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eportfolios

Five Ways to Use ePortfolios for Reflection

Please show me innovative teaching strategies I can actually use!

As educators, we are often seeking new and exciting ways to engage our students, only to find that our teaching load leaves little time for focusing on the more innovative approaches. This dilemma is compounded

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intellectual messiness

A Respect for Intellectual Messiness

Intellectual messiness is one of those perfect descriptors. I’m not sure where it originated, but I do like it, probably because messiness abounds in my mind. I have been frustrated lately by how old I am and how little I’ve figured out, especially about teaching

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self assessment

The Link Between Self-Assessment and Examination Performance

Self-assessment is important for effective learning. Students who are skilled at examining their own thought processes can use the resulting information to learn and perform well in testing situations. In addition, those who effectively use feedback from exams can raise their level of learning. I

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gen ed courses

Are Gen Ed Courses the Toughest Courses to Teach?

Some courses are more difficult to teach than others, and I think we’d all agree that general education courses are among the hardest courses to teach. For one thing, most students don’t want to take them. They don’t think they need to know the content,

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Teaching award accolades

A Worthwhile Teaching Award

Teaching awards have many fans; I’m not among them. Nancy Chism’s analysis of 144 awards at 85 institutions (one of the few systematic reviews conducted) identifies one of the reasons teaching awards are overrated: “It is somewhat startling to observe that for a little more

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teacher presence

Being There for Students

Why this article is worth discussing: It’s true, every class is unique and every student an individual. New content abounds; interesting bits can be added to the course. But let’s face it: a lot about teaching doesn’t change. Individually and collectively, students make the same

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Engagement Activities for Blended and Online Learning

Informal Assessment Activities for Blended and Online Courses

Chances are you have a Learning Management System (LMS) like Blackboard, Canvas, D2L, or Moodle at your school. But how do you use it? The findings from a recent survey by Pomerantz, Brown, and Brooks (2018) of U.S. learning institutions are rather alarming. Despite the

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group reading quizzes

The Daily Quiz

I use a daily quiz that has a two-fold purpose: first, it tests the students’ knowledge of the day’s reading material; and second, it provides a focus for the lecture and activities scheduled that day in class. Whether attendance is required or just encouraged, a

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Please show me innovative teaching strategies I can actually use! As educators, we are often seeking new and exciting ways to engage our students, only to find that our teaching load leaves little time for focusing on the more innovative approaches. This dilemma is compounded by efforts to provide evidence of student mastery as program-level expectations inevitably outgrow traditional assessment methods. ePortfolios offer an opportunity to address both of these problems at once. In fact, in 2016 the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) added the use of ePortfolios for reflection in the learning process (“ePortfolio pedagogy”) to a list of high-impact practices, based on growing evidence of its connection to elevated performance, increased satisfaction, and greater levels of overall student persistence (Watson, Kuh, Rhodes, Light, & Chen, 2016). Why use ePortfolios for learning? Portfolios have historically been used in educational settings to collect evidence of various experiences that reflect an individual’s academic journey. However, physical portfolios are limited in their audience, scope, and relevance across contexts. Some of the benefits of ePortfolios include: ePortfolios are especially effective when paired with other high-impact practices, such as first-year experiences and capstone courses. On the other hand, implementation over time and contexts (integrative learning) is an important aspect of any high-impact practice, especially when creating a cumulative collection of artifacts that represent the development of skills and experiences within an ePortfolio (Kuh, 2008). This means that using ePortfolios for reflective experiences makes sense at almost any point in the academic journey. It is helpful to scaffold strong ePortfolio skills by providing clear guidance and creating opportunities for students to hone their abilities to reflect on learning and develop well-designed ePortfolios. Sounds great, right? So where and how can you get started? Here are five ways to use ePortfolios in the classroom:
  1. Course presentations. Individual assignments that incorporate the use of ePortfolio work can encourage academic reflection in deeply meaningful ways. Rather than asking a student to write a final essay, consider the impact of having them visually represent their learning process using a variety of media and artifacts in an ePortfolio. In many cases, this non-linear approach could be an even better fit for intended learning outcomes than traditional assignments. Be sure to encourage students to reflect on the impact that developing a digital persona can have on them personally, academically, and professionally. Does the message match the audience? Does the web presence generated by their ePortfolio match who they are, and who they hope to portray themselves as?
  2. Group projects. The constructive nature of group-work is enhanced through the use of ePortfolios, especially when students are encouraged to share ideas, design choices, and best practices with each other along the way. Is there room within your course for a reflective assignment that asks students to brainstorm solutions as a group and package that information, along with supportive research or other media elements, for a specific audience? What would that project look like if submitted in the form of a group ePortfolio?
  3. Faculty-student mentorships. After a class has ended, there are often opportunities for students to continue to benefit from reflective practices. Faculty-student mentorship programs provide a structured approach for supporting those efforts. Consider pairing students with a faculty mentor who can help guide them through the development of an ePortfolio that demonstrates their learning across contexts. How do those experiences relate to individual aspirations? How do they relate to national or global initiatives that align with the student’s interests and goals? It can be difficult for students to cultivate these meaningful relationships on their own, so structured programs that are developed and facilitated by faculty or advisors often have the biggest impact.
  4. Advising tools. The creation of a full ePortfolio often extends beyond the timeframe of an individual course or academic term. In fact, the ability to explain how learning in one context relates to experiences in another is considered a highly integrative and transformational practice when implemented over time and in multiple settings. Leverage longer term advisory relationships with students as an opportunity to support their development of comprehensive ePortfolios. It is also helpful to start small and build up to the more advanced skills required for selecting appropriate artifacts and illustrating complex or detailed connections between very different contexts.
  5. Informal assessments. A large amount of information can be gleaned from the results of reflective ePortfolio work. At the course level, take a moment to identify which learning objectives are strongly reflected in the representations offered through student ePortfolios. Which of your intended outcomes are weakly supported? How might these insights influence the design of your course moving forward? These same questions can be asked at a program level as an indication of how well students have been prepared for careers in the field. This information can also provide the opportunity to realign teaching strategies to ensure that materials, assignments, and assessments accurately reflect your goals for student learning.
Resources Kuh, G. D., (2008). High-Impact Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter. Retrieved from https://www.aacu.org/leap/hips Reynolds, C., Patton, J., and Rhodes, T., (2014). Leveraging the ePortfolio for Integrative Learning: A faculty guide to classroom practices for transforming student learning. Stylus Publishing LLC: Sterling, VA. Eynon, B., Gambino, L. M., and Kuh, G. D., (2017). High-Impact ePortfolio Practice: A catalyst for student, faculty, and institutional learning. Stylus Publishing LLC: Sterling, VA. Penny Light, T., Chen, H. L., and Ittelson, J. C., (2012). Documenting Learning with ePortfolios: A guide for college instructors. Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, CA. Watson, C. E., Kuh, G. D., Rhodes, T., Light, T. P., and Chen, H. L., (2016). Editorial: ePortfolios – The Eleventh High Impact Practice. International Journal of ePortfolio, Vol 6 (Number 2). Retrieved from http://www.theijep.com/pdf/IJEP254.pdf Yates, K. B., (2009). Electronic Portfolios a Decade into the Twenty-first Century: What we Know, What we Need to Know. Peer Review: Emerging Trends and Key Debates in Undergraduate Education, Vol 11 (Number 1), Winter 2009. Retrieved from https://www.aacu.org/sites/default/files/files/peerreview/Peer_Review_Winter_2009.pdf Heather Tobin is an instructional designer and adjunct at the University of Denver.