Catherine Paul Community of Practice FacilitatorOffice of Learning Technology,University of British Columbia

ePortfolios @ UBC

Brief History of ePortfolios@UBC

• A 3-year campus-wide initiative 2003-2006• TLEF funded•  investigated the pedagogical benefits & resource

implications of implementing e-portfolios for multiple purposes & contexts (course, program, personal)

• 13 projects from multiple disciplines• 2000 students, 91 instructors and 37 staff• strong community of practice (CoP) in parallel

Brief History of ePortfolios@UBC

Successes

• cross-faculty collaboration• research component• engaged different areas of academic

environment• encouraged informal learning spaces for

students• deep learning

Brief History of ePortfolios@UBC

 

Brief History of ePortfolios@UBC

 

Portfolio Approaches

• showcase• assessment• career• reflective• capstone• professional development• community building

Hurdles

Challenges

• technology (no one size fits all!)• sustained support• add-on rather than integration• increased workload for instructors and

students

Hurdles..

"If this is my personal reflection - how can you give me 3 out of 5?" 3rd year student

"Our students had too many other things to do already and saw the e-portfolio as just another assignment.  They didn't buy into it even though we changed the process in the 2nd year.  When students question meaning we, as instructors, will too." Pharmacy instructor

"Students required a lot of support to get beyond technology problems.  We always underestimate the level of human support required to support something like this."  Instructional support staff

Hopes:

• Revive ePortfolio Community of Practiceo events, partnerships

• Test "proof of concept" portfolio tools• Support the Instructional Support Staff on campus

How do you change cultures?

Slowly and surreptitiously" Reflection was not embraced until we re-branded it as information processing.  We learned this from the 2st year of the pilot; Science students don't understand the concept of reflection.  Information processing exercises helped lessen the amount of study-time; students realized that this process helped them learn the course content." e-Portfolio Project Lead

"Instructors need to model e-portfolios to students, they need to be encouraged to create their own teaching portfolios.  teaching e-portfolios and student e-portfolios are connected."  e-Portfolio Project Lead