Growing ePortfolios @ UVa

“E-portfolios can provide a means for clarifying and affirming localized institutional value.”

Randy Bass, AACU Peer Review 2014

Methodology: Qualitative Weight and Sum (QWS)

• “…an iterative process of evaluation which focuses on a weighted list of criteria…”

-- Himpsl and Baumgartner (2009)

Danube Univeristy Krems (DUK), Austria

UVa’s “Localized Institutional Context”: The Cornerstone Plan:

“…pioneer ‘total advising,’ a multidimensional process that combines high-quality academic advising, career advising, and coaching, includes an online portfolio…”

“…posting of student leadership experiences to their online portfolios.”

Other conditions: No assigned leadership to develop an ePortfolio program Ad hoc activities by interested instructors; Experimentation with home-grown ePortfolio platforms Technology Strategies team in the College of Arts & Sciences

Modest funding for pilot projects (Learning Technologies Incubator – LTi)

Priorities Based on “Localized Institutional Context”: Cornerstone Plan's focus on promoting student leadership, and student advising Absence of institution-wide focused leadership on ePortfolios Limited resources (small LTi grants) Potential for distributed support (UCS, Library, etc.)

Our Question:• What is the best ePortfolio approach and platform to provide to first year students

for collecting, selecting, and reflecting on their curricular and extra-curricular activities while at UVa?”

Based on UVa's context and priorities:

Focus primarily on “student services” (approach) ePortfolios supported outside of class context

One-credit courses UCS, Library, etc.

No institutional context (maybe foreign language departments)

Focus primarily on “student ePortfolios” (platform) Student ownership Student perspective Student interface

Brief History:

2014 (Summer): LTi grant Courses: Summer Language Institute (Spanish & French) Platform: PebblePlus

2014/2015 (Fall/Spring) Courses: 2000/3000 level Spanish and French Platform: WordPress

(Group has re-applied for 2016 LTi grant: Spanish, French, Italian, Chines, Arabic, Russian, Portuguese)

2015 (Spring) Courses: Liberal Arts Seminar (one-credit) Platform: Chalk & Wire; Digication

Methodology: Qualitative Weight and Sum (QWS)

• “…an iterative process of evaluation which focuses on a weighted list of criteria”

-- Himpsl and Baumgartner (2009)

Danube Univeristy Krems (DUK), Austria

The Tool:

• Essential (E) < -- > Not Important (0)

• Weigh the remaining criteria:

• Extremely Important *

• Very Important #

• Important +

• Less important |

First Iteration of Priorities:

• Institutional Integration:

- LTI 1.0, 1.2, LMS, SIS, etc.- Export Content in Standard Format (zip, pdf, etc.)- Ingest Content in Standard Format (zip, pdf, etc.)

• User Interface:

- Full Graphical/Text/Equation Editor- Intuitive/Standard Layout for ePortfolio Construction- Intuitive/Standard Sharing and Communication- Intuitive/Standard Layout for ePortfolio Presentation

• External Integration:

- Template Libraries- Specialized Editors- Standard API for Plugins

Second Iteration of Priorities: (considering the student point of view)

• User Interface: • Intuitive/Standard/Full Configurable Graphical Text/Equation Editor• Intuitive/Standard layout for ePortfolio architecting• Intuitive/Standard layout for ePortfolio Presentation• Robust, configurable template library

• External Integration: • Ability to export ePortfolios in standard (zip, pdf, etc.) formats• Ability to integrate with institutional systems (LTI)• Standard API for plugins

Second Iteration of Priorities: (considering the student point of view, apply QWS)

• User Interface: • Intuitive/Standard/Full Configurable Graphical Text/Equation Editor (E)• Intuitive/Standard layout for ePortfolio architecting (#)• Intuitive/Standard layout for ePortfolio Presentation (*)• Robust, configurable template library (#)

• External Integration: • Ability to export ePortfolios in standard (zip, pdf, etc.) formats (E)• Ability to integrate with institutional systems (LTI) (*)• Standard API for plugins (#)

Note Essentials (E):

• Intuitive/Standard/Full Configurable Graphical Text/Equation Editor

• Ability to export ePortfolios in standard (zip, pdf, etc.) formats

Third Iteration of Priorities: (expand, specify feature list )• User Interface:

-- Intuitive/Standard/Full Configurable Graphical Text/Equation Editor; EText formatting, internal links, external links, embedding media, etc.

-- Intuitive/Standard layout for ePortfolio architecting; #Asset storage, organization, tagging, access

-- Intuitive/Standard layout for ePortfolio Presentation; *Flexible canvass,

-- Robust, configurable template library; #Flexible canvass

• External Integration: -- Ability to export ePortfolios in standard (zip, pdf, etc.) formats; E

-- Ability to integrate with institutional systems (LTI); *Single sign-on, ???

• Standard API for plugins; #• ???

Criteria Checklist (Himpsl and Baumgartner)

Export e-portfolio data

Input keywords

Internal cross-references

External cross-references

Publishing on the Web

Export e-portfolio data

Input keywords

Internal cross-references

External cross-references

Publishing on the Web

1. PebblePlus

2. Digication

3. Chalk & Wire

4. Wordpress

Yitna Firdyiwek, Instructional Designer

College of Arts & Sciences, University of Virginia

ybf2u@virginia.edu