Leaning into the Counter-Intuitive Forum... · Leaning into the Counter-Intuitive: Seizing ePortfolio Initiatives as a Means to Forward Liberal Arts Outcomes . ... (Loeb, Soul of

Leaning into the Counter-Intuitive: Seizing ePortfolio Initiatives as a Means to

Forward Liberal Arts Outcomes A Discussion

Ms. Brenta Blevins, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Dr. Samantha Blevins, Radford University Dr. Michele Ren, Radford University

Ms. Jessica Thomasson, Virginia Tech Dr. Erin Webster-Garrett, Radford University

AACU 2017Saturday, 28 January 2017

Session Agenda

• Introductions– UNCG, VT, Radford • Brief Background• Discussion

2

Session Goals

To share information and to facilitate:• A discussion about the challenges and opportunities to move a

broad “transformative” movement such as an ePortfolio initiative from a pilot to a permanent program

• Ways accreditation and other types of “mandated” activities can be leveraged to further liberal education outcomes

• To share two stories, one from UNCG and another from Radford University

Presenter

Presentation Notes

We hope to facilitate discussion of liberal arts outcomes associated with ePortfolio implementation on the course, unit, program and cross‐institutional levels. In addition, the session will focus on compiling a set of recommendations from session attendees for infusing liberal arts outcomes across the curriculum through the unlikely means of accreditation activities, governmental mandate, or technology use. Particular attention will be given to considering and overcoming practical, political, and structural challenges.

Why We Proposed this Session

“To avoid a constant crisis mode, we’d do well to be as intentional as we can in our political engagement, asking what we want to accomplish at any given point. That doesn’t mean getting caught in some impossible perfect standard, but rather thinking through our opportunities, challenges, and approaches, whatever the situation.” (Loeb, Soul of a Citizen, 2010, p. 290)

Presenter

Presentation Notes

In our case, we are all connected to Radford where the ePortfolio movement was given new life and possibility because of the adoption of a QEP that conceptualized gathering longitudinal student learning outcome data through ePortfolio. Two of today’s panelists have moved to other institutions where eP conversations continue in differing ways. For example, one is at a leading institution in eP implementation (VT) and now has perspective on how eP culture and a culture of reflection grow and hit walls. As Director of the Scholar-Citizen QEP, I now understand that forwarding ePs is not that different than forwarding the civic engagement initiative with which eP adoption is closely related at Radford University. I believe we need to think through the messiness and the opportunities to forward our shared agendas, and we need to understand that sometimes those opportunities are in the guise of external mandates, assessment, and accreditation. One of the keys to our successfully riding the wave of change at Radford has been acknowledging and understanding change as the most consistent element of our context. As a group we offer this as a chance to think ahead about how you might leverage accreditation or other types of externally initiated pressures to forward the values and pedagogies which research supports serves our students in their development of lives of meaning and purpose.

Introductions – Your Turn!

Why did you sign up for this session?

What are some of your expectations?

Presenter

Presentation Notes

We will be asking some poll questions. The questions in the next section will help us get a sense of why you joined us today, the different roles we might play at our institutions, and the kinds of institutions we represent.

UNCG/NCA&T Pilot Rollout of e-Portfolios (PREP) Project

Brenta Blevins

UNCG/NCA&T ePortfolio Background

• The UNCGA General Education Council (GEC), the UNC system governing body, as part of its charge to identify strategies for assessing general education outcomes among the UNC system campuses, initiated an e-portfolio pilot project in October, 2013.

• UNCGA GEC sought to support a high-quality approach to assessment of the general education core competencies related to (1) critical thinking and (2) written communication.

• Pilots Projects: 1. UNC Chapel Hill2. UNC Charlotte3. UNC Greensboro and North Carolina A&T4. UNC Wilmington

Presenter

Presentation Notes

The people who were implementing the eportfolios at UNCG and NCA&T were grad student and adjuncts, and NTT staff. What does that suggest about long-term support for eportfolios? The grad student population may then be more ready to implement in their own work; why aren't TT involved in these projects? We also had a major struggle thinking through long-term eportfolio usage; those of us working with freshman tended toward the developmental/process-oriented eportfolios, while those working with seniors wanted showcase/final product-oriented eportfolios. So I'm definitely curious about how to handle that long-term development. We were also disappointed to learn that Clemson, who had first implemented eportfolios in 2006, had recently dropped their eportfolio graduation requirement; some reasons for this: 1) no benchmarks (basically, students might try to "cram" their work into their last semester 2) Limited/inconsistent faculty implementation (see the problem above about lack of TT faculty in the UNCG/NCA&T project) 3) Faculty workshops were available, but not required How could those problems be resolved? Evaluations at multiple benchmarks--but then that increases workload. Some other things that might be noteworthy is that NCA&T is an HBCU. I'm surprised we didn't collect (or obtain?) data on racial/ethnic backgrounds. Of the students in our study: 69% received federal financial aid Male = 28%; Female = 72%; Transgender/other = 1% Online students = 52%; Traditional classroom students = 48%

UNCG/NCA&T Pilot Rollout of e-Portfolios (PREP) Project

• Faculty, staff, and students from both UNCG and NCA&T, in a physical classroom-based and online courses.

• 8 faculty (PI was only TT faculty) and 2 staff members• 296 students in 13 course sections (8 classroom, 5 online) across five

academic disciplines at two universities ranging from first-year experience to senior capstones

• Participants created a modified version of the AAC&U VALUE rubrics for evaluation

• Seven different e-portfolio platforms piloted: Google Sites, WordPress, Taskstream, Digication, Acclaim, Blackboard, and Canvas.

PREP

• Freshman Foundations for Learning

• Communication Studies• First Year English• Senior Seminar in Social

Sciences• Senior Seminar in

Humanities/Bachelor of of Arts in Liberal Studies

Rubrics

Because UNCGA GEC sought to support a high-quality approach to assessment of the general education core competencies related to (1) critical thinking and (2) written communication, UNCG and NCA&T implemented AAC&U VALUE rubrics corresponding to those areas.

As those overlapped in some areas, the pilot team combined the two rubrics.

Prior to assessment, the AAC&U VALUE rubrics provided helpful language for articulating learning expectations to students.

Assessment Rubric Concerns/Questions

1.How do we best implement portfolio rubric training? Study found significant rubric application training investment (initially and over time)

2.Do rubrics reflect process- or product-oriented portfolios?

3.Do rubrics work better for individual elements or for the portfolio as a whole? How does that get addressed? balanced in rubric training? If portfolios are implemented on individual class bases rather than the student’s cumulative educational experiences, what should be done when the rubric does not align with the individual course?

Instructor Comfort:70% rating their usability as somewhat to very easy 60% of instructors had little or no prior e-portfolio experience

Student Experience with e-Portfolios

86% of online students had little or no prior e-portfolio experience; 93% of face-to-face students had little or none; Overall, 92% of student participants had little or no experience with e-

portfolios prior to this project93% of first-year students had little to no e-portfolio experience89% of seniors still had little or no involvement with e-portfolios.

More seniors (69%) judged their e-portfolios as suitable or highly suitable for presentation (with some revision) to a prospective employer

38% of first-year students agreed that their e-portfolio would be suitable or highly suitable.

46% of seniors believed that it was likely or highly likely that they actually would use an e-portfolio

28% of first-year students thought they would

Works CitedSchwartzman, Roy and Chantel Moore. “Pilot Rollout of e-Portfolios (PREP)

Project: Report to the University of North Carolina General Administration.” April 2015.

Hoepfl, Marie. “UNCGA General Education Council e-Portfolio Pilot Project Final Report.” April 2015.

Radford University Leveraging Accreditation for

Civic Engagementand ePortfolio Adoption

Radford University

Public, mid-size, rural comprehensiveFounded in 1910: State Normal and Industrial School for Women; in 1972 became officially co-educational Enrollment totals for Fall 2016: 9,401

• 56.8% Female

• 30% Identify as Non-White (up from 11.5% in 2006)

• 38% First Generation (historic high)

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Located in a region that includes 7 coal-producing counties and that is challenged by a high rate of food insecurity and low rate of economic growth, there are many opportunities for us to be an economic engine for the region and many reasons why we need to be heavily invested in the health of our host community.

Scholar-Citizen QEP Timeline

Implementation began in 2012Required QEP cycle concludes June 2017Impact Report due to SACSCOC March 2018Implementation process has focused from day 1 on preserving what we build in a challenging environment

HIPs and QEPs

Educational research appears to be informing institutional planning efforts and designs of QEPs. An overwhelming majority (99%) of QEPs integrate at least one HIP.

Presenter

Presentation Notes

A 2013 study entitled “Integration of High-Impact Practices (HIPs) in QEPs: An Overview Research Project Summary” looked at QEPs and noted the following: Educational research appears to be informing institutional planning efforts and designs of QEPs. An overwhelming majority (99%) of QEPs integrate at least one HIP. More than half (58%) of QEPs integrate two or more HIPs. A quarter (25%) of QEPs integrates three or more HIPs. o Institutions appear to take advantage of the flexibility afforded by the Commission in selecting QEP interventions. QEPs integrate varied HIPs. All ten HIPs are utilized by institutions in the design of QEPs. Each HIP is utilized by at least 7-10% of QEPs. Some HIPs are integrated by institutions in the QEPs at higher rates than others. For example, three modified/expanded HIPs appear to be most popular across all types of institutions (FY Seminars & Experiences / Orientation / Placement / Developmental Ed / Advising; "[Skill] Across the Curriculum" / Writing / IL / CT / Reading-Intensive Courses; and Collaborative Assignments and Projects / Peer Tutoring / Supplemental Instruction). Among the many things true of a HIP program, it requires resources, human and financial, and it requires time. While HIPs have been successfully integrated through mechanisms like QEPs, less research has been done on whether and how they have been sustained beyond the accreditation activity.

Liberal Outcomes

Scholar-Citizen Initiative • It taught me to look outside my values. • I found my values and goal and sense of

self.• It made me realize that my schooling can

help the community. • It helped me realize the gravity of the

situation [and] was more important than any other group project I’ve ever had.

• It helped me see the world differently.• It made me question and redefine my

values. It reaffirmed ethics and sense of social responsibility.

• Make [SCI] available more.• I loved this experience and wish there were

more classes I could take, or [that I] knew about it sooner.

Anonymous student feedback, SCI Course Surveys, 2015-2016

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Our goal aligns with a growing voice from students in these experiences. Since 2013, the SCI Diploma Program has grown from 19 students to 180. In Dec 2013 we graduated our first Scholar –Citizen, and in May 2016 we had a graduating class of 19. SCI’s growth is in consequence of the its focus on creating knowledge and opportunities by connecting people ideas and resources in order to contribute to the public good. The result has been highly engaging courses and co-curricular experiences that require students to discover their talents, rise to the challenge of addressing complex social issues, and translate their SCI experiences into goal setting for future learning, self-development, and actions.

Components of Scholar-Citizen QEP• As a broad-based QEP, the SCI

incorporates:• A faculty development program, • A co-curricular programming initiative, • A grants and awards program,

• An ePortfolio initiative, and

• A Scholar-Citizen Fellows graduation with distinction program

Faculty investment -> student opportunity

Greatest budget impact: • Catalyst for partnerships• Community of practice• Teaching workshops • Proliferation of SCI course designation• Curriculum innovation grants

ePortfolio

The student experience: https://vimeo.com/164770568

https://vimeo.com/164770568

https://vimeo.com/164770568

ePortfolioCoordinating ePortfolio at RU: http://epimplementationframework.weebly.com/

• Survey and interview data with faculty and administrators who have implemented (ePortfolios)

• Improved upon by suggestions from three expert reviewers

• Meant to support those implementing, or attempting to implement, ePortfoliosin a higher education contex

• Guides through key attributes of systemic innovation in a practical and applied manner

http://epimplementationframework.weebly.com/

Generalizable Challenges from this Case• Institutional pressures

• Leadership transitions

• Communication to executive level of a transformative QEP’s mission and value and the importance of ongoing support for the sub-initiatives

• Garnering continuous “buy-in” from diverse departments and stakeholders

• Defining ePortfolio’s niche beyond the QEP

Some Discussion Starters – Turn and Chat! • Are there accreditation or other opportunities you might

leverage?

• What challenges will you have to address once the accreditation/mandate/external pressure expires?

o Budgeto Changing institutional prioritieso Leadership changes

• Who are your champions? Foreseeable barriers?• What data might you use to make your case for using eP as a

mechanism in this project?o How do we measure the effectiveness of ePortfolio as

opposed to other tools?o How do we quantify ePortfolio as a “high impact” practice?

• If we cannot quantify the value of ePortfolio, will it die out? • What strategic planning activities have you been involved in and

what seems to be working?

Presenter

Presentation Notes

When you return to campus these are some key points we recommend you dialogue with your campus partners on, if you haven’t already. The worksheet covers these questions as well and we offer at as a kind of beginning primer for the kinds of questions you want to ask of your self and of your team.

Documents

Leaning into the Counter-Intuitive Forum... · Leaning into the Counter-Intuitive: Seizing ePortfolio Initiatives as a Means to Forward Liberal Arts Outcomes . ... (Loeb, Soul of