1. The University of Denver Portfolio Community Julanna Gilbert, Associate Professor Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry Director Center for Teaching and Learning Jeff Rutenbeck, Associate Professor School of Communication Director of Digital Media Studies Paul Ross Manager Faculty Technology Center

2. Framework for a Portfolio System
Context – programmatic, institutional, professional, cultural
Purposes:
Presentation
Community/Sharing
Asset Management
Evaluation
Development or deployment
Open source (e.g., OSPI)
Commercial (e.g., Blackboard ePortfolio)
Home grown (e.g., DU Portfolio Community)
Transformation (of practices and tools)

3. University of Denver Private institution founded in 1864
450 full-time faculty
10,000 students
4300 undergraduates
Graduate programs
Professional schools (Law, Psychology, Social Work)
University College (adult learning)
The Women’s College
Rick’s Center (K-8), University High School (9-12)

4. The Evolution of DUPC
Concept developed by School of Communication faculty team ($230,000 grant from the Sturm Family Foundation)
Project moved to DU’s Center for Teaching & Learning
more academic units involved
more in-house support (people and funds)
Faculty Electronic Portfolio Committee formed
September 2002 – DUPC launched, 5 major releases since then
October 2004 – 6400 portfolios including 540 faculty portfolios, 28,000 items (of many different types)

5. DUPC: Distinguishing Features
Portfolios for individuals, courses, communities
Community philosophy
Flexible and open
One portfolio may serve many audiences
Accommodates wide range of digital objects
Directly accessible to the audience (Google-able, simple URL)
Search Capabilities
Evolve beyond Paper & Traditional Web-based Portfolios
Facilitate connections with others inside and outside the DU community

6. DUPC: Distinguishing Features
Portfolios for individuals, courses, communities
Comprehensive assessment management system
Faculty driven
Rubric library, Rubric builder
Processes customized by each academic unit
Based on authentic student work
Reporting tools
Fully integrated with campus systems
Maturing application, campus wide usage
Evolve beyond Paper & Traditional Web-based Portfolios
Facilitate connections with others inside and outside the DU community

7. Brief Demonstration Portfolio System
Student, Faculty, Staff, Course, Community Portfolios
Editing a Portfolio
Searching Portfolios
Assessment System
Student Uploads
Assessment Manager
Rubric Library, Rubric Builder
Reporting Tools
Evolve beyond Paper & Traditional Web-based Portfolios
Facilitate connections with others inside and outside the DU community

8. Technical Information
System fully integrated with SCT Banner
Hosted on campus (Sun)
JSP/Tomcat based, Oracle backend
Over 300 screens
No storage quotas for users
In-house development and support group located in DU’s Center for Teaching and Learning
Explain the different upload process for portfolios and assessment.
UTS/CTL cooperation, to create views and methods of access.
Current Capacity 16,000 users at 10 Mb per participant, mention the current focus is not to limit the total size of a portfolio but to monitor the total usage.

9. Where are “we” going? General trajectories Open source systems
Low costs for software
Most are in early stages of development
Take time to evolve, costs can grow

10. Where are “we” going? General trajectories Commercial systems
Major vendors just now getting into the market
Lacking in assessment management
Can be expensive up front

11. Where are “we” going? General trajectories Home grown
Can be customized to suit local needs
Can be developed/revised quickly (with sufficient resources)
More schools developing their own system
Difficult to share/integrate across systems

12. Where are “we” going? University of Denver
Continue to work with academic units on assessment
Continue to respond to input from users
Continue to innovate portfolio and assessment functionality
Explore collaboration with other institutions
Questions? Comments?