To the Next Level: Creating an ePortfolio Culture on Campus Through Platform Selection Implementation and Learning Communities Candyce Reynolds, PhD, Educational Leadership and Policy Melissa Pirie, MS, McNair Scholars Program Portland State University

Background The use of ePortfolios has proliferated on campuses as institutions have recognized that ePortfolios can provide authentic artifacts for learning outcome assessment and enhance student learning. 57% of campuses have “made some use” of ePortfolios (Educause, 2014) BUT often ONLY at a program or course level

Portland State University “Portland State University's mission is to enhance the intellectual, social, cultural and economic qualities of urban life by providing access throughout the life span to a quality liberal education for undergraduates and an appropriate array of professional and graduate programs especially relevant to metropolitan areas.” Portland State University (PSU) is Oregon’s largest public university with just over 28,000 students. PSU is an urban campus in the heart of Portland, Oregon.

Early Eportfolio Use Started in General Education Program: University Studies in 1997 All First Year Students in yearlong Freshman Inquiry course complete one Built around accomplishments of the 4 goals of the program Long, rich use with lots of experimentation/software use Focus on Fostering Student learning through the process AND Providing authentic artifacts for program assessment Goal was always to take the eportfolio across the full 4 years of the program and beyond

Use of ePortfolios at PSU Eportfolio use has bubbled up in different areas Other general education courses Student Leadership Fellows Program Postsecondary, Adult and Continuing Education Master’s program Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program Art and Graphic Design Varied use of technology—Google sites, Wordpress, Wix, Weebly, home grown platforms

The Problem(s) Using different platforms—students couldn’t use across programs and courses Operating as Silos—no opportunities to work together on pedagogy or technology No Centralized Institutional support—Technology or Pedagogy Difficult to use for assessment Not taking advantage of the momentum that was building for ePortfolios on our campus

The Times Have Changed! Provost’s Challenge Competition—reThink PSU Leaders from programs that used ePortfolios came together to propose the project Funded with the goal of: procuring a University Supported ePortfolio System Supporting an ePortfolio culture on campus

Our Steps Procurement Implementation Expansion

Procurement Process Involve All Possible Stakeholders (Administrators, IT, Faculty, Students, Peers Mentors) Educate them about ePortfolios Engage stakeholder imaginations and inspire possibilities Ask for their help Developed Work Groups to provide criteria for our Request for Quotes (RFQ) Pedagogy Assessment Technology

Procurement Link to RFQ Draft and Vendor Deliverables With input from the 3 work groups, a Request for Quotes (RFQ) was developed Vendors identified and invited to campus Public Forums Set Up: Multiple Stakeholders involved Recorded and Publicized Extensive solicitation of feedback Software Platform chosen . . . PebblePad!!! Link to RFQ Draft and Vendor Deliverables

Pebblepad Personal Learning Environment more than an eportfolio A place for action plans, achievements, experiences and thoughts Users can share records, assign permissions, comment, copy and collaborate Based out of UK. In use in other countries for over 10 years

examples

Procurement: Lessons Learned So Far Involvement of Lots of People worked Buzz on campus Ownership of eportfolio broadened on campus (Intrusive Inclusion) New champions of ePortfolios developed New ideas from others who had not yet been involved in eportfolio work It takes a long time . . . but it is time well spent!!

Implementation: Impacting Culture Maintaining the Buzz Explored a Branding Campaign Planned Ongoing Faculty Development Events Managing the “roll out” for success Initial Adopters with strong training and support Interesting Use cases to showcase a variety of uses of platform Roll out of new adopters with training and support plans Open to community

Implementation: Have a Plan! A look at our Roll Out Plan!

Implementation: Lessons Learned so far Shared institutional responsibility of ePortfolio processes now resides in centralized university offices: Office of Academic Innovation Office of Information Technology Our Community of Practice is developing and is important Connections and shared resources between programs and ePortfolio leaders in different programs. PebblePad Academy Initial Adopters Reunions Integration of technology support staff and instructional designers working alongside instructors and the vendor team Students are now truly demanding/desiring the eportfolio!

Expansion We have plans! Building on First year pilot Second year inclusions

Expansion: Lessons learned so far Issues we see: Maintaining early interest and spreading that interest The process of bringing on new projects That tricky question of “sustainability” Pilot planning should go beyond initial phases . . . Meeting ongoing demand for training and support around Translating UK ideas about education to US (processes and lexicon) System is more complex than we thought Identifying & allocating appropriate supports for students and faculty

Next Steps: Case Study Experience of: Focus on Stakeholders: Initiating the Implementation Platform Selection Implementation committee formation Pilot Selection Training and Development Technology Mapping Pilot Implementation Focus on Stakeholders: Administrators (eg: IT) Faculty (eg.: peer mentors) Students

Questions?