Eportfolio, General Education, & Undergraduate Learning Goals An ePortfolio and Learning Goal Matrix Case Study

Nicholas Schiller Library Instruction Coordinator  Library Faculty, Reference Librarian  Information Literacy Instruction  Instructor for GE 101/301  Also teach technology seminars As part of the GE 101/301 course VIS Workshops  

Slides on the Web For those viewing these slides on the web, please feel free to contact me with questions about the content. The slides themselves give a basic outline of my presentation at the Educause Western Regional Conference 2007, but for specific details or explanations, please give me a call or send an . ~Nicholas Schiller

My Roles with the ePortfolio Instruction Librarian  Information literacy sessions Classroom Instructor  GE 101 (1 st year)  GE 301 (3 rd year transfers) Technology Seminar Instructor  Technology fluency sessions

About our Campus Urban (regional) campus in the Washington State University system Enrollment 2,300 (1,667 FTE) Young Campus  First courses held in 1990  Campus opened in 1996 Lower Division students added  Fall 2006

The Path to the ePortfolio Preparing for Lower Division Students & General Education

Timeline January 2005: Lower-division planning committee launched April 24, 2005: Funding for lower-division approved by the legislature Fall 2005: ePortfolio planning committee launched August 2006: First class of freshman students appear on campus

General Education Program Learning Goals Series of courses  GE 101/301, GE 303, GE 401 ePortfolio platform Learning goal matrix

The Learning Goals Critical Thinking Information Literacy Quantitative and Symbolic Reasoning Communication Self in Society Specialty

General Education Series GE 101/301: Introduction to the University Learning Goals  Introduction to the ePortfolio GE 303: Research across the disciplines  Learning goals in specific context GE 401: ePortfolios for the real world  Using the ePortfolio to create a resume

The Learning Goal Matrix Students attach documents from their course work to specific learning goal Students write brief essays explaining why their documents provide evidence of mastery of the learning goal This process is repeated in all three courses (101/301, 303, &401), providing snapshots of progress throughout the undergraduate experience

Selecting an ePortfolio: Choosing a platform that met our needs

ePortfolio Selection Major factors in ePortfolio selection: Learning Goal Matrix Live in August 2006 Must be turn-key (no in-house development or programming) Campus philosophy embracing open-source (faculty) Desire for a product with a proven track record

OSP/Sakai/rSmart Learning Goal Matrix Local University had a positive experience with OSP/Sakai/rSmart Center for Teaching & Learning Technology  Pullman center exploring OSP at the time Ability to grow  Development and hosting can be brought in- house, eventually

Competing Products? Some discussion of Sharepoint Deliberations ceased once it was determined that contracting with rSmart to develop OSP would provide us with a turnkey ePortfolio live in August 2006

The ePortfolio in practice: Observations, results, & assessment

Outcomes GE 101  Introducing the ePortfolio  Student understanding and buy-in is key The have been trained how to write essays and take multiple choice exams Learning how to assess and defend their own work is a similar skill  Having a 1 credit introduction to ePortfolio course helpful to that end

Outcomes Changes to GE 101/301 after Fall Semester Focused on the learning goals Each week students wrote essays on a specific learning goal Not well received by transfer juniors Self assessment did not match our assessment

Outcomes Changes for Spring Semester  Each course chose a theme Biotech foods Intellectual property Climate change Police violence  Learning goals were presented in assignments related to the course topic  Care was taken to remind students that the course was about the learning goals, not the theme

Outcomes GE 303 (completed last week)  Familiarity with the ePortfolio and the matrix freed students to focus on the course material

Outcomes Other GE courses ePortfolio use required (no matrix) Popular (well received) Course Management Light  Discussion forum most heavily used module Helps get student documents into their repositories

Assessment Pending External reviewers evaluated certain matrix cells from Fall semster GE 101/301 courses

Review Rubric From: Phelps, S. F. and Diller, K. R. (2007). Transforming the library: Applying multiple assessment methodologies to library instruction and planning. Pre-publication Manuscript

For more details Contact me    Contact Karen Diller   