Professional Practice ePortfoliosPrepared by: Michael Paskevicius

Learning Technologies Application DeveloperCentre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning

Vancouver Island University

Agenda

• Quick review of ePortfolios• Planning to build • A look at possible ePortfolio software• Begin building!

ePortfolios defined• A selective set of online, reflective, integrative,

and personal documents that present how you have developed as a scholar-teacher in your discipline

• Offers evidence of your accomplishments and activities across all aspects of your academic life (research, teaching, and service) and outlines your growth

• Extends your CV and provides future employers with a comprehensive portrait of your academic training, achievements, and future career goals

• A living document that needs to be modified over timeBauer, G. (2011) Elements of A Professional Academic E-Portfolio. Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Delaware.

Available online: http://www2.udel.edu/e-portfolios/sites/udel.edu.e-portfolios/files/users/user19/epelements11j.pdf

Moving from “file cabinet portfolio” to “showcase portfolio”

What types of documents/resources have you identified to share on your ePortfolio?

• Papers and writing samples of various types-descriptive, persuasive, etc.

• Professional goals statement• Internship and work experience• Video and audio clips• Spreadsheet and database projects• Group projects• Research projects and research-

related writing• Photographs, images, artwork• Community service work• Public speaking examples

• Leadership experience, qualities, and examples

• Academic awards and honors• Reflective essays• Examples of problem solving• Memberships in professional

organizations• Journal/blog entries • Examples of technology-related

skills• Graphics of information-charts,

time lines, concept diagrams• Language skills

Artefacts and Reflections • An eportfolio is more than just

gathering artifacts together• Eportfolio development should be a

process of generating new or deeper learning by reflecting on one’s existing learning and experiences

• Both a product (a digital collection of artifacts) and a process (of reflecting on those artifacts and what they represent)Uwaterloo.ca. (2001). ePortfolios: What, Why, and How | Centre for Teaching Excellence. [online] Retrieved from: https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/resources/integrative-learning/eportfolios-what-why-and-how [Accessed: 7 Feb 2014].

ePortfolio structure

Teaching, Research, Service, Other

Ready to start building?

Potential ePortfolio software platforms

• 19 percent of websites on the internet are powered by Wordpress

• Based on open-source technologies (PHP and MYSQL)

• Active and vibrant developer community • Plugin and theme marketplace • Highly flexible and adaptable tool for creating

websites

Why use the VIU Wordpress network for your eportfolio?– Hosted on campus – Compliant with FIPPA – Capitan login – Under the viu.ca

domain – Secure and backed up

regularly by IT

Why not use the VIU Wordpress network for your eportfolio?– You require a special

URL– You want to administer

plugins and themes

Options: wordpress.com, blogger.com, weebly.com or your own server

The VIU Wordpress network

http://wordpress.viu.ca/

http://wordpress.viu.ca/Chemistry

http://wordpress.viu.ca/MGMT210

http://wordpress.viu.ca/SarahsBlog

You can define the portion of the URL which follows http://wordpress.viu.ca/

http://studentblogs.viu.ca/http://wordpress.viu.ca/

Blogs and ePortfolios available for both faculty and students

http://wordpress.viu.ca/guppy/

Title and tagline of the site

Recent posts

Site pages

Sidebar

http://wordpress.viu.ca/limi/

Site pages

Static text for current students

http://wordpress.viu.ca/timgoater/

Site pages

No sidebar in use

Web view Author view (logged in)

https://wordpress.viu.ca/

Create a new site

https://wordpress.viu.ca/wp-login.php

Login with your Capitan

account

The site name becomes part of your URL and

must be lowercase with no spaces.

The site title is displayed by default at the top of

your blog and may contain spaces.

Allow discoverability in Google and

visibility options

Click here to go to your new

website

Create a new page

Access your site dashboard

Wordpress Dashboard

Create a new

post/page

Summary of blog activity

Recent comments

Change appearance

Create or view pages

Create or view posts

Page versus Post • Pages are static and are not

listed by date. Pages are often listed at the top of the blog in a menu.

• Posts are entries listed in reverse chronological order on the blog home page by default.

http://en.support.wordpress.com/post-vs-page/

Post are automatically organized by date but can be furthermore assigned to categories and tags.

Pages do not use categories and tags but

can be organized in a hierarchy.

Start building pages for your eportfolio

Set the home view to a static page

• Access you site Dashboard then • Settings Reading “Front page displays”

Themes

Use images to bring your posts to life

Work found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Sower.jpg / CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

http://compfight.com

Make sure Creative

Commons is selected

ePortfolio documentation on wiki

https://mediawiki.viu.ca/wiki/Professional_Teaching_Practice_Portfolios

Wordpress documentation on wiki

https://mediawiki.viu.ca/wiki/Wordpress_Help

ReferencesBauer, G. (2011) Elements of A Professional Academic E-Portfolio. Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Delaware. Available online: http://www2.udel.edu/e-portfolios/sites/udel.edu.e-portfolios/files/users/user19/epelements11j.pdf

Uwaterloo.ca. (2001). ePortfolios: What, Why, and How | Centre for Teaching Excellence. [online] Retrieved from: https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/resources/integrative-learning/eportfolios-what-why-and-how [Accessed: 7 Feb 2014].

USDOE. (2011). Artifacts: Collect, Select, and Connect - Eportfolio Resource Center. [online] Retrieved from: https://sites.google.com/site/resourcecentereportfolio/artifacts [Accessed: 7 Feb 2014].

Icons: The Noun Project, available under Creative Commons or Public Domain licenses, http://thenounproject.com/