The Power of ePortfolios:
Documenting and Managing Knowledge Assets in
Today’s Labour Market
CAPLA Pre-Conference Workshop
Toronto, ON
November 17, 2013
9:00am-4:00pm
Tracy Penny Light, PhD.
Vice-Chair of the Board of AAEEBL
Director, Women’s Studies
Associate Professor, Sexuality, Marriage, and
Family Studies (SMF) and History
Today’s Overview
This Morning:
• Introductions and Icebreaker
• Documenting Learning with ePortfolios: An
Overview
This Afternoon:
• ePortfolios and Advising/Mentoring
• Planning for Implementation in Your Context:
Using a Logic Model
• Introducing AAEEBL and the ePortfolio
Community
• Questions
Take-Home Messages
• ePortfolios can be used for multiple purposes to
engage a variety of stakeholders;
• ePortfolios allow users to collect, select, and
present authentic evidence of/for learning in
many contexts for a variety of purposes;
• ePortfolios are all about the PROCESS, therefore,
it is essential to plan your implementation and
activities around the OUTCOMES you wish to
achieve with your STAKEHOLDERS
What are ePortfolios?
Electronic portfolios (ePortfolios) are collections
of digitally represented artifacts that:
• document practice
• include reflection
• integrate experience
• map to goals and/or standards
• promote deep learning and knowledge transfer
Documenting Learning with ePortfolios
Why Document Learning with
ePortfolios?
• New technologies pushing boundaries for learners
▫ Globalized world, information is everywhere
• Increasing need for documentation of competencies and
skills
▫ Learners need to learn ways to assess what it is that they
know, understand and are able to do
• Rapidly changing context requires integration abilities
▫ ePortfolios provide opportunities for learners to reflect on,
identify, organize, and describe their lifelong and life-wide
learning = DIGITAL IDENTITY (LinkedIn)
• Need ways to help learners to “make connections” and
demonstrate their knowledge
▫ Reflection and Action!
Folio Thinking: Reflection for Learning
•Reflection is what makes us learners; we need to
practice, assess and perfect it.
•Four criteria characterize the concept of
reflection:
▫ Reflection is a meaning making process
▫ Reflection is systematic, rigorous and disciplined; with
roots in scientific inquiry
▫ Reflection needs to happen in community
▫ Reflection requires attitudes that value personal and
intellectual growth
From: Carol Rodgers, “Defining Reflection: Another Look at John Dewey and Reflective
Thinking,” Teachers College Record, 104, 4 (June 2002): 842-866
A Taxonomy of Reflection
A Taxonomy of Reflection
Creating: What should I do next?
Evaluating: How well did I do?
Analyzing: Do I see patterns in what I did?
Applying: Where could I use this again?
Understanding: What was important about it?
Remembering: What did I do?
Model Developed by
Peter Pappas
ePortfolio Implementation
Framework
(Chen & Penny-Light, 2010; Penny-Light, Chen, & Ittelson, 2012)
• Defining Learning Outcomes
• Identifying & Understanding
Learners and Stakeholders
• Designing Learning Activities
• Informing Assessment of
Student Learning
• Using ePortfolio Tools and
Technologies
• Evaluating the Impact of Your
http://www.documentinglearning.com
ePortfolio Initiative
Identifying and Understanding
Learners and Stakeholders
• Who are we designing the learning experience
for?
• What are their characteristics?
• What technologies are they comfortable with?
• What support will they need to create their
ePortfolios?
How does being continually connected affect how students interact with each
other and how they experience college?
http://chronicle.com/article/Bleary-Eyed-Students-Cant/129838/
What’s being lost in this environment?
“We are being pummeled by a deluge of data and unless we
create time and spaces in which to reflect, we will be left with
only our reactions.”
--Rebecca Blood, weblog historian
•
•
•
•
Communication skills (writing and in person)
How to think
How to be contemplative
How to reflect
--Chronicle for Higher Education, 10/5/05
• Empathy?
--Konrath (2010)
Identifying and Understanding
Learners and Stakeholders
• Who are we designing the learning experience
for?
• What are their characteristics?
• What technologies are they comfortable with?
• What support will they need to create their
ePortfolios?
Sketch… who are the stakeholders for your ePortfolio project.
Don’t think too much. Put your pen to paper and start drawing.
Artifacts/Evidence
in an ePortfolio
Identifying User Characteristics:
What data already exist?
• What methods can we use to learn about our
ePortfolio learners?
• What existing sources of data are available
and accessible? Who owns this data?
Brainstorm Strategies to Engage
Stakeholders
How will you communicate your vision for how
ePortfolios can work in your context to your
stakeholder of choice?
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–
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WHO is your stakeholder?
Why does your stakeholder NEED an ePortfolio?
How can your stakeholder BENEFIT from the ePortfolio?
What can your stakeholder CONTRIBUTE to the ePortfolio?
ePortfolio Implementation
Framework
(Chen & Penny-Light, 2010; Penny-Light, Chen, & Ittelson, 2012)
• Defining Learning Outcomes
• Identifying & Understanding
Learners and Stakeholders
• Designing Learning Activities
• Informing Assessment of
Student Learning
• Using ePortfolio Tools and
Technologies
• Evaluating the Impact of Your
http://www.documentinglearning.com
ePortfolio Initiative
Defining Learning Outcomes
• What learning outcomes are you currently
implementing or considering for your
ePortfolio initiative?
• What types of learning do you want to
capture and document?
Association of American Colleges & Universities, http://www.aacu.org/leap/
20
21
ePortfolio Implementation
Framework
(Chen & Penny-Light, 2010; Penny-Light, Chen, & Ittelson, 2012)
• Defining Learning Outcomes
• Identifying & Understanding
Learners and Stakeholders
• Designing Learning Activities
• Informing Assessment of
Student Learning
• Using ePortfolio Tools and
Technologies
• Evaluating the Impact of Your
http://www.documentinglearning.com
ePortfolio Initiative
Designing Learning Activities
• Given your outcomes, what activities can you
design to best guide the ways that learners
use the ePortfolio to document their learning?
• How will their learning be captured and
documented in the ePortfolio? ARTIFACTS =
EVIDENCE
• How will stakeholders view that evidence?
Alignment in Course/Program
Design
Learning Outcomes
Content &
Concepts
Teaching & Learning
Methods
Assessment
Alignment in Program
Design
Outcomes
Activities
Employability/Prom
otion/
Artifacts are objects that provide
evidence of what we know and can do
© gAlexAmbrose.com
Possible ePortfolio Artifacts
• What’s in your learner’s
bag already that have
been collected?
• What type of artifacts do
you want to encourage
them to create now?
• What activities will help
them to create their
artifacts?
*Remember…
REFLECTION!!
ePortfolio Implementation
Framework
(Chen & Penny-Light, 2010; Penny-Light, Chen, & Ittelson, 2012)
• Defining Learning Outcomes
• Identifying & Understanding
Learners and Stakeholders
• Designing Learning Activities
• Informing Assessment of
Learning
• Using ePortfolio Tools and
Technologies
• Evaluating the Impact of Your
http://www.documentinglearning.com
ePortfolio Initiative
Informing Assessment of Learning
• How do ePortfolios and their artifacts inform
assessment of learning?
• What evidence is needed for learners to
document their achievements and
competencies?
ePortfolio Implementation
Framework
(Chen & Penny-Light, 2010; Penny-Light, Chen, & Ittelson, 2012)
• Defining Learning Outcomes
• Identifying & Understanding
Learners and Stakeholders
• Designing Learning Activities
• Informing Assessment of
Student Learning
• Using ePortfolio Tools and
Technologies
• Evaluating the Impact of Your
http://www.documentinglearning.com
ePortfolio Initiative
Using ePortfolio Tools and Technologies
• Which ePortfolio tools and technologies will
allow you to collect the types of evidence that
will allow learners to document and
demonstrate their learning?
ePortfolio Implementation
Framework
(Chen & Penny-Light, 2010; Penny-Light, Chen, & Ittelson, 2012)
• Defining Learning Outcomes
• Identifying & Understanding
Learners and Stakeholders
• Designing Learning Activities
• Informing Assessment of
Student Learning
• Using ePortfolio Tools and
Technologies
• Evaluating the Impact of Your
http://www.documentinglearning.com
ePortfolio Initiative
Evaluating the Impact of ePortfolios
• How will you evaluate the impact of your
ePortfolio project?
• How will you define success for you? Your
students? Your faculty? Your institution?
• What constitutes evidence of YOUR success?
Defining “Success”
(Venezsky, 2001)
• Imagine that your ePortfolio project is
completed and that it succeeded in all
of its goals.
• You are to appear tomorrow at a
press conference to explain what you
have accomplished.
• Write a press release to distribute at
this meeting.
Tips to Craft Your 56s ePortfolio Elevator
Pitch
inspired by http://www.alumni.hbs.edu/careers/pitch/
1. WHO: Describe who you are
2. WHAT: Describe how your ePortfolio project
addresses the stakeholder’s NEED or problem
3. WHY: Describe the unique benefits of your
ePortfolio project and how it adds value
4. GOAL: Describe the goals and time frame for
your ePortfolio project and be clear what you
are asking for.
Additional Suggestions
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Keep it short
Have a hook or tagline
Listen & be flexible – this is the start of a conversation
Avoid jargon, buzzwords
Be passionate
Be careful not to sound like a memorized monologue
Revise
PRACTICE!
ePortfolio Implementation Framework for YOUR Stakeholder
Defining learning
outcomes
Identifying and
understanding learners
and stakeholders
Designing learning
activities
What learning outcomes does your
stakeholder care about? What learning
outcomes do you have for your
stakeholder?
Who are they? How can they contribute
AND how do they benefit from your
ePortfolio initiative?
Given your outcomes, what activities will
guide what goes into the ePortfolio?
Informing assessment
How does the ePortfolio content inform
the assessment needs of your stakeholder?
Using ePortfolio tools
and technologies
What ePortfolio features does your
stakeholder need?
Evaluating the impact of How do you define “success” for your
What we’ve accomplished so
far…
1. Introduced the ePortfolio Implementation Framework
2. Identified the STAKEHOLDERS for your ePortfolio
project
3. Benchmarked how an ePortfolio can address the NEEDS
of one of your stakeholders
4. Brainstormed STRATEGIES to frame ePortfolios
persuasively to address the needs of your stakeholder(s)
5. Prototype an “elevator PITCH” to your stakeholder of
choice
What we’ll do after lunch…
• Consider Advising, Counselling, and Mentoring
with ePortfolios
• Assist You in Developing Your Own
Implementation Plans
• Ask Questions/Discuss ePortfolios