Understanding Basic Concepts of ePortfolio Pedagogy and Choosing the Best Technology

Marc Zaldivar, Director, ePortfolio InitiativesTeggin Summers, Associate Director, ePortfolio Initiatives

Goals and Objectives

• Gain a better understanding of how ePortfolios can be used to promote learning, assessment, and professional development

• Consider ways for better implementation within curricula

• Learn of the technologies and ePortfolio systems/platforms available

• Develop a plan for implementing portfolios with curricula and select the technology that best meets this plan

Session Outline

• Define ePortfolioso Contextso Purposes

• Implementationo Guided Processo Pedagogyo Technology

• Points to Ponder

• Q&A

ePortfolio: A Definition

ePortfolios can "enable learners to manage the complexity and variability of learning designs and opportunities in formal and informal settings in order to gather evidence of

their resultant deep learning.” Trent Batson,

http://www.aaeebl.org/tbb?mode=PostView&bmi=1075857

Portfolios in Academic Contexts

•Individual learning

portfolios

•Course-based learning

portfolios

•Programmatic

assessment portfolios

•External accreditation

portfolios

Assess

Share

Select Reflect

Collect

Putting It All Together

Learning

AssessmentProfessional

Development

Academic

AccreditationLearning

Portfolios

Departmental

Development

VTeP

Implementation: Questions to Ask

• Where do you fit within the diagram?

• What are the primary activities that you would like to represent in an ePortfolio?

• What are the required needs that you must have met by ePortfolio technologies?

• What are the desired goals that you would like to see in ePortfolio technologies?

• What is the "next step" with your ePortfolio use?

Implementation: 8 Central Issues(Chen & Penny-Light, 2010)

1. Defining learning outcomes

2. Understanding your learners

3. Identifying stakeholders

4. Designing learning activities

5. Including multiple forms of evidence

6. Using rubrics to evaluate ePortfolios

7. Anticipating external uses of evidence

8. Evaluating the impact of ePortfolios

Implementation: Conditions for Success(Knight, Hakel, & Gromko, 2008)

• eP-based curriculum

• Feedback

• Include engagement and personalization

• Examples

• Time for development

• Faculty promote value of eP

• Technical assistance

Implementation: Other questions

• How long will students need access to the portfolio?

• Who will be viewing the portfolio?

• Who will own the contents of the portfolio (institution, faculty, students)?

First Things First! Pedagogy

• Technology is constantly changing

• Pedagogy is keyo Focus on understanding the clear purpose behind

the ePortfolioo Make it pedagogically meaningful

If this happens, the rest will fall into place

Identifying Technologies: Questions to Ask

• Hosting (local and/or vendor)?

• Outcomes assessment/tracking?

• Presentation showcase?

• Directed/guiding portfolios?

• Social networking?

• LMS and/or SIS integration?

• Pricing?

• Security?

Identifying Technologies: 3 Examples

http://tinyurl.com/eptechlandscape

Some Helpful Links

• https://eportfolio.vt.edu/index.html

• https://eportfolio.vt.edu/training.html

• https://eportfolio.vt.edu/gallery/Gallery_Presentation/presentationgallery.html

Association for Authentic, Experiential, Evidence-Based Learning

http://www.aaeebl.org

http://electronicportfolios.org

Thank YouQuestions?

ContactMarc Zaldivar

marcz@vt.edu

Teggin Summers

teggin@vt.edu

Points to Ponder

• Where are you in terms of your eP implementation?

• What are the current institutional efforts within your organization? How might you leverage them?

• What are your curricular goals?

• Which technologies match your activities and outcomes?