Creative Communities Unit
Technology Enhanced Learning Showcase
Assessment by Blackboard E-Portfolio –
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly...
Louise Rutherford
22nd June 2015
Alfred Bolton Room, Thompson Library, College Road
Developing
People –
Developing
Communities
Creative Communities Unit
Session Outline
• The Contemporary HE Context
• Implementation of Technological
Innovation: My Experience
• The Future and Any Questions?
Developing
People –
Developing
Communities
Creative Communities Unit
Blackboard E-Portfolio:
The Contemporary HE Context
• Digital divide:
– Initially signified difference between those with access to technology and
those without (Rainie et al, 2003)
– Today more about unequal ways computers and technology used by
individuals (Warschauer, Knobel and Stone, 2004)
• Digital divide evident in both teachers and student, contrasting:
– “Digital natives” (Prensky, 2001) familiar with technology and comfortable
integrating it into their learning environment, with
– “Digital immigrants” who feel out of their depth in an unfamiliar landscape or
virtual communication
• New educational technology introduced to support widening
participation (Managed and Virtual Learning Environments) but required
pedagogical change often absent
• Five Step Model (Salmon, 2000) – a new way to support a 3-way virtual
interaction between ideas, colleagues and tutors
Developing
People –
Developing
Communities
Creative Communities Unit
Implementation of Technological
Innovation: My Experience
Aim:
• Trial Blackboard E-Portfolio
tool
• Web-based file system users can upload files of any
type, organise them,
reference and share them
• To encourage virtual
interaction, creating a
powerful learning
experience
• Used Salmon’s model of
online learning
Developing
People –
Developing
Communities
Responding to Student Needs:
• Digital immigrants
struggling with basic Web
1.0 “read only”
environment, never mind
Web 2.0 collaborative
environment
• Digital natives using
technology to supplement,
personalise and enhance
own learning experience
• Needed technical support
and motivation from tutor
TRAINING
Creative Communities Unit
The Good... The Impact of Training
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being not confident at all
and 10 being totally confident, how confident do you
feel about submitting your portfolio online?
15%
28%
72%
Digital Students (pre-training)
Developing
People –
Developing
Communities
85%
Digital Students (post-training)
1-5 = digital immigrant
6-10 = digital native
Creative Communities Unit
The Good... What Does it Look like?
Developing
People –
Developing
Communities
Creative Communities Unit
The Bad... Assessment Reality
•
•
•
•
Many student emails and phone calls
Just 2 students used personalisation
Several students uploaded Word documents
1 student submitted separate attempt for each
element of assessment
• 3 students gave up - emailed Word docs
• 2 students lost work 2-3 times
• All very time consuming and frustrating!!
Developing
People –
Developing
Communities
Creative Communities Unit
The Bad... What Does it Look like?
Developing
People –
Developing
Communities
Creative Communities Unit
The Ugly...
•
•
•
•
2 submissions uploaded - tutor access denied
Minimal uptake of personalisation options
Second marker – suffice to say, not impressed!
Extra work to submit to external examiner
Developing
People –
Developing
Communities
Creative Communities Unit
Feedback and Evaluation
Students (Qualtrics Survey):
• Satisfied with training but frustrated with
technological issues (even though 90% said IT
skills were excellent, very good or good)
Second Marker:
• Very negative experience, not one she would
choose to repeat
Myself:
• Teething problems frustrating and timeconsuming …but also question if E-Portfolio adds
anything positive to student experience?
Developing
People –
Developing
Communities
Creative Communities Unit
The Future
• Improve online application process to
enable early Blackboard access
• Tutor-created E-Portfolio template?
• Automated feedback upon successful
submission
• Introduce E-Portfolio at start of
module
• Share reflective learning diaries
within E-Portfolio to gain feedback on
mentoring sessions
Developing
People –
Developing
Communities
Louise.Rutherford@staffs.ac.uk