CIT eDoc: A case of collaborative & democratic design
Rema Nilakanta (ISU), Olatz Lopez (UB), Tom Nyvang (AAU) & Laura Zurita (AAU)
August 27 2004, Aalborg University, DK
What is a portfolio?
Typically, a portfolio is a purposeful collection of artifacts
Different types of portfolios:– Marketing/Employment/Showcase– Assessment– Learning– Teaching– Course
Marketing/Showcase/Employment & Assessment portfolio Purpose: evaluation/employment/showcase
A static collection of artifacts, usually of
exemplary work
Portfolio structure directed by educational institution or potential employer/s (Wolf & Dietz, 1998)
Learning & Teaching portfolio
Purpose: Learning, professional development
reflective journal documents the process of learning - includes
works in progress - drafts - demonstrates progress over time
contains feedback - formative evaluation or collaborative mentoring
Author-owned and directed; student/teacher as the audience
Course portfolio
Purpose: Improve a course, one’s teaching, and understand student’s learning
Teacher’s analysis of a course (Cerbin, online, Barkley, 2003)
Similar to a learning/teaching portfolio but focused on a single course
Contains content from course, student work, teacher’s reflections
What is a portfolio?
Four dominating perspectives:– a collection (physical) pragmatic
– a tool for reflection cognitive
– a process (e-foliation)cognitive/psychological
– a theoretical activitytheoretical/philosophical
Portfolio Types
Portfolio Type Perspective Marketing/Showcase/ Employment Assessment
• Collection
Learning Teaching Course
• Reflective tool • Process • Theoretical act
Portfolio as a physical entity
A portfolio is a “representative sample of one’s work. As the word’s roots suggest (and as is still the case in the arts) the sample of work is fashioned for a particular objective and carried from place to place for inspection or exhibition” (Wiggins in Barrett, on-line)
Portfolio as tool for reflection
An electronic portfolio is not a haphazard collection of artifacts (i.e., a digital scrapbook or a multimedia presentation) but rather a reflective tool that demonstrates growth over time … [and is based] around a set of standards or learning goals. (Barrett, on-line)
Portfolio as a process
[E]foliate might be to peel back the layers of learning in an electronic or technological format (wherein the creator sees unique connections throughout the process) (Norton-Meier, 2003).
Portfolio as a theoretical act
Every time you design, organize, or create in your teacher education program a template, a framework, or a model for a teaching portfolio, you are engaged in an act of theory. Your theory of teaching will determine a reasonable portfolio entry (Shulman, 1998)
CIT eDoc: Context
The eDoc Project
IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
FSHN eDoc(Food Science & Human Nutrition)
ISUComm eDoc(ISU Communication)
ELPS eDoc(Educational Leadership & Policy Studies)
CIT eDoc(Curriculum & Instructional Technology)
CIT eDoc
Context– Part of a larger campus-wide project called eDoc (
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~rema/eDoc/). • The aim of eDoc is to design and develop discipline
specific electronic portfolio “themes” for students to compile and display evidence of their knowledge and skill acquired during their study program
– Utilizes open source technology– Integrated with uPortal - aggregates all servers on
campus to provide a common entry point. (www.portal.org)
CIT eDoc
Aim– Design and develop an electronic portfolio system
for Ph.D. students to facilitate their learning, professional development, and annual assessment
– Develop a community of scholars of educational technology where identities are formed and transformed (Wenger 1998) - democratic learning
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~rema/eDoc/CITeDoc.html
CIT eDoc Design
Features:– Easy and quick access to artifacts (evidence of
knowledge gained) with the help of the artifact grid– Informative display of artifact and accompanying
reflections– Integrated discussion forum equipped with qualitative
research tools enhancing the resourcefulness and utility of asynchronous communication
– Assessment integrated with learning with the help of the artifact grid
CIT eDoc Design Process
End users as designers - ISU and non ISU Ph.D. students and faculty members
Collaborative and democratic– Design team includes students, faculty members,
programmer, interface designers, trainers Iterative with several prototypes Reflective - revisit themes and critically analyze
decisions Negotiated process involving designers,
programmers, and students
CIT eDoc – Process and Product
The technology we use shapes our perception of the task at hand – and existing practice shapes our perception of a new technology
The CIT eDoc acknowledges this in two ways:– The eDoc is designed with existing practice as a
springboard– The eDoc is used as a springboard for a new
practice
Existing Practice as a Springboard Goals defined based on knowledge of what it takes
to do a Ph.D. and problems defined by students and faculty– Learning objectives– Quality assurance objectives– Administrative objectives
Faculty involvement Student driven (to a large extent) Grounded in an emerging tradition for electronic
portfolios Grounded in research
A Springboard For a New Practice Electronic portfolio: From an emerging
practice to a fully implemented mode of operation
Towards more collaboration between Ph.D. students
Context and transferability
ISU CIT Ph.D.– Heavy course load– Requirements to course load, subjects and products– Many Ph.D. students
AAU HCI Ph.D.– Lesser courses and course load– Growing requirements to course load, subjects and
product– Growing number of Ph.D. students
HCI portfolio – learning, quality assurance and administrative objectives?
CIT eDoc Design Process from UB
A monthly eDoc meeting (all ISU teams) A weekly CIT eDoc meeting (1h):
– Agenda, distributed tasks, taking decisions… COLLABORATIVE DESIGN
WebCT Platform – As a research electronic environment– Info about the project, people involved, resources,
mock ups, minutes, discussions…
UB/GREAM: Moodle platform