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mcnrc December 7, 2013

Doing Things Differently: Scaling Up at Guttman CommunityCollege

Contents

1. Summary

2. Authors

3. Part I: Current Status

4. Part II: Catalyst and Connector

5. Part III: Developmental History

6. History

7. Decisions

8. Opening the College

9. Connections to Core Strategies

10. Our Next Steps

11. Connections to Other Sectors of the Catalyst

12. Pedagogy

13. Prof essional Development

14. Outcomes Assessment

15. Technology

16. Supporting Documents

17. Conclusion

Summary

Guttman Community College’s scaling up story, in many ways,begins in August 2012, when we welcomed our f irst group ofstudents to the college. But, in another important way, theconversation and f ocus on ePortf olio and learning beganearlier than that, in the init ial planning phases of the college. From the onset of the planning and preparation f or this newcollege, the f ocus of our work has been to “do thingsdif f erently.” The use of ePortf olio is no exception to thismantra. We began with ePortf olio “at scale” – by the end ofthe f irst week of our Summer Bridge program every studentat the college had an ePortf olio. In that f irst year, we wereonly 300 students and approximately 15 f ull- t ime f aculty; weaccomplished a tremendous amount while encountering many challenges along the way. Guttman’s Scaling UpStory, while it does not span a large timef rame, is rich in successes, challenges, and lessons learned about theprocess of creating an institutional culture of learning using ePortf olio.

AuthorsLaura M. GambinoChet JordanNate Mickelson

For a printable, PDF version of Guttman’s Scaling Up Story, Click Here.

Part I: Current StatusStella and Charles Guttman Community College, f ormerly theNew Community College at CUNY, is beginning its secondacademic year with ePortf olio as the centerpiece ofinstitutional and pedagogical learning. Our core values ref lecta college-wide init iative of collaborative learning and theintegrated exchange of ideas. Focusing on high- impactpractices, our college is deeply committed to student andf aculty learning communities, an integrated f irst-yearexperience that serve as a pathway to the major curricula, thepermeation of technology throughout teaching and learning,and active course, program, and institutional- levelassessment. Each of these practices relies on ePortf olio asa source of connectivity, ref lection, and collaborative analysis.

Our ePortf olio project is “at scale.” Every student at the college has an ePortf olio that they actively usethroughout their f irst year experience and in their programs of study second-year courses. ePortf olio is theplace where students demonstrate, articulate, and ref lect on their learning while connecting their classroomexperience to advising, co-curricular, and experiential learning. As we f ormally launch our outcomesassessment work in our college’s second year, ePortf olio is the means by which we will assess our GuttmanLearning Outcomes (GLO). ePortf olio is also used by our Student Success Advocates (f irst year advisors) andour Career Strategists (second year advisors) to help student set goals, identif y personal strengths andweaknesses, and develop academic and career plans.

Our f irst year was challenging. Much of our work f ocused on getting everyone at the college introduced toePortf olio pedagogy – students, f aculty, and administrators. We also worked to develop comprehensive plansf or our GLO assessment and ePortf olio-related prof essional development. Over the course of the year, wedid see a deepening of understanding of ePortf olio pedagogy f rom many of our f aculty, and students beganto take ownership of their ePortf olio and an understanding of the ways in which ePortf olio can help themconnect their learning experiences into a cohesive whole. We learned f rom our f irst year ’s work and madechanges to the way we introduced ePortf olio to both students and f aculty during this current academic year. We already see the posit ive results of our ef f orts – students are more engaged with ePortf olio and f aculty areintegrating ePortf olio pedagogy into their curriculum. Building on this success, we rencently launched anePortf olio taskf orce, at the request of our president, Scott Evenbeck, to spread the use of ePortf olio acrossour institution.

Our C2L team views challenges as opportunit ies to consistently learn as we build, revisit, and revise ourpractices and processes. As we look f orward, our most signif icant challenge will be integrating the use ofePortf olio in our second year coursework, which f ocuses on the programs of study. We are just beginning oursecond year here at the college and much work still needs to be done in this regard. We are conf ident,however, that we have built a solid base of understanding of ePortf olio as a pedagogical and advising tool. We look f orward to the challenge of creating a “programs of study” ePortf olio experience f or our students asthey begin to prepare their portf olios f or transf er and employment. With student learning as our f ocus, we arecommitted to using ePortf olio as an instructional practice that will inf orm senior colleges and f uture employersof student success.

Part II: Catalyst and ConnectorAt Stella and Charles Guttman Community College, ePortf olioserves as both a catalyst and a connector in a number ofways. First and f oremost, ePortf olio catalyzes learning –student learning, f aculty learning, and institutional learning. The integration of ePortf olio into the Summer Bridge andFirst Year curricula provides students multiple opportunit iesto demonstrate, articulate, and ref lect on their learning. Students also use ePortf olio to learn about themselves asthey set goals, identif y strengths and weaknesses, anddevelop academic and career plans. By examining studentePortf olios, f aculty learn about what works and doesn’t workat the course and program level. And, by using ePortf olios towork with the Guttman Learning Outcomes, we are learning as an institution, identif ying ways in which we canimprove and create a better learning experience f or our students.

ePortf olio also serves as a connector, bringing together pedagogy, prof essional development, and outcomesassessment. We see assessment as an inquiry-based prof essional development process. Our assessmentplan outlines a three-year plan f or assessing each GLO; the f irst year will f ocus on inquiry and investigation,the second on ref lection, and the f inal year will f ocus on integration. Ways to improve our pedagogy will be thef ocus of the inquiry and on-going prof essional development is integrated throughout the process. ePortf olioalso connects academic work and advising, bringing together f aculty and staf f to talk about the whole student– with students’ ePortf olios at the center of that conversation.

Part III: Developmental History

History

The New Community College proposed to use the ePortf olioas a means of assessing student learning across thecurriculum and co-curriculum and, more importantly, as a toolf or enhancing student and institutional learning. Planning f orthe College’s ePortf olio Init iative began in early 2010, inparallel with other development ef f orts, through the work ofa committee of CUNY f aculty, institutional researchers, andindustry experts. The committee’s report, issued in March2010, recommended a “whole college portf olio assessmentsystem” grounded in learning outcomes and collaboratively-scored rubrics. Thus f rom the beginning, the ePortf olio hasbeen an institutional priority. The report emphasized thatclear communication about learning outcomes, the use of the ePortf olio, and the results of assessment, alongwith consistent institutional support would be crucial to the success of the init iative. The report laid out af ramework f or developing the system, including the f ollowing points:

Specif ying course, program and institutional learning outcomes and rubrics f or grading and assessment;

Identif ying artif acts students would submit during the mandatory pre-college program, 1stsemester,2nd semester, and at graduation;

Conducting ongoing training f or f aculty, staf f and students in the use of the system and in ref lectivepedagogy;

Building assessment practices that include both f ormative and summative assessment by f aculty andself -assessment by students;

Linking portf olio assessment to f aculty and curricular development ef f orts coordinated by the Centerf or College Ef f ectiveness.

Committees of f aculty and staf f worked on the elements of this f ramework over the past two years .A team off aculty took part in the Making Connections ePortf olio and Mini-Grant Seminar Progam during the 2010-2011academic year. We made great progress prior to the opening of the college: Digication was selected as theePortf olio platf orm; learning outcomes and some rubrics were draf ted; signature assignments were developedf or submission during the f irst year; a template f or student portf olios was created; prof essional developmentworkshops were of f ered, including sessions with Elizabeth Clark (LaGuardia CC), Laura Gambino (Guttman),and Jef f Yan (CEO of Digication); and student work f rom the Summer Bridge program was sampled andassessed.

Decisions

The key driver of the implementation of ePortf olio atGuttman has been commitment at every level to using thesystem to support and enhance student learning. While therehave been logistical challenges, f aculty and staf f are inagreement about the value to students of integrating theePortf olio in all courses and co-curricular activit ies. Forexample, on the recommendation of a committee of f acultyand staf f charged with developing co-curricular programs f orthe College during AY 2011-12, the student ePortf oliotemplate includes a section tit led “Campus & CommunityConnections” f or showcasing and ref lecting on learningstudents achieve of f campus. The system is being viewed asa space where students will make connections among courses, experiences, and their daily lives.

Opening the College

In August 2012, Guttman of f icially opened as the f irst newcollege in the CUNY system in over f orty years. As arequirement of the institutional model and core curriculum,students participated in a three-week Summer BridgeProgram. In order to establish what Randy Bass calls a“culture of learning” where students see themselves asstakeholders in their own education, one of the f irstobjectives of Summer Bridge was to have each studentcreate an ePortf olio using a predesigned template. Embedded within each student portf olio were pages thatinclude several Signature Assignments which will be assessedusing our institutional learning outcomes rubrics. One of ourcore goals is to extend the scope of the college outward intothe City. During Summer Bridge, students and f acultyparticipated in a f ield exercise which examined iconic New York City locales through multiple lenses. Studentsreported their f indings through multimodal presentations in ePortf olio. Through the Center f or CollegeEf f ectiveness, Dr. Laura Gambino led a team of f aculty in gathering and evaluating data f rom Summer Bridge.

The Center f or College Ef f ectiveness (CCE) is charged with collecting institutional data, analyzing andreporting inf ormation, and consulting with f aculty and staf f on best practices through prof essionaldevelopment. Making Use of Evidence, Advancing through Prof essional Development, and Aligning withInstitutional Planning are three vital Core Strategies that intersect in the Center on College Ef f ectiveness. Thereliance on these strategies f or institutional growth allows us to continue to close the loop in developingpractices that characterize a “learning-centered culture” f or both students and f aculty. As the Faculty Scholarf or Teaching, Learning, and Assessment, Dr. Gambino serves as an active leader in the CCE. Leading thisef f ort, the Center will guide the use of Portf olio as an integral tool f or assessing our Guttman LearningOutcomes. This assessment will serve as a learning process f aculty and staf f , and will providerecommendations f or short- and long-term curricular planning.

We are actively developing pedagogical best practices within ePortf olio. Our f irst-year courses are designedto promote experiential learning and increase student success and retention rates. Students participate in athree-component City Seminar course which f ocuses on Reading and Writ ing, Quantitative Reasoning andCrit ical Issues. Not only are these sections linked through a tethered curriculum, classroom activit ies andscaf f olded Signature Assignments are connected through ePortf olio, allowing students and instructors toparticipate in a dynamic exchange of ref lection and idea-sharing.

Students also incorporate their co-curricular experiences intotheir ePortf olio. Students not only ref lect on academic work,but on the entirety of their college experience. StudentSuccess Advocates, Graduate Coordinators, and PeerMentors serve as the point of intersection between academiccourses and the co-curriculum. Graduate Coordinators andPeer Mentors work in collaboration with Student SuccessAdvocates and f aculty to ensure that each student isreceiving individualized and supported instruction. RandyBass argues that ePortf olio should “enable students to moreeasily make connections among the courses in a degreeprogram and between General Education courses andprogram courses.” Students are actively working within their ePortf olios as they maneuver through theircourse assignments. Our college is not only embedding assignments into ePortf olio, we are also bringing theplatf orm to the f oref ront in courses and in Studio. The visual presence of ePortf olio is alive in ourclassrooms. Guttman is committed to providing students with the skills they require to develop evidence-based inquiry projects that are relevant to contemporary issues and prof essions. In order to maximize inputf rom various stakeholders, our peer mentors are trained to assist students in capitalizing on the f unctionalityof ePortf olio as a way to showcase revised work.

Connections to Core Strategies

The one Core Strategy that has and continues to be crit icalto the ePortf olio init iative at Guttman is our connection tothe College’s outcomes assessment work. Throughout theplanning and development stages, explicit connections weredeveloped between ePortf olio and institutional outcomesassessment. These connections continue to grow as wemove into our init ial implementation phase. The purchase ofDigication, the introduction of ePortf olio to the students intheir summer bridge Program, and the decision to useePortf olio and Digication in place of Blackboard demonstratethe strong institutional commitment to ePortf olio andoutcomes assessment. This commitment f ocuses on usingassessment for learning across the various layers of theinstitution; students, f aculty, programs, and institution, withthe ult imate goal of improving student learning, persistence, and success.

Guttman’s commitment to the ePortf olio signals its intent to develop and maintain a culture of learning acrossall levels: students, f aculty, staf f and administrators. By f ocusing assessment on “authentic student work,connected to real classroom activity,” the ePortf olio draws attention to the College’s core goals, and, as Basssuggests, makes visible “the richness of student work” beyond easily quantif iable metrics. In addition, theePortf olio provides a means f or accessing f aculty expertise f or evaluating student achievement of learningoutcomes; their primary f ocus is creating conditions f or learning and detecting opportunit ies f or improvementin student work. We hope that integrating f aculty into the assessment process in this way will ensure thatlearning, assessment, and improvement f ollow each other in a continuous cycle.

As we began our f irst year of implementation, we developed our assessment plan with the goal of assessingf or learning. We completed an assessment of student ePortf olios f rom the Summer Bridge Program. Basedon that evaluation, we identif ied key f indings and next steps f or changes to the bridge curriculum and the waysin which we introduce ePortf olio to our students. This work inf ormed the planning f or our communityassessment days in late October and January. On these days, f aculty and staf f work together to assessstudent work and ref lections f rom their ePortf olio. That assessment data was used by instructional teamsand the institution in a number of ways. First, we evaluated the outcomes and rubrics themselves; this was ourf irst experience applying them to student work. Second, we investigated if there was anything either individualteams or the collective f aculty needed to adjust in the curriculum based on our assessment of student work. Inaddition, we examined the role that ePortf olio plays in our assessment work and ways to strengthen thatconnection to improve learning. Areas f or improvement were identif ied and addressed across the student,course, and institution levels of the college.

We envision our assessment work as an ongoing, action research process. We will be planning, evaluating,ref lecting and implementing changes in a cyclical process over t ime. Our work will mature and deepen as ourstudents move through their programs at Guttman. Our goal is to be continually moving f orward, learning andgrowing f rom the process, as our students learn and grow. The use of ePortf olio as the place to capturestudent learning and ref lection will be a key connection to our outcomes assessment work.

Our Next Steps

Guttman opened its doors to its f irst cohort of students onAugust 20, 2012 in a unique way. From our f irst day weintegrated ePortf olio into our college culture and immediatelywent to scale – every student at Guttman has and is usingePortf olio. While this benef its our project in many ways,there are many challenges with this type of implementation. There is much work still to be done developing and sustaininga pervasive culture of ePortf olio and assessment f or learningat Guttman. We continue to work across the multiple layersof the institution (students, f aculty, programs, institution)engaging our students and developing and deepening our useof ePortf olio as an integrative social pedagogy as well as f orinstitutional assessment of authentic student work.

Engaging students in our ePortf olio work is essential to developing an ePortf olio culture at Guttman. Studentshave to see themselves as the owners of their ePortf olio and that their ePortf olio is their place to develop andshowcase their academic identity. During the upcoming year, we also need to increase student understandingof and engagement with ePortf olio in their second year of study, working towards the goal of hosting anePortf olio student showcase prior to our f irst commencement in June 2014.

In addition to working with students, a major component of our f uture work will be prof essional developmentf or f aculty and staf f . We are launching our f irst prof essional development seminar series this year. Our f irstseminar f ocuses on ref lective, integrative, and social pedagogies and ways to integrate these pedagogies intoour curricula and practice. The second, a new f aculty seminar series will introduce our new f aculty to both ourconceptual model of learning and the role ePortf olio plays in that model. We are also of f ering ongoingprof essional development opportunit ies f or our adjunct f aculty, both through workshops and brown baglunches, making sure they are engaged with ePortf olio in their work with students.

Connecting the Career Strategists and programs of study courses to our ePortf olio work is also a key nextstep f or us. Career Strategists help students successf ully navigate the second year experience at Guttmanand are in an ideal posit ion to advance student engagement with their ePortf olio f or goal-setting, transf er, andemployment.

While there is much work to be done and there are many challenges ahead, we are excited about the prospectsand possibilit ies. Already being at scale with students and having strong f aculty buy- in to integrate ePortf olioacross the curriculum will help us tremendously as we move f orward with our work. We see ePortf olio as apedagogy that works well with our unique educational model and will help us, as an institution, to learn andgrow, while helping our students to succeed in achieving their goals.

Connections to Other Sectors of the Catalyst

Pedagogy

There is an observable dif f erence in f ounding a college withePortf olio as a technology at-scale and concurrently openingwith ePortf olio pedagogy at-scale. Guttman achieved thef ormer as every student, f aculty, and staf f member wasissued an ePortf olio on opening day in August 2012. Whilethe process of securing Digication as the most ef f ectiveplatf orm f or our college concluded prior to the start of ourinaugural Summer Bridge Program, the strategic plan to beginworking with the college community on implementingePortf olio pedagogy was at its beginning. ePortf oliopedagogy is a practice tethered to a rich vernacular, alanguage that af f ects emotive meaning and synchronizeswith a variety of high- impact and experiential methods.

While the college’s Concept Paper amplif ied the nature of the design of the f irst-year experience, City Seminar,and capitalized on research pointing to the ef f ectiveness of high- impact practices, the newly on-boardedf aculty were much less f amiliar with the terms “social pedagogy,” “ref lective practice,” and “integrative learning.” Our f ocus in this ef f ort has been multif aceted. Guttman has the advantage of being a small, community-centered college. Faculty, staf f and students work closely together on instructional teams or, Houses. Thishas given our ePortf olio leadership team the opportunity to work one-on-one with f aculty who are integratingePortf olio pedagogy into their courses. Part of our approach has been to demystif y the language ofePortf olio pedagogy.

The Studio component of City Seminar is of ten ref erencedas a place of practice. When its f ormer structure as GroupWorkspace was revisited and revised af ter the Fall 2012semester, f aculty and staf f believed the pedagogicalf ramework f or Studio should be craf ted within the practicesof Inquiry, Ref lection, and Integration. With ePortf olio as thecenterpiece of this work, Graduate Coordinators whof acilitate Studio designed an array of projects that mergedcollaborative learning with embedded skills students requireto be successf ul in their f irst-year courses. Another exampleof our ef f ort to integrate ePortf olio pedagogy into the f abricof the institution has been our f ocus on Summer Bridge. This year ’s curriculum included project-based portf oliobuilding activit ies that integrated students and f aculty into the pedagogy through experiential education. Tof oster this culture of learning, our community also engaged in sustained prof essional development activit ies.

Professional Development

Our prof essional development activit ies have been integral toour scaling up process. Throughout the course of our f irstyear, f aculty and staf f engaged in a variety of workshopscentered in ref lective and integrative pedagogy. The f irstyear of the college was largely f ocused on working withf aculty and staf f who were learning “on the go.” As part ofour larger institutional experiment, we identif ied key areas ofePortf olio practice where our community would benef it f romsustained work. These workshops included processes f ordesigning integrative assignments, creating ref lectiveprompts, and working with the technology and pedagogysimultaneously.

As the college entered its second year, the ePortf olio teamprepared new f aculty workshops and seminars geared toward returning f aculty. Members of the team workedclosely with newly hired Peer Mentors and Graduate Coordinators who would be participating in classes andleading Studio sections of City Seminar. The new f aculty workshops will f ocus on pedagogy and practice andparticipants are asked to read How Learning Works prior to attending the f irst session. In coordination with theCenter f or College Ef f ectiveness, the leadership team will host a seminar on ePortfolio: Integrating Pedagogyand Practice that will identif y methods f or integrating social pedagogy into assignments, activit ies, andprojects. The college is also transit ioning its Inaugural Class into its second year. Students who are enteringtheir major f ields of study are working with f aculty and Career Strategists to develop prof essional portf oliosf or transf er and employment. The Career Strategists have developed resource portf olios as a virtual hub f orstudents to communicate, plan, and begin their transf er application process.

This year our philosophy has entered a proactive phase. Capitalizing on our experiences f rom the f irst year ofthe college, we are now at a place where we can strategically prepare seminars and workshops that f ocus onthe integral pedagogical practices we have identif ied as f oundational to our model and institutional culture.

Outcomes Assessment

A cornerstone of our model is outcomes assessment andassessment for learning. Guttman’s unique educationalmodel integrates high impact practices with experientialeducation and provides clear pathways to academic andpersonal success. Both at the course and institutional levelsof our college, assessment is the key driver f or consistentand evaluative learning. Our Assessment Days providef aculty and staf f with t ime to ref lect on student successusing f ocused activit ies that evaluate ePortf olios through thelens of the Guttman Learning Outcomes (GLO). GLO wereborn out of the college’s init ial Institutional LearningOutcomes and ref lect the values and mission of our collegemore accurately. It is most illustrative and interesting to articulate our Outcomes Assessment process throughInquiry, Ref lection, and Integration.

Fall 1 2012-Spring 1 2013 (Inquiry): During the f irst year we were asking questions and examining our process. Some of the major lines of inquiry that came out of our f irst series of Assessment Days were f ocused on howto evaluate student work using our Institutional Learning Outcomes, what the process f or norming ePortf olioswould be, and how the results f rom these activit ies would catalyze institutional learning. We practiced usingDigication’s assessment tool to evaluate student work based on specif ied learning outcomes and participatedin a series of norming activit ies that spanned our entire f irst year. This phase of our development was crit icalto the strategic planning that would come later.

Spring 2 2013-Fall 1 2013 (Reflection): As we have become active ref lective practit ioners over the course ofour f irst year, we also have become participants in our own cognitive processes. Our questions f rom the f irstyear led to the creation of the college’s long-term assessment plan devised during the summer’s AAC&UInstitute. The tailoring of the Institutional Learning Outcomes and the creation of GLO allowed theassessment team to f ocus on the systematic and deliberate implementation of Digication’s assessment toolf or the f irst set of Assessment Days in Fall 1 2013. In collaboration with the ePortf olio team’s 2013-2014Project Plan designed at this year ’s C2L Summer Institute, Guttman is now entering a period of integration. Wef ound that ref lective pedagogy serves as a catalyst f or change not only in student learning but also ininstitutional advancement.

Fall 1 2013-Spring 2 2014 (Integration): The af orementioned assessment plan will be launched this f all. Thethree-year proposal will f ocus on the assessment of each GLO and will provide the college with a detailedpicture of both student learning and curricular ef f ectiveness. Student ePortf olios will be evaluated usingDigication’s assessment tool and will be a collaborative ef f ort across all instructional teams and within themajors.

Technology

While we do not anticipate any major changes in ourePortf olio platf orm in the coming years, we do acknowledgethat technology literacy plays a key role in scaling-uppedagogical practices in our classrooms. Our diverse studentbody enters the college with a range of experiences and skillsrelated to web-based sof tware system and generalcomputing. We are currently working with our onsite WellnessClinician to ensure that our students with disabilit ies are ableto actively participate in ePortf olio activit ies. One of themajor challenges in scaling up ePortf olio technology in thesecond year has been the extension of our campus to asatellite f acility two blocks north of our 40th Street location. Because this building is being occupied by multiple entit ies, our IT team is working to provide laptops and installwireless Internet access f or f aculty and students. This year we have also created portf olios dedicated toeach Instructional Team so that course content can be shared across all components of the integrated f irst-year curriculum. This embodies portf olio- thinking and illustrates the type of connectivity that generates activelearning.

Supporting DocumentsNew Community College Concept Paper

Guttman Learning Outcomes Assessment Plan

Summer Bridge 2013 Photo Collage

New Community College at CUNY Convocation

ConclusionAt Stella and Charles Guttman Community College ePortf olio is the centerpiece of our unique educationalmodel. Despite our brief history, we have made tremendous strides in integrating ePortf olio into all aspects ofour work, creating a culture of learning, f or students, f aculty, staf f , and administrators at the college. ePortf olio catalyzes learning while keeping students at the center of our planning and decision-making. ePortf olio connects the curricular and co-curricular, academic and advising, and assessment and prof essionaldevelopment. We continue to learn, improve, and deepen our use of ePortf olio in each of these areas.