How was it for you? Experiences of academic staff using e-portfolios for the first time Bridget Middlemas & Janice Kiugu

Who are we, where are we from? Bridget Middlemas, Learning & Teaching, School of Education Janice Kiugu, E-learning team Brian Kilpatrick, E-learning team

Roehampton University Small, campus university in South London Around 9000 students All new academic staff attend the one year PGCert Learning and Teaching in Higher Education programme This year’s cohort 30 new staff

What informed us? Roehampton Learning and Teaching Strategy HEFCE E-learning strategy HEA Subject Centres JISC Initiatives E-portfolios discussion list And so on….

Why Now? –Assessing portfolios that use alternative forms of evidence e.g. digital content, inc. audio, video –Supporting student placements (anytime, any place, asynchronous) –PDP frameworks e.g. supporting and structuring processes for large student cohorts –Employability and transition – portfolios for presentation (providing evidence and proof of skills and interests) –Precedent – already being used by many primary & secondary schools with local authority backing

And the main reason…. We wanted academic staff to experience the use of e-portfolios for themselves rather than roll the idea straight out to students

Whose experiences are we talking about? PGCert team 2 academic staff Teaching staff, pilot group of 10 E-learning Team, 2 staff E- portfolios TQEF project

What did we learn from our experiences? PGCert team Teaching staff E-learning team ?

What was our interest in e-portfolios? How can we roll out e-portfolios across the different disciplines? How can we start to identify training needs? How will we find out about best practice and models of use? Can we develop more diverse ways of assessing students coursework?

Assessment issues Unknown area for most colleagues Little or no prior experience How can we ensure fairness, reliability and validity as an assessment method? Where does quality assurance fit in? Little advice available from elsewhere ( except in very different disciplinary areas!)

DVD How was it for you? Experiences of academic staff using e-portfolios for the first time

Five main staff groups emerged 1.Keen, with good ICT skills 2.Not at all keen, but with good ICT skills 3.Keen, but with weak ICT skills 4.Not at all keen, and weak ICT skills 5.Very good ICT skills, and also wanting to build their own portfolio using another package / provider

Implications for staff support? Important for staff to have a clear understanding of what an e-portfolio is and how it can be used Important for academic staff to feel confident in approaching e-learning advisors / support staff Need a “soft touch approach” so staff are not alienated from the initiative Need to think about close liaison between e-learning and academic colleagues ( e.g. set up a SIG or support group)

Staff support issues Time constraints for busy academic staff Grading work online ( aargh!) Development of appropriate materials / resources – ‘How to…’ guides and video walkthroughs Development of templates and examples of e-portfolios Do staff understand what an e-portfolio is? ( Sell the benefits of this against a traditional text-based portfolio)

Levels of implementation? Within the PGCert programme team 10/07-1/08 Working closely with colleagues from the E-learning team 11/07 - date Working with faculty / school processes 1/08 - date Liaising with learning & teaching colleagues 2/08 - date Rolling out across other programmes autumn 2008/autumn 2009 Promoting good practice across the institution late autumn 2008/ spring 2009

If you are planning to introduce e- portfolios at your own institution, ensure that … You know why you are introducing e- portfolios You pilot your ideas before rolling out to a student group You liaise very carefully with e-learning and /or support staff You are clear about assessment issues Your students are very clear about what is expected of them

How was it for you? Experiences of academic staff using e-portfolios for the first time Bridget Middlemas Janice Kiugu