University of Oregon ePortfolio Research Summary   Description: Our group is a coalition from University of Oregon professional schools[1] that has been sharing resources and knowledge for two years in order to build understanding of eportfolios on campus.  In the School of Architecture and Allied Arts (AAA) we have had a prototype for eportfolios for 3 years, which focuses on integrating IT coursework with professional preparation curriculum through eportfolios as authentic assessment. At the institutional level, the project is expanding in scope to integrate student learning assessment strategies, and the utility of eportfolio as a measure for institutional accountability and student-centered learning outcomes.  Broad goals include:

•                   For students: encourages deeper learning, more significant connections across learning experiences, and professional career development. •        For faculty: encourages new approaches to teaching and evaluating learning. •        For administrators: supports assessment goals.

  2008-2009 Goals:  Research and assess existing platforms for one that satisfies the need for a fully public professional portfolio, linked to academic storage space where students house artifacts created throughout academic career, and which can be accessed by faculty and academic advisors across units, and which is flexible enough to include course galleries spaces for course-related collaborative projects, and for showcasing best work. Each area includes standards and assessment components related to the academic area, allowing students to integrate and demonstrate learning outcomes across courses and experiences.   This year we will expand AAA eportfolios to include assessments and standards, adding courses and faculty.  In the Lundquist College of Business (LCB), students will utilize eportfolios across group learning experiences, as we pilot assessment-driven eportfolio learning.  In Arts and Administration (AAD), entering students will create and manage academic and professional eportfolios, and faculty will utilize eportfolios for group collaboration and for student capstone experiences.  In Architecture (ARCH), students will record design work towards course objectives based on accreditation performance criteria.  Using these efforts as the basis for our research, we will by year-end, make a proposal to the university for an effective eportfolio delivery system that can be prototyped across additional academic units.

·        Pilot a new platform in LCB driven by student-centered assessment framework, building on the process foundation built in AAD ·        Continue to work with PLONE-based system in AAD & ARCH, adding new faculty, students, and courses ·        Expand AAD career eportfolios and ARCH studio portfolios to include student-centered assessments

  Research Question:  In creating an eportfolio process/system that suits diverse disciplinary needs regarding student-centered assessments, curriculum development, and career eportfolios, we will examine how to effectively scaffold and measure qualitative abilities.    Our research goals include: to discover how effectively we can use electronic media to support learning of complex, human skills such as teamwork, verbal communication and visual design; to explore how different disciplines can convey objectives and performance criteria, coach students online or face-to-face and assess progress, and increase quality and consistency in team-taught courses; to investigate flexibility vs. standardization in the eportfolio process; and, to explore how specific academic disciplinary needs can be addressed by a system that allows administrative data aggregation. 

Methodology:   We will use an Integrative Learning Design Framework (Bannan-Ritland, 2003) as the over-arching framework for exploring an effective design and implementation of an ePortfolio system for students and faculty, and to engage the campus community in an iterative process of inquiry, feedback, prototype, and redesign. 

We will:

·        Engage Faculty and Staff to gain awareness, professional development and support opportunities through various existing campus mechanisms.

·        Collaboratively develop a UO ePortfolio Design Specifications document based on input and feedback from students, faculty, administration, and other stakeholders.

·        Continue the practice of an open, monthly face-to-face forum relative to specific successes and challenges, of the ePortfolio at UO.

·        Report results and gathering of feedback from relevant campus stakeholder groups, programs, and administration.

·        Distribute results through campus listserv, project website, publications and presentations, and other formal and informal communication strategies.

Project Goals: Research and assess existing platforms for one that satisfies the need for a fully public professional portfolio, linked to academic storage space where students house artifacts created throughout academic career, and which can be accessed by faculty and academic advisors across units, and which is flexible enough to include course gallery spaces for course-related collaborative projects, and for showcasing best work. Each area includes standards and assessment components related to the academic area, allowing students to integrate and demonstrate learning outcomes across courses and experiences.   EPortfolio Project Team: Lori Hager, Nancy Cheng, Ron Bramhall, Jonathon Richter, Andre Chinn.  

Rev. N. Cheng, L. Hager

8/03/08

[1] These include: Lundquist College of Business (Honors College), College of Education/Center for Advanced Technology in Education, School of Journalism and Communication, School of Architecture and Allied Arts