ePortfolio Research Team: Common Understandings

ePortfolios are in their infancy Conversations with individuals and institutions involved with ePortfolios have revealed that people across the country are in the beginning stages of this process They too are grappling with the very same questions we are posing There are not yet institutionalized answers to many of our questions

Clarity of Purpose LaGuardia has identified many purposes for the portfolio including: an institutional assessment tool, a student performance assessment tool, a transfer tool, and a resume-building tool Our research has pointed us toward the need for a more focused purpose A rationale for the ePortfolio needs to be articulated to the college community

Institutions and their use of ePortfolios: AAHE ePortfolio Clearinghouse Alverno Elon Kalamazoo Wesleyan

Institutional Culture of ePortfolios Faculty must be involved early on in the process of development and implementation Students must be involved early on in the process of development and implementation Linking core competencies to curriculum and faculty development efforts is crucial to ensure widespread implementation, practice, and sustainability A common language centered around ePortfolios and core competencies must be developed and spoken throughout the college community

Institutional Culture of ePortfolios (continued) The ePortfolio may require rethinking courses, curriculum, and student and faculty life Successful implementation requires a transformation of the institutional culture; implementing a practice of reflection within an institution that values action and innovation may prove to be an initial struggle

Reflection A collection of on-line documents is a virtual file-cabinet; a collection of on-line documents with a carefully written reflective piece is a portfolio Teaching students how to write the reflective piece has proven difficult at other institutions

Ideal Practices/Hard Questions Should ePortfolios be required? In what other ways can we successfully structure the ePortfolio without the ePortfolio becoming a barrier to student graduation? Should ePortfolios be housed in credit- bearing, content courses? Should ePortfolios be assessed at different benchmarks throughout a student’s career? How do we imbed reflection in the curriculum? How do we attract wide-spread institutional commitment?

No Longer Questions… Paper versus Digital: Digital wins the day Plagiarism: Plagiarism is plagiarism The initial benchmark needs to take place almost immediately and in a credit-bearing, content course The subsequent benchmarks should follow quickly to allow students to engage in a sustained ePortfolio process Privacy concerns: The software we choose will help to deal with this issue The ePortfolio does require more work Since ePortfolios are primarily used at four year or university institutions, they are not using them for transfer—what we decide to do may define this practice