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ePortfolios as Literacy

Arguments

“Documenting Learning. Electronic Portfolios: Engaging Today's Students in Higher Education” by Flickr user Giulia Forsythe

Dave FisherJoonna Trapp

Emory Writing Program14 August 2014

http://theory.sleepyside.org/portfolio

password: portfolio

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What is an ePortfolio

“Stacks of Folios - University of Chicago” by Flickr user Sharat Ganapati

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Folio Thinking

What is an ePortfolio?

Why would you want to use one in your course or program?

What experience have you had with portfolios before. Was it positive or negative? Why?

“Thinking” designed by Joe Shelton from the Noun Project

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Outcomes

By the time you’ve finished this workshop you’ll be able to

Create and organize a mini-portfolio using a free drag-and-drop tool

Explain the differences between a learning portfolio and a presentation portfolio

Develop curricular maps, learning goals and outcomes, learning activities, and assessment practices that are “constructively aligned” and “portfolio friendly”

Draft a scoring guide for assessing an ePortfolio or the artifacts therein

Design the broad outlines of a course that engages students in collection, selection, reflection, and connection

List some of the affordances and constraints of several ePortfolio platforms

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A recent study conducted by the Association of Authentic, Experiential, Evidenced-Based Learning (AAEEBL) found that in 2012 more students are producing ePortfolios than ever before. In 2011, 15% of respondents reported that 90-100% of students at their institutions had ePortfolios. In 2012, about 28% reported that 90-100% of students at their institutions are building ePortfolios. There also appears to be movement away from ePortfolios focused on a single course toward those that are program-based. (Chen, Brown, & Gordon, p. 133).

The American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) recent paper titled: “It Takes More than a Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student Success” states that “more than 4 in 5 employers say an electronic portfolio would be useful to them in ensuring that job applicants have the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in their company or organization.”

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Discourses

“A Discourse is a sort of 'identity kit' which comes complete with the appropriate costume and instructions on how to act, talk, and often write, so as to take on a particular social role that others will recognize. Imagine what an identity kit to play the role of Sherlock Holmes would involve: certain clothes, certain ways of using language (oral language and print), certain attitudes and beliefs, allegiance to a certain life style, and certain ways of interacting with others. We can call all these factors together, as they are integrated around the identity of 'Sherlock Holmes, Master Detective' the 'Sherlock Holmes Discourse.’ This example also makes clear that ‘Discourse’ . . . does not involve just talk or just language.”

Gee, J. P. (1990). Social linguistics and literacies: ideology in discourses. New York: Routledge.

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Discourses

Gee, J. P. (1990). Social linguistics and literacies: ideology in discourses. New York: Routledge.

“Another way to look at Discourses is that they are always ways of displaying (through words, actions, values and beliefs) membership in a particular social group or social network (people who associate with each other around a common set of interests, goals and activities).”

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What is an ePortfolio?

ePortfolios are multimodal compositions in which people argue that they are members of one or more Discourses by curating a collection of their performances.

To create ePortfolios, people

Collect artifacts from throughout their careersSelect artifacts from that collection that align with the activity of the Discourses they want to join or with which they want continue their involvementReflect, explain, or argue that their selections qualify them as a member of the DiscourseDesign, build, and publish a multimodal composition that embodies their central arguments

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What is an ePortfolio

What Is an ePortfolio? N.p., 2013. Film.

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Where to ePortfolios work best?

Evaluate performance or quality of learning in courses that emphasize

Clinical practice

Scientific methods

Writing or written analysis

Creativity

Craft

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Learning/Process Portfolios

to show growth or change over time

to help develop process skills such as self-evaluation and goal-setting

to identify strengths and weaknesses

to track the development of one more products/performances

Mueller, Jon. “Portfolios (Authentic Assessment Toolbox).” N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Aug. 2014.

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Presentation Portfolios

to showcase end-of-year/semester accomplishments

to prepare a sample of best work for employment or college admission

to showcase student perceptions of favorite, best or most important work

to communicate a student's current aptitudes to future teachers

Mueller, Jon. “Portfolios (Authentic Assessment Toolbox).” N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Aug. 2014.

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Evaluation Portfolios

to document achievement for grading purposes

to document progress towards standards

to place students appropriately

Mueller, Jon. “Portfolios (Authentic Assessment Toolbox).” N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Aug. 2014.

14http://commons.gc.cuny.edu/wiki/images/EPortfolio_Faculty_Handbook.pdf

15http://commons.gc.cuny.edu/wiki/images/EPortfolio_Faculty_Handbook.pdf

16http://commons.gc.cuny.edu/wiki/images/EPortfolio_Faculty_Handbook.pdf

17http://commons.gc.cuny.edu/wiki/images/EPortfolio_Faculty_Handbook.pdf

18http://commons.gc.cuny.edu/wiki/images/EPortfolio_Faculty_Handbook.pdf

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Traditional Portfolio

Measures student's ability at one time

Measures student's ability over time

Done by teacher alone; student often unaware of criteria

Done by teacher and student; student aware of criteria

Conducted outside instruction

Embedded in instruction

Assigns student a grade Involves student in own assessment

Does not capture the range of student's language ability

Captures many facets of language learning performance

Does not include the teacher's knowledge of student as a learner

Allows for expression of teacher's knowledge of student as learner

Does not give student responsibility

Student learns how to take responsibility

National Capital Language Resource Center. “Portfolio Assessment.” N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Aug. 2014.

AuthenticAssessment

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Portfolio Characteristics

Collection of texts

Range of performances

Delayed evaluation promoting time for revision

Selection of texts

Student-centered control

Reflection and self-assessment

Growth along specific parameters (e.g., speaking/conversation)

Development over time which provides evidence of progress

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Possible Artifacts

Mueller, Jon. “Portfolios (Authentic Assessment Toolbox).” N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Aug. 2014.

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Folio Thinking

What do you envision as the purpose for the ePortfolio you’re contemplating?

Whom do you see as the primary audience for the portfolio? What are this audience’s expectations?

Who are the secondary audiences? What are their expectations?

On the “What is an ePortfolio?” page of your mini portfolio, write a paragraph in which you answer these questions.