the work of the C4Ward ePortfolio poster session, as “you can see the possibilities and get on board.” She believes that the faculty “can change the concept of ePortfolio and make it what we need.” As for the basic value of ePortfolio, Sellers says, “To me, it is about the student. What they walk away with. Assessment is important, but the student comes first… I am open to trying new things, so if it works then I will try it. I want something students will use for a long time, a lifelong career tool. In this way, they can take out what is not working and add what is working and what is new. I want students to play with the technology; try these different platforms.”

Please note that Inouye, Andreshak, Sellers, and Taylor hope to continue the KCC tradition of pay-it-forward when it comes to ePortfolio guidance, support and assistance.

Send your comments on and suggestions for KCC A dvantage stories to [email protected].

Culinary student’s ePortfolio includes skills as a DJ

Documents

Evidence-Based Medicine at KCC …...previously seen as disparate facets!of their lives. E-Portfolios can facilitate the integration of student onal, professional, and personal life