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Documenting Learning with ePortfolios: A Stakeholders

Approach

AAC&U ePortfolio ForumJanuary 28, 2012

Helen L. Chen, Tracy Penny Light,& John Ittelsonhttp://www.documentinglearning.com

Documenting Learning with ePortfolios

� New technologies pushing boundaries for learners

� Globalized world, information is everywhere

� Increasing need for analysis and critical thinking skills

� Students need to learn ways to assess the information available

� Need ways to help learners to “make connections” and demonstrate their knowledge

� Reflection and Action!

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Sketch … who are the stakeholders for your ePortfolio project .Don’t think too much. Put your pen to paper and start drawing.

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ePortfolio Implementation Framework(Chen & Penny-Light, 2010; Penny-Light, Chen, & Ittelson, 2012)

� Defining Learning Outcomes� Identifying & Understanding

Learners and Stakeholders� Designing Learning Activities� Informing Assessment of

Student Learning� Using ePortfolio Tools and

Technologies� Evaluating the Impact of Your

ePortfolio Initiativehttp://www.documentinglearning.com

•What learning outcomes are you currently implementing or considering for your ePortfolioinitiative?

•What types of learning do you want to

capture and document?

Defining Learning Outcomes

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7 Association of American Colleges & Universities, http://www.aacu.org/leap/

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•Who are we designing the learning experience for?

•What are their characteristics?

•What technologies are they comfortable with?

•What support will they need to create their ePortfolios?

Identifying & Understanding Learners and Stakeholders

How does being continually connected affect how students interact with each other and how they experience college?

http://chronicle.com/article/Bleary-Eyed-Students-Cant/129838/

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What’s being lost in this environment?

“We are being pummeled by a deluge of data and unless we create time and spaces in which to reflect, we will be left with only our reactions.”

--Rebecca Blood, weblog historian

� Communication skills (writing and in person)

� How to think

� How to be contemplative

� How to reflect

--Chronicle for Higher Education, 10/5/05

� Empathy?--Konrath (2010)

What data already exist?

� What methods can we use to learn about our learners?

� Example: U. of Rochester’s anthropological study of "What happens when a professor assigns a paper to a student?“

� Focus groups, interviews, questionnaires, etc.

� What existing sources of data are available and accessible? Who owns this data?

� NSSE, Alumni surveys, Admissions/Registrars

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•Given your outcomes, what activities can you design to best guide the ways that learners use the ePortfolio to document their learning?

•How will their learning be captured and documented in the ePortfolio?

Designing Learning Activities

Alignment in Course/Program Design

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•How do ePortfolios and their artifacts inform assessment of student learning?

•What evidence is needed for learners to document their achievements and competencies?

Informing Assessment of Student Learning

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http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/consumers-surveys-breed-feedback-fatigue-15312009#.Txfi129ST2Y

Mapping Overview

Kelly (2009)

http://teachingcommons.cdl.edu/eportfolio/resources/dop/mapping.html

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Mapping Case Study: Using tags

LEAP

• Personal and Social Responsibility• Anchored through active involvement with diverse communities and real-world challenges

• Knowledge of Human Cultures & the Physical & Natura l World• Focused by engagement with big questions, both contemporary and enduring

Institution

• GE Content Objective: Acquire an understanding of the interrelationships between science, economics, ethics and policy in environmental decision-making by society.

• Campus Strategic Goal: To create a vital and collaborative living and learning experience for students, who will appreciate and embrace the local, regional, and global communities of which we are all a part.

College

• College of Behavioral & Social Sciences - Goal : Continue to develop community service and research partnerships that enhance student learning and community involvement.

Dept

• Department of Environmental Studies - Objective: Recognize the interconnectedness and interdependence of political, economic, and social complexities inherent in environmental problem solving, and demonstrate the ability to apply this interdisciplinary training to environmental problems of local, regional, national, or global significance.

Course

• Environmental Studies 010: Life on a Changing Plane t• Student Learning Objective: Demonstrate ways in which science influences and is influenced by complex societies, including political and moral issues.

Artifact

• Assignment: Calculating Your Carbon Footprint• Upload your final papers/projects from this class in your ePortfolio tagged with "science", "ethics", "policy", "environmental problem-solving", "real-world challenge" (See assignment description for details)

Which ePortfolio tools and technologies will allow you to collect the types of evidence that will allow learners to document and demonstrate their learning?

Using ePortfolio Tools and Technologies

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How will you evaluate the impact of your ePortfolio project?

How will you define success for you? Your students? Your faculty? Your institution?

What constitutes evidence of YOUR success?

Evaluating the Impact of ePortfolios

Defining “Success”(Venezsky, 2001)

Imagine that your ePortfolio project is

completed and that it succeeded in all

of its goals. You are to appear

tomorrow at a press conference to

explain what you have

accomplished. Write a press release

to distribute at this meeting

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How can these stakeholders benefit from adopting ePortfolios?

What can these stakeholders contribute to the ePortfolio initiative?

A Stakeholders Approach

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ePortfolio Implementation Framework for YOUR Stakeholder

Defining learning

outcomesWhat learning outcomes does your stakeholder care about? What learning outcomes do you have for your stakeholder?

Identifying and

understanding learners

and stakeholders

Who are they? How can they contribute AND how do they benefit from yourePortfolio initiative?

Designing learning

activitiesGiven your outcomes, what activities will guide what goes into the ePortfolio?

Informing assessment How does the ePortfolio content inform theassessment needs of your stakeholder?

Using ePortfolio tools

and technologies What ePortfolio features does your stakeholder need?

Evaluating the impact of

your ePortfolio initiativeHow do you define “success” for your stakeholder?

Brainstorm Strategies to Engage Stakeholders

How will you communicate your vision for how

ePortfolios can work on your campus to your

stakeholder of choice?

� WHO is your stakeholder?

� Why does your stakeholder NEED an ePortfolio?

� How can your stakeholder BENEFIT from the ePortfolio?

� What can your stakeholder CONTRIBUTE to the ePortfolio?

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What we’ve accomplished so far…

1. Introduced the ePortfolio Implementation Framework

2. Identified the STAKEHOLDERS for your ePortfolioproject

3. Benchmarked how an ePortfolio can address the NEEDS of one of your stakeholders

4. Brainstormed STRATEGIES to frame ePortfoliospersuasively to address the needs of your stakeholder(s)

5. Prototype an “elevator PITCH” to your stakeholder of choice

Tips to Craft Your 56s ePortfolio Elevator Pitchinspired by http://www.alumni.hbs.edu/careers/pitch/

1. WHO: Describe who you are

2. WHAT: Describe how your ePortfolio project addresses the stakeholder’s NEED or problem

3. WHY: Describe the unique benefits of your ePortfolio project and how it adds value

4. GOAL: Describe the goals and time frame for your ePortfolio project and be clear what you are asking for.

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National & International ePortfolio Initiatives

EPAC Community of Practice

� Virtual interactions through free online chats & discussions, audio and video conferences;

� Networking with EPAC members at conferences and meetings;

� Exchange of resources

� Tracking of international and national conferences, requests for proposals and funding opportunities;

� Active exploration and evaluation of ePortfolio tools and practices

http://epac.pbworks.com/https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/epaccoplist

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For more information

� Helen L. Chen – hlchen@stanford.edu

� Tracy Penny Light - tplight@uwaterloo.ca

� John Ittelson – john@csumb.edu

� http://www.Wiley Learning Institute.com: March 15th, 3-4:30 ET

� Association for Authentic Experiential Evidence-Based Learning (AAEEBL) – July 16-19, Boston

http://www.aaeebl.org

� Association of American Colleges & Universities – VALUE, LEAP, and Quality Collaboratives projects

http://www.aacu.org