ePortfolios for Reflection Mini-Institute

Darren CambridgeInternational Conference on Assessment and Retention

Scottsdale, AZJune 14, 2008

Overview

• Models from the Inter/National Coalition for Electronic Portfolio Research

• Heuristics– Metaphors– Theories and sites of reflection – Styles of integrative learning – Cultural ideals for lifelong learning

Weber State General Education Portfolio

• A “bolt-on” institutional assessment of a selection of students

• Artifacts matched to outcomes and reflection on the match

• Verified through faculty/staff evaluation

Learning Record Online

• Five dimensions of learning and course goals• Observations and samples of work throughout

semester• Interpretation and grade recommendations at

middle and end• Midterm moderations

George Mason Graduation Portfolio

• Competencies as a context for expressivity and community deliberation

• Several reflective essays linked to student-chosen artifacts

• Curricular, co-curricular, and informal evidence

• Built with common tools

Stanford Learning Careers

George Mason Leadership Portfolio

• Semester-long, co-curricular portfolio keeping experience

• Three face-to-face, day-long meetings

• Faculty, staff, and peer mentors

• Students who self-identify as leaders and students who don’t, first-year to graduate student

• Sequenced use Open Source Portfolio tools

Beginning of Semester

• Expanding thinking about evidence

• Reflective writing in response to chosen prompts

• Organized around categories for social change model of leadership

• Hierarchical matrix

Mid-semester

• Reconceptualizing as leadership

• Organizing evidence and reflections in relationship to shared conceptual framework– Matrix Thinking

• Matrix

End of Semester

• Presentation portfolio for an audience of their choice

• Identity, relationships, community, future directions

• Portfolio using template

Kapi’olani Hawaiian Values Portfolio

• Organized around six native Hawaiian values and four stages of the journey of a canoe

• Bridging home and academic cultures

• Matrix thinking

Kapi’olani Research Results

• Significant positive difference between ePortfolio students and college and national benchmarks for– Student engagement

• Six of twelve CCSSE questions

– Learning strategies• Eight of ten Learning Strategies and Study

Skills (LASSI) categories

LaGuardia ePortfolio

• Recent immigrants and first-generation college students

• Bridging home and disciplinary culture

• Impact on retention, student engagement, pass rates

• Portfolio studios• Visual design and

iteration

LaGuardia CCSSE Results

2.4

2.6

2.8

3

3.2

Critical Thinking 2.67 2.85 3.12

Nat'l Mean LaG Mean eP Mean

How much has your coursework emphasized synthesizing & organizing ideas, information, or experiences in new ways? 1 = Very Little, 2 = Some, 3= Quite a Bit, 4 = Very Much

LaGuardia ePortfolio & Retention

64

66

68

70

72

74

76

78

College 71 69 70

ePortfolio 76.5 74.7 75.5

Fa05->Sp06 Sp06-> Fa06 2 Smstr Mean

QUT ePortfolio

• Managed by Employment Service

• Twelve university-wide “faculties” mapped to– Languages of disciplines

and unites– Languages of employers

• Short stories with evidence

• Part of administrative portal

• Used by 60,000 residents• Most active users demographically

representative• Use across roles suggests intrinsic motivation

and lifelong learning• Integration of different life roles in single

representation with user control over contents and visual design key success factor

Write about …

• If you were a student, which model would be most appealing?

• Which models appeal most to you as an educator?

• Which best match current or anticipated practice in your classroom, program, or institution?

• What challenges might you anticipate if you were to build on one of these models?

Metaphors

• Mirror • Map • Sonnet - Mary Dietz (1994)

• Conversation piece

• Museum exhibit• Interface • Remix• Digital Identity

Theories of Reflection• John Dewey - Critical Thinking

– Tacit knowledge – Rigorous analytical thinking

• Donald Schön - Reflective Practitioner– Key to effective professional practice and human thought– Reflection-in-action, Reflection-on-action

• David Kolb - Stages of Reflection – description, analysis, judgment, planning

• David Boud - Linking cognitive and affective– Examining feelings

• Pablo Friere, Stephen Brookfield, et. al - Critical Reflection – Questioning assumptions – Understanding and challenging domination

– George Hillocks, Teaching Writing as Reflective Practice

Kathleen Yancey’s Dimensions of ReflectionReflection-in-action

“reviewing,projecting,revising”

Constructive reflection“developing a cumulative,

multi-selved,multi-vocal identity”

Reflection-in-presentation“articulating the relationshipsbetween and among” creation,creator, and context of creation

Reflection as conversationwith artifacts,

with self,with others

(— Yancey, Reflection in the Writing Classroom)

Three curricula

Kathleen Yancey, Reflection in the Writing Classroom

Write about …

• How might the metaphor(s) you use to think about ePortfolios influence the theories of reflection you value, and vice versa?

• What role does reflection play in your curriculum and your current or intended portfolio model?

• What do you see as key benefits and challenges of reflection?

Network SelfCreating intentional connections

Symphonic SelfAchieving integrity of the whole

Networked

• Play, emergence, entrepreneurialism, flexibility, agility

• Ease, speed, low-cost integration

• Aggregation, association• Relationships

• Collection, list, link, snapshot

• Web 2.0 and social software

Symphonic

• Integrity, commitment, intellectual engagement, balance

• Time, effort, high cost integration (author, context, audience)

• Synthesis, symphony• Relationships to and

between relationships• Theory, story,

interpretation, map• ePortfolio systems, Web

1.0

Write about …

• How does the way you use or anticipate using reflection and portfolios in your curriculum reflect the two styles?

• Is one more important than the other?

• How can they be coordinated?

Authenticity

• OwnershipValidation through reflexivity

• Creativity Articulation the inchoate self through reflection

• How does the portfolio model help students articulate their self-

understanding?

Deliberation

Decisions made through discussion that •Is reasonable•Is inclusive•Takes into account information from all

•Allows for both consensus

and dissent

• How can the way portfolios are evaluated be defined by and involve everyone affected? • How do we ensure that the information about learning that informs such decisions is broad enough to take advantage of individual differences?

Integrity Consistency of values and articulation of relationship between • Different spheres of life

• Different social roles

• How does the portfolio help students represent their identity as “whole human beings”?

•How does it invite connections with learning beyond the context of the course, discipline or

institution?

•How might the metaphor(s) you use to think about ePortfolios influence the theories of reflection you value, and vice versa? •What role does reflection play in your curriculum and your current or intended portfolio model?

•What do you see as key benefits and challenges of

reflection?

•How does the way you use or anticipate using reflection and portfolios in your curriculum reflect the two styles, networked and symphonic? •Is one more important than the other?

•How can they be

coordinated?

• How does the portfolio model help students articulate their self-

understanding? •How can the way portfolios are evaluated be defined by and involve everyone affected? • How do we ensure that the information about learning that informs such decisions is broad enough to take advantage of individual differences?• How does the portfolio help students represent their identity as “whole human beings”?

•How does it invite connections with learning beyond the context of the course, discipline or

institution?

Electronic Portfolios 2.0: Emergent Findings and Shared Questions

• Collection of 24 chapters detailing research from cohorts I, II, and III of the Coalition

• Forthcoming from Stylus in October 2008

Stay in touch

• dcambrid@gmu.edu• +1-202-270-5224

• For more information on the Inter/National Coalition for Electronic Portfolio Research:http://ncepr.org/

• Some of my presentations are here:http://ncepr.org/darren/presentations.html(Email me for pre-prints of publications)