Program Learning Outcomes
Eportfolio Pilot Project
Justice Center
Ronald S. Everett
Deborah K. Periman
Project Goals
• Use Evidence-Based Practices to:
– Improve Justice Center Program Assessment
– Improve Coherence and Measurability of Program
Outcomes
– Improve Program Coherence and Content: Engage
Faculty in Linking Outcomes to Course Content and
Student Assignments
– Make Program Outcomes More Visible to Students:
Increase Student Engagement in Learning
Research Supporting Eportfolios
• Accountability in university education increasingly rests not on what an
institution offers students, but on convincing evidence that students are learning.
• “Assessment goals and objectives should focus on ‘what students will be able to
demonstrate that they know, believe, and can do . . ..’” (N. Buzzetto-More, The EPortfolio Paradigm: Informing, Educating, Assessing, and Managing with EPortfolios, 208 (2010).
• Eportfolios provide immediate access to content/capacity to include audio/video
demonstrations of student work/activities. Id.
• Eportfolios are “especially effective when they are part of an ongoing assessment
process from the time students enter a program until they complete their
studies.” Id.
• Implementing eportfolios in multiple courses in a program provides a highly
visible indicator of whether the curriculum is complete/cohesive or whether
there are gaps or redundancies that should be addressed.
The Heart of the Eportfolio
Developing Appropriate
Outcomes
• Keyed to Program
Mission and Content
• Measurable
• Develop SLO’s measures
across multiple courses
Integration of SLOs into Core
Curriculum
• Faculty identify SLOs when
developing course content
• Link course assignments to
specific SLOs
• Develop multiple measures
within courses
Developing Outcomes-Based Assignments
•
•
•
•
•
•
Gaining faculty buy-in
Assignment coordination
Assignment assessment
Artifact collection
Student permissions
Artifact retention
Considerations in Platform Selection
General Considerations
•
•
•
•
•
Faculty Learning Curve
University Support
Student Learning Curve
Student Access
Portability
Platforms Evaluated
•
•
•
•
Maraha
Adobe
PowerPoint
(LiveText at Brandman
University)
Justice Program Assessment Portfolio
Justice Portfolio Content
• Program History and Mission
• Program Outcomes
• Outcome Measures
–
–
–
–
Student Portfolio
Graduate Survey
Graduate Exit Exam
Course Artifacts
• Assignments and Evaluation Rubrics
• Student course work
– Graduate Focus Groups
Paralegal Studies:
Portfolios within Portfolios
• Program
Assessment
Eportfolio
• Student Outcomes
Eportfolios as
Artifacts of
Program Eportfolio
UAA Legal Studies Program
Assessment Portfolio
Student Outcomes Portfolios
Template or No Template?
• Considerations
– Faculty burden: easier to
design or write clear
instructions
– Student frustration vs.
creativity
– Locked format vs.
flexibility in format
– Instructional Goals:
Paralegal soft skills
Faculty Reflections: Benefits
• Program/Faculty
Benefits
– Highlights gaps or
redundancies in program
– Provides focal points for
developing assignments
– Allows insights into
student integration of
instruction
• Student Benefits:
– Outcomes visible at outset
– Link coursework to
personal/academic development
– Prepared to discuss strengths in
graduate or employment
interview
– Skills artifacts collected/readily
displayed or submitted with
applications
Faculty Reflections: Challenges
• Student Contribution
– Accumulating artifacts
across courses and over
time
– Identifying courses and
specific SLOs
– Demonstrating learning
• Faculty Contribution
– Thinking about SLOs
when designing courses
– Developing specific
measures of SLOs
– Making SLOs explicit to
students
Eportfolio Resources
•
Links from Dr. Helen Barrett:
Alternative Assessment & Electronic
Portfolios
–
–
–
–
http://electronicportfolios.org/portfolios/book
marks.html
links to student career portfolios
http://amby.com/kimeldorf/portfolio/
portfolio use for assessment
http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/OR/ConsumerGuid
es/admuses.html
Truman state analysis of senior portfolios -http://assessment.truman.edu/components/p
ortfolio/CH14_2008.pdf [good!]
– Kansas state eportfolio resources
http://www.joandominick.com/pocketeportfoli
o/intro.html
• The Association for Authentic,
Experiential and Evidence-Based
Learning,
http://www.aaeebl.org