Starting to think about ePortfolios

Prepared for School of Nursing

Bronwyn Hegarty and Sarah Stewart 2012

Overview of what is covered

What do you want to get out of this session?What are the different types of ePortfolioExamplesDefinitions – reflection, reflective learning, etc.Critical thinking overviewDesigning tasks for a portfolioBarrett’s Five-stage modelWhere to from here?

Why use ePortfolios?

• Increases engagement – “the engaged learner, one who records and interprets and evaluates his or her own learning, is the best learner” (Yancey 2001b, p. 83).

• Provides constructivist learning and active learning, develops metacognition and deeper learning (Dibiase, 2002).

• Develops digital information literacy skills (Lorenzo & Ittelson, 2005).

• Prepares student for professional practice

http://www.flickr.com/photos/markusallenweb/3427003419/

Student portfolios

Types of portfolios•Learning - evidence of learning, personal growth, planning and monitoring learning•Assessment – collection of work which is assessed•Showcase (Professional) - competencies for practice and APC, and presentation to employers

The Learning Portfolio – what is it?• A record of the learning process - reflections, goals• A personalised learning space which the student controls• An evidence repository – achievements, learning• A medium for encouraging:– Engagement and deeper learning – active, experiential– Critical thinking and reflective learning – Metacognition – awareness of knowledge and

experiences, goals, actions, monitoring or self-regulation (Flavell, 1998)

– Formative feedback– Development of community of practice

Source: Zubizarreta, J. (2004)

Benefits for learning

A learning portfolio can encourage deep learning through reflection, reflective learning and critical thinking, and provide evidence of professional learning and reflective practice.

Example: http://sarahstewart-eportfolio.wikispaces.com/

Assessment ePortfolio

• Present specific pieces of work for assessment, maybe at the end of a course , year or program.

• What do you want to assess – the process of learning or outcomes of learning?

• Need to think about how you will assess ie marking rubric

Benefits of an Assessment ePortfolio

• Easily stored, accessible and edited• Facilitates different modes of technology and

assessment• Facilitates group work• Increases student motivationExample:

http://www.eportfolio.lagcc.cuny.edu/scholars/doc_fa07/marie.jimenez/index.html

Showcase (Professional)

• Student/professional may pick and choose what she displays according to the purpose of the ePortfolio

Benefits

• Facilitates different approach to presentation• Easily accessible and stored• Supports use of different mediaExample: http://cml.weebly.com/index.htmlhttp://www-personal.umich.edu/~cheem/index.html http://www.nzno.org.nz/membership/member_tools/professional_portfolio

http://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahmargaretstewart

What goes in the ePortfolio?

• Collection of artefacts (evidence)• Reflections • Assignments• Cases• Articles – annotations• Goals for learning• Achievements in subjects

Examples

• http://midwifepam.wikispaces.com/ • http://juliemcelhatton.efolioworld.com/clinicalexpertise • http://christinajoy-nursingschool.blogspot.co.nz/ • http://anne-mariepaulin.blogspot.co.nz/

More Exampleshttp://www.epsilen.com/MyPortal/Public/Home.aspx?prefix=ssuchdev25&ToolID=238&systemName=PerPublic_Home

Virginia Tech gallery : http://eportfolio.vt.edu/gallery.html https://scholar.vt.edu/access/content/group/97b91a99-7258-44a2-8002-9b7c83a84bd5/WebDev/Website/Gallery/HNFE/gabikay/index.html (Work Showcase link)

http://sites.helenbarrett.net/portfolio/

Definition of reflection

Reflection is deliberate and mindful thinking about one’s experiences and the self-evaluation of feelings, decisions, understandings and actions, which may lead to development of professional learning for professional practice (based on: Boud & Walker, 1990; Boud et al., 1985; Rodgers, 2002b; Tremmel, 1993). (Hegarty, 2011.)

Reflective learning

Used as a process for understanding new material while also making connections to existing knowledge (Boud, Keogh & Walker, 1985; Moon, 2004).

Reflective questions to stimulate inquiry about learning.•What did I learn?•How did I learn?•Why did I learn?•What will I do with my learning? •What are my goals and actions for learning?

Core Critical Thinking Skills

To use CT as a tool of inquiry, the following skills are needed:•Interpretation•Analysis•Inference•Evaluation•Explanation•Self-regulation (Facione, 2011)

Facione, P.A. (2011)

Definitions

Professional learning: Learning which has relevance to professional practice and occurs when new knowledge and understanding, skills and insights are gained and may lead to the achievement of professional goals

Reflective Practice: A process associated with professional learning, which includes effective reflection and the development of metacognition, and leads to decisions for action, learning, achievement of goals and changes to immediate and future practice.(Hegarty, 2011.)

Designing activities for an ePortfolio

• What type of activities are you already using which could transfer to an ePortfolio?

• What are you expecting students’ to demonstrate? • Categorise the learning you would like them to engage in -

mastery, engagement, deeper learning, experiential learning, critical thinking, reflective learning, metacognition, achievement etc.

Designing new tasks for a portfolio

• What will they look like?

1. What kinds of reflective questions would you ask students to address?

2. What kinds of evidence would be most useful? 3. How would you engage students in collaboration and

mentoring in the process?

Reflection Documentation/Evidence

Collaboration/Mentoring

Designing ePortfolio assessments

• What type of assessments are you already using which could transfer to an ePortfolio?

• How would you develop assessment criteria?• How would you support the student?

Thinking about Showcase (Professional) ePortfolio

• How would you scaffold students into this?• What are the professional issues in relation to

APC?• What is the thinking at a professional level

about portfolio, competency demonstration and moving into an electronic (online) environment?

Barrett’s Five-stage model

1. Define portfolio context and goals;2. Working portfolio - content and evidence,

standards to be demonstrated;3. Reflective portfolio - record of self-reflection,

goal-setting;4. Connected portfolio - organization of digital

content using hypertext links;5. Presentation portfolio - storage and

presentation medium e.g. server, CDRom (Barrett, 2000).

Factors to consider• Purpose• Audience – feedback, community of practice• Content – evidence, reflection• Location – open web (blog and wiki), Google Sites,

platform (Mahara, Pebblepad.• Formats – text, images, video, audio• Security and professionalism• Portability• Digital literacy – students and teachers

Portfolio platforms

Google sites template for building eportfolios: https://sites.google.com/a/pdx.edu/sample-student-eportfolio/Home

https://sites.google.com/site/bronlearningportfolio/

Mahara - http://mahara.org/about/eportfoliosMahara Otago Polytechnic - https://mahara.op.ac.nz/ Pebblepad - http://www.pebblepad.co.uk/ Blogger – http://www.blogger.com Wiki – http://www.wikispaces.com Moodle

Summary

Ideally, portfolios are student-centred, student-owned and located on accessible platforms that the students can continue to use long after their course of study is completed.

Where to from here?

Teachers who keep a professional portfolio of their learning and practice experiences have an advantage. They are better placed to support students with their portfolios.

Teachers who develop skills in creating an electronic portfolio can guide students more confidently.

Examples and references we used can be found in the Flexible Learning Guidebook References section located at: http://tinyurl.com/74x5p67

Authentic assessment Toolbox –http://jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/portfolios.htm

Resources

• Sarah Stewart’s ePortfolio “musings”: http://sarah-stewart.blogspot.co.nz/search/label/ePortfolio

• Eportfolio Community of Practice: https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/eportfolio_conversations

• More ePortfolio examples: http://www.scoop.it/t/eportfolios-examples

References• Barrett, H. (2000). Electronic Teaching Portfolios: Multimedia Skills + Portfolio Development = Powerful

Professional Development. In D. Willis, J. Price & J. Willis (Eds), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2000 (pp. 1111-1116). Chesapeake, VA: AACE. Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org/p/15787

• Boud, D., Keogh, R., & Walker, D. (1985). Promoting reflection in learning: a model. In D. Boud, R. Keogh, & D. Walker (Eds.), Reflection: turning experience into learning (pp. 18-40). London: Kogan Page.

• DiBiase, D. et al. (2002) . Using e-Portfolios at Penn State to Enhance Student Learning Status, Prospects, and Strategies. Penn State University. https://www.e-education.psu.edu/files/e-port_report.pdf

• Facione, P.A. (2011). Critical thinking: What is it and why it counts. California:Insight Assessment – a Division of California Press. Retrieved from http://www.insightassessment.com/

• Hegarty, B. (2011). A Framework to Guide Professional Learning and Reflective Practice. Doctoral thesis. NSW: University of Wollongong.

• Lorenzo, G. & Ittelson, J. (2005). An overview of e-Portfolios. ELI Paper 1, Educause. Retrieved from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI3001.pdf

• Moon, J. (2004). A handbook of reflective and experiential learning: theory and practice. New York: RoutledgeFalmer.

• Yancey, Kathleen Blake (2001) General Patterns and the Future. In Barbara Cambridge and others (Eds), Electronic Portfolios: Emerging Practices in Student, Faculty, and Institutional Learning. Washington, DC: American Association of Higher Education, 83-87.

• Zubizarreta, J. (2005). The learning portfolio: Reflective practice for improving student learning. South Carolina, USA: Columbia College.