success starts at the top ePortfolios – An Integrating Framework Bob Sproule School of Accountancy Brown Bag Session July 7, 2005

success starts at the top Why were we interested in ePortfolios -1? AFM students take courses with other undergraduates, have some specialized courses AFM students have strong professional drive and focus on accomplishment of professional syllabus –(ie, “I need my 51 credit hours….”) Need for an integrating technology for an otherwise disjointed undergraduate program –Students often claim to not have studied pre-req content in advanced courses Need to distinguish our high quality students from others in recruiting activities

success starts at the top

Why were we interested in ePortfolios -2? Have distinctive program elements –(working on both “soft” and “hard” skills) both within and between courses Where do these program elements fit? –What organizing framework would apply? Funding was available from the University of Waterloo Learning Initiatives Fund

success starts at the top What we did Learning about ePortfolios –Got support from Carnegie Foundation –use of KEEP toolkit for ePortfolios –Got advice from others Start small

success starts at the top So we started small…..

success starts at the top Choice of Courses AFM 131 (Introduction to Business)- 820 students –(offered university wide – approximately 137 AFM students – balance were from other programs) AFM 481 (Advanced Cost Accounting) – 130 students –These two courses were at the 1 st year and 4 th year of the program. Wanted to see differences between student acceptance But the real reason….. We were teaching these courses during the fall 2004 term

success starts at the top Choice of Competency for fall, 2004 We chose team skills for the following reasons: –common between first and fourth year courses –common pedagogy for team work skills –Largely assumed in both courses prior to this exercise –Vital skill for profession –Necessary for efficiencies in teaching (large class sizes necessitate student teams)

success starts at the top Pieces of the Puzzle: Team Work Competencies Individual Skills Collaborative Skills Collective Intelligence Individual Learning

success starts at the top Components of Team Work Competency Preflection –Personal assessment of previously learned team skills –Includes Individual Skills Worksheet Team Contract Peer Feedback Form Team Mid-Point Reflection Team Summary Form

success starts at the top Example of Preflection

success starts at the top

Example of team midpoint reflection How have the assignments gone? I believe the assignments have gone very well. Everyone has participated and contributed equally. For the first assignment we wrote up our team contract. We set our goals and we have worked hard to achieve those goals. Each member of the group has put in effort and has shown up to every meeting and we are very productive. We have learned to feed off each other’s opinions. A member of the group is designated to hand in the assignment and all of our assignments have been handed in on time. I am very happy with the group I am in. Everyone is responsible for doing their own part of the work and there have been no conflicts. We work really well together and now that we have gotten to known each other more, I believe that the second half of the course can only be better

success starts at the top Example of midpoint reflection What specific personal behaviour do I wish to improve most, and how will I accomplish this? The behaviour I will like to improve on the most is my impatience. I get very impatient when things are not done in the way and manner that I want. I often disregard the opinions of the other team members because they are not according to my principles. For example, during a meeting, we wanted to buy shares from companies and I suggested that we should buy some shares from companies that I thought were making huge profits such as Google. One of my team mates said that we should think properly before buying it and that we could not jump into buying shares like that. I was really getting impatient because I felt she was wasting so much time. I told her there was nothing to think about; so we made the purchase and at the end of the next day we made huge loss. I felt so bad because if we had thought about it before making that purchase, we would not have had such a huge loss. I realized that impatience has caused so many errors for me, not only in my academics, but in my personal life as well. I have decided to improve on this behaviour by trying to be calm and listen properly when others talk. Also, I plan to think before I talk because I realized that I usual act on impulse rather taking my time to think through. I should also try to be rational when it comes to the effects of the team such as giving others the chance to speak.

success starts at the top Student ePortfolios Margarita de Guzman Brooke Hancock David Lin Sylvia Przychodzki Kamen Sun

success starts at the top What have we learned -1? Fourth year students were resistant to the use of ePortfolios –Demonstrated by lower teaching rating and comments on evaluations –are jaded on the subject of teamwork –resistance to discussion (“we’ve been doing this for years……..”) –Relatively high level of anxiety because of uncertainty at 4 th year level and grade expectations –Concern about experimentation Don’t mention the idea of experimentation on them for the good of future students –Lack of focus on professional accomplishments –Already placed in appropriate work venues

success starts at the top What have we learned -2? More detail and enthusiasm at 1 st year level –Good students more aware of benefits to distinguish themselves in employment opportunities –Incoming students see opportunity for distinguishing themselves in employment –Need structure for reflections –Need examples from which to draw –Need direction about content Tremendous volume of work in marking individual ePortfolios (very expensive) –Immense task in providing quality feedback. ePortfolios have applications beyond our program

success starts at the top What do we do next? -1 Working with incoming students: –Reduction in scale (only 250 this year) –Working with AFM students only, not service teaching –Increase in feedback to students –Will continue to work on Teamwork, but provide larger base

success starts at the top What do we do next? - 2 Working with continuing (second year) students: –Continue to entice students to participate fully, working with second year instructors –Development of “catchy cdrs” for co-op opportunities –Development of the academic base, along with the personal skill developments –Experiment with use of ePortfolios in lieu of work reports for co-ops