E-Portfolios EDUC 7101: Diffusion and Integration of Technology in Education Charlotte Vaughn

Why E-Portfolios in the Elementary Setting?  Increase student engagement  Foster collaboration among students  Provide alternative ways to assess and evaluate in a classroom setting  Tool for capturing, storing and examining student work  Allow students to help explain their understanding of content, skills, and knowledge

Stage 1-Needs Needs: to provide documentation of achievements and provide a means of assessment for understanding, using electronic format and various types of multimedia.

Stage 2- Research ResearchResearch: The Inter/National Coalition for Electronic Portfolio Research is an organization that convenes research/practitioners to study the impact of e-portfolios on student learning and educational outcomes (Inter/National Coalition, 2009).

Stage 2- Research Continuation the I/NCePR launched a team working with other teams from campuses with e-portfolio initiatives to help pursue campus based research about e-portfolios the I/NCePR has launched its fifth cohort the team has worked with over 50 campuses on topics concerning e-portfolios

Stage 2- Researched Continuation E-portfolios use is growing significantly, but without a major organization guiding or monitoring its growth it lacks the components to become a field. The literature on e-portfolio use is increasing, but it is still scattered and supplies pieces of e-portfolio use.

Stage 2- Research Continuation However, the use of e-portfolios in higher education continues to increase steadily. A review of the conference proceedings supports the increase popularity (Ring, 2008).

Stage 3-Development Development: During the development process some concerns that arise are increase workload for faculty and student concerns about how to use the e- portfolio in their search for employment and promote professional development and to make assessments.

Stage 3- Development Continuation The intended audience for this innovation is higher education, but e-portfolios can be an effective tool for the elementary age group with the expansion of technology use in the elementary schools.

Stage 4-Commericialization Commercialization: The most effective marketing strategy is through example. Many times workshops are provided that focus on designing e-portfolio friendly assignments.

The Innovation-Decision Process Knowledge  What are E-portfolios?  How will it work in my classroom?  Why does it work?

Knowledge E-portfolio is a digital collection of student work. E-portfolios can be used as an alternative form of assessment and evaluation of student understanding in a classroom setting. E-portfolios work because they enhance student center active learning and they provide a way to measure student learning.

The Innovation-Decision Process Persuasion  Increase student center active learning  Alternative to traditional assessment with a focus on standards  Increase student collaboration  Increase student reflection  Help students develop metacognitive skills  E-portfolios help make learning visible  Foster student motivation  Engage all types of learners

The Innovation-Decision Process Decision  All schools assess student learning.  Teachers are held accountable for student learning and student mastery of standards.  E-portfolios has adapted to needs and priorities of a diverse group of students.  Provides a holistic assessment on student learning.  Adopt or reject e-portfolios.

Innovation-Decision Process Implementation  Attend workshops on e-portfolios  Demonstrate and model how to create e-portfolios  Have students create e-portfolios  Have students share their e- portfolios in small groups  Share e-portfolios with parents during conferences

Innovation-Decision Process Confirmation  Students share their e-portfolio with peers and parents.  Teachers and students discuss the progress of growth and learning throughout the school year.  Students are motivated to add work to their e-portfolio throughout the school year.

Innovation-Decision Process Confirmation  Students can visual examine and determine their growth and learning throughout the school year.  E-portfolios provide an alternative way to assess students.

Standard Technology Adoption S-curve

Roger’s Innovation Adoption Curve

Emerging Technologies Curve

S-Curve Explanation for E-portfolios  Diffusion of new technology takes time and typically follow a non- constant adoption rate.  New technologies diffuse slowly until they reach critical mass.  Many universities are at the beginning of the e-portfolio adoption curve. (Reese&Levy,2009)

Reasons for slow adoption rate  Users are searching for a meaningful problem  Perceived cost of adoption  Lacking a shared definition of e-portfolios, coordinated implementation/support strategy  Insufficient integration with other information technology (Reese&Levy,2009)

Innovators and Early Adopters Teacher Education- Schools, colleges and departments of education are the innovators and early adopters of e-portfolios.

Strategies for Innovators and Early Adopters to Adopt E-Portfolios  Trailability- have an opportunity to experiment with innovation on a limited basis  Observability- visually see how others have integrated or utilized e- portfolios in their schools or institutions

Strategies to move Laggards towards Adoption of E-Portfolios  Provide additional information about the significance and benefits of e- portfolios.  Provide workshops on e-portfolios.  Provide workshops and training on ways to implement and utilize new technologies in classroom instruction and assessment.

Laggards  Those searching for a meaningful or a well-defined problem for which e- portfolios are the solution.  Educators and students that need additional support and training using various types of multimedia software and technologies to create e-portfolios.

Perceived Attributes Critical attributes that will help e-portfolios meet critical mass in education is observability and relative advantage. If teachers given the opportunity to see the success of others utilizing e-portfolios they may be willing to adopt. Relative advantage- Gather student work to represent performance task and mastery of standards and you do not have to worry about storage space.

Approach Towards Adoption Decentralized approach will fit best for the adoption of e-portfolios in our district.  Peer diffusion  Experimentation  Fits closer to users needs and problems  User control

Change Agent Key Change Agent- Literacy and Math Coach Seven Roles of a Change Agent 1.Develop a need-Standards based and 21 st century classroom. 2.Information Exchange- provide resources and collaboration among staff members. 3.Diagnose problems- unable to provide proof of meeting the standards using performance task and technology.

Change Agent Continued 4.Intent to change- benefits and success of e-portfolios in classrooms. 5.Intent to action-encourage collaboration about e-portfolios success and benefits. 6.Stabilize adoption-provide training and additional resources. 7.Achieve terminal relationship-utilize e-portfolios

Critical Mass E-portfolios have yet to reach critical mass in grades K-12. Strategies to Reach Critical Mass  Introduce to intact groups in the district that are relatively more innovative.  Target highly respectable individual in the district for initial adoption.

Final Thoughts on E-portfolios “Emerging technologies have the potential to be the most powerful when they change pedagogy and content, not when they are merely automated” (Dede, 2008).

Final Thoughts on E-portfolios “ The growth of e-portfolio use is directly related to its elasticity, to the diversity of purposes for which it can be used, including enriched learning and improved career development, transfer and assessment” (Clark& Eynon, 2009, p.18)

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” -Chinese Proverb

References Buzzetto-More, N. & Alade, A. (2008). The pentagonal e-portfolio model for selecting, adopting, building and implementing an e- portfolio. Journal of Information Technology Education, Vol.7, Dede, C. (2008). Prediffusion. Laureate Education, Inc. Baltimore: Author Clark, J. & Eynon, B. (2009, Winter). E-portfolios at 2.0-surveying the field. Peer Review, The Association of American Colleges and Universities Inter/National Coalition for Electronic Portfolio Research.(2009) Electronic portfolio research. Retrieved from

References Reese, M. & Levy, R. (2009). Assessing the future:e-portfolio trends, uses, and options in higher education. Educause, Vol.2009,(4), Ring, G.,Weaver, B. & Jones, J.(2008, Fall). Electronic portfolios: engaged students create multimedia-rich artifacts,4(2), 1-1 Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). New York: Free Press.