Gaining Fellowship of the HEA: The value of an e-portfolio as a thinking space

Aspire SymposiumSeptember 2013

Aim of the session• Describe the YSJ professional recognition

process and in particular share how e-portfolios are used as a thinking space for participants to collect and collate their evidence.

• Share evaluation findings • Provide opportunity for discussion about the

pros and cons of using e portfolios in this way

Principal Fellow of the HEAStaff with sustained and

effective record of impact and influence on teaching and

learning at strategic level 

Fellow of the HEA All academic staff who teach and

support student learning 

• New academic staff induction and survival kit• Peer Observation of Teaching and Learning• Writing retreats• Learning, Teaching and Assessment development workshops e.g. master classes and Technology Enhanced

Learning workshops• Pedagogic research activities• Research Informed Teaching activities• Pedagogic conferences internal and external• Scholarly activities e.g. breakfast café, bespoke activities such as dialogue days and curriculum redesign events• SEDA Supporting Learning Technology and SEDA Embedding Learning Technology Awards

• Supporting learning in Higher Education (30 M level credits) • Post Graduate Certificate in

Academic Practice (PCAP*)• Post Graduate Diploma• MA

Professional Dialogic/Paper Routes

Senior Fellow of the HEA Experienced staff who lead and mentor others in the enhancement of teaching

and learning

Associate of the HEA Support staff who are not engaged

in assessment of students but who have a substantive element of their role in teaching and learning

Recognising Academic Practice York St John University Continuing Professional Development Framework

Recognising Academic PracticeYSJ CPD Framework

• Professional dialogue routes to D2 and D3 accredited by HEA January 2012

• Pilot cohort (n=15) April to July 2012 (D2 only)• CPD Framework accredited by HEA September

2012– Professional dialogue and paper routes D1-D4

• Cohorts Sept 2012 (D2 plus pilot D3 process), Jan 2013, April 2013 (D2, 3 and pilot D4), June 2013

• University targets 100% by end of 2014/15

Professional dialogue route• Professional dialogue route is underpinned by the values of staff

collaboration and collegiality, development and reflection.• Professional dialogue is to facilitate reflection by being:

– an intentional process, – where social context and experience are acknowledged, – in which learners are active individuals, – wholly present, – engaging with others, – open to challenge, and – the outcome involves transformation as well as improvement for both

individuals and their organisation’

(Brockbank, A Beech, N & McGill, I (eds) (2002) Reflective Learning in Practice Aldershot UK : Gower

The role of the portfolio• A thinking space – to reflect on professional practice– to bring together appropriate evidence that can

then be discussed in the dialogues– A formative aspect of the process– A celebration of expertise and showcase identity

as a professional teacher– An opportunity to be creative

Some examples of portfolios• Mandy• Link to YSJ OER • http://

eportfolio.yorksj.ac.uk/view/view.php?t=SWzjLICXemNnJ8GAbY3k

Discussion• Using the dialogue sheets in small groups

consider the first pair of questions, make notes on your sheets!

• Don’t forget to give your group a name!

Discussion • Pass your sheet to the next group and • Reflect on their notes for question 1• Consider the second pair of questions

Evaluating the value of the e portfolio

• 23 staff completed an online survey• The majority had worked in HE for more than 6

years with 7 working in HE for longer than 15 years• Who were they– The majority were senior lecturers– Two readers– One Dean– Two working in areas outside faculties

• Staff came from all 4 Faculties

What do the staff think?• An evaluation into the use of the portfolio

revealed the following:• Increased confidence in using e portfolios• Valuable as a reflective space to think about

evidence• A few disliked it and wanted to be able to use

an alternative platform

What did they say• It's been good for me to use the e-Portfolio in a

real-world scenario, rather than simply exploring and testing its features for the benefit of teaching others.

• I found it quite unintuitive at first and continued to be frustrated by some of its less flexible aspects, but soon got used to its overall use

• I couldn't get on with it at all to begin with but Phil helped me a lot and I ended up really enjoying it

Does it have value as thinking space

• Mahara allowed for the "documentation" of and "drawing together" of evidence, to support the dialogic process. It gave me an opportunity to look back and reflect upon my achievement and plot my progression over time

• It did precisely that - I found that thinking what to include in the e-portfolio made me reflect on what I had been doing and why

• It took so long to get the stuff on in the right order [had to take everything off and number it]. The thinking had to be done before anything could go on Mahara as a finished product. No value for me in the thinking / developmental process which was all done outside the presentation of the portfolio

• Still in process, certainly the selection of content has been very useful as it challenges reflective process, raises many questions ( linking theory to practice), and makes you realise what the students have achieved very well, challenges teaching role ..... corroborates literature in this area.

• it was a good platform for that, as it allowed small areas of text plus downloads of larger files plus photos to break it up and stimulate discussion

Likelihood of continuing portfolio• 20 said yes!• Although!– In a folder within Microsoft– Using Word in My Documents– In other electronic ways

Final comments• I think the e-Portfolio is a good tool at this stage, but I am

looking forward to the next version which will include a much more user friendly interface and closer links with Moodle. Using it for SFHEA application provided me with an opportunity to use the tool in earnest, which I really enjoyed

• The employment of Mahara to record personal achievement & development is both convenient & highly effective

• If a constantly updated CPD is needed then time will need to be found to keep it up to date, this may be tricky in some areas

• Working with the students, graduates and external business partner in world of digital platform has been really important for me. Also made me realise what we need to do to support students to gather quality material for content - implications for digital archiving etc perhaps we can take this further in discussion across colleagues in IT, Marketing, Careers, Employability and also though the subject/departments as my experience of working with Mahara touches all these areas ... just a thought?

The challenges• Mahara as a platform• Formative/summative• Technical challenges• What’s enough?• What’s not enough?• If portfolio summative how do we ensure its

not a burden for the assessor?

Discussion• Move your sheet to the next group.• Consider the third pair of questions.

Discussion• Return the dialogue sheet to its original group.

Consider future actions you might take back to your institution.