ePortfolios and the Challenge of Reconnecting the Curriculum to a

Life of Practice

Randy Bass (Georgetown University)

AAEEBL Annual World Conference ePortfolios & the Emergent Learning

Ecology

July 20, 2010

Authentic

Experiential

Evidence-based

Authentic

Experiential

Evidence-based

"Clay lends itself to making mess upon mess until something

emerges. When people praise me for achievements, I think of the mistakes I'm willing to make--"

Joan Lederman,

Ceramics artistWoods Hole,

MA

Joan Lederman,

Ceramics artistWoods Hole,

MA

Joan Lederman,

Ceramics artistWoods Hole,

MA

Joan Lederman, Gaia’s Glazes: Mysteries of Sea Mud Revealed

“As the number of materials I use increases, my mental agility increases. I

bond with materials by concentrating and by memorizing their visual identities at

various stages--being present with them is a way I love them. If I maintain attention, I remember stored data well and can decide

things faster than my mind can track chains of logic.”

Joan Lederman, Gaia’s Glazes: Mysteries of Sea Mud Revealed

"The way I work forces me to develop habits of mind that are useful for managing chaos and complex thought with increasing effectiveness. I'd say my success rate has

improved from about 30% in 1997 to about 87% in 2009. I'm measuring success by

what people agree is beautiful.”

Joan Lederman, Gaia’s Glazes: Mysteries of Sea Mud Revealed

“I call it contingency thinking when I visualize what each glaze might do in a

range of temperatures and atmospheres, on concave or convex surfaces, and how calligraphic writing will survive when the

glazes flow. I think on multiple--sometimes parallel--tracks. If this, then that; if this,

then that. I project likelihoods as my livelihood.”

Authentic Experiential

Evidence-based

“…develop habits of mind that are useful for managing chaos and complex thought with

increasing effectiveness.” “I call it contingency

thinking”

AuthenticExperiential

Evidence-based

“…develop habits of mind that are useful for managing chaos and complex thought with

increasing effectiveness.” “I call it contingency

thinking”

Not an outcome but a way of working, a way of living

learning

What are the features of Authentic Learning

activities?

Herrington, J., Oliver, R. and Reeves, T. C. (2003). Patterns of engagement in authentic online learning

environments. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 19(1), 59-

71. Why today’s students value authentic learning. Carie Windham. EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative

Paper 9, 2007.

Authentic Learning activities

• have real-world relevance;

• are ill-defined; comprise complex tasks to be investigated by students over a sustained period of time;

• provide the opportunity for students to examine the task from different perspectives, using a variety of resources; allow competing solutions and a diversity of outcomes.

• provide the opportunity to collaborate;

• provide the opportunity to reflect;

• can be integrated and applied across different subject areas and lead beyond domain-specific outcomes;

• are seamlessly integrated with assessment;

• create polished products valuable in their own right rather than as preparation for something else;Herrington, J., Oliver, R. and Reeves, T. C. (2003). Patterns of engagement in

authentic online learning environments. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 19(1), 59-71.

Authentic ExperientialEvidence-based

“…develop habits of mind that are useful for managing chaos and complex thought with increasing effectiveness.”

“I call it contingency thinking”

ePortfolios and

authentic learning?

• Real-world relevance

• Ill-defined problems

• Diversity of outcomes; applied across different subjects

• Opportunity to reflect

• Seamlessly integrated with assessment

Where does authentic learning happen?

What does authentic learning have to do with the

curriculum?

“You know. It was taught as a Gen Ed course and I took it as

a Gen Ed course.”

Georgetown student, end of first year, focus group: reflecting on a particular course in

which, he claimed, he was not asked to engage with the material.

High Impact Practices (National Survey of Student Engagement--

NSSE)

• First-year seminars and experiences

• Learning communities

• Writing intensive courses

• Collaborative assignments

• Undergraduate research

• Global learning/ study abroad

• Internships

• Capstone courses and projects

High Impact Activities and Outcomes

High Impact Practices:

• First-year seminars and experiences

• Learning communities

• Writing intensive courses

• Collaborative assignments

• Undergraduate research

• Global learning/ study abroad

• Internships

• Capstone courses and projects

Outcomes associated with High impact practices

• Attend to underlying meaning

• Integrate and synthesize

• Discern patterns

• Apply knowledge in diverse situations

• View issues from multiple perspectives

• Gains in Skills, knowledge, practical competence , personal and social development

So, if high impact practices are largely in the extra-curriculum (or

co-curriculum), then where are the low-impact

practices?

Formal curriculum = low-impact practices?

Participatory Culture of the Web

• Features of participatory culture

• Low barriers to entry

• Strong support for sharing one’s contributions

• Informal mentorship, experienced to novice

• Members feel a sense of connection to each other

• Students feel a sense of ownership of what is being created

• Strong collective sense that something is at stake

How do we make classroom learning more like participatory culture?

Jenkins, et. al., Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture

Six Characteristics of high impact practices AND features of participatory

culture

Features of participatory culture

(on the Web)

Low barriers to entry

Strong support for sharing one’s contributions

Informal mentorship, experienced to novice

Members feel a sense of connection to each other

Students feel a sense of ownership of what is being created

Strong collective sense that something is at stake

High impact experiences

(co- curriculum)

Attend to underlying meaning

Integrate and synthesize

Discern patterns

Apply knowledge in diverse situations

View issues from multiple perspectives

Skills, knowledge, practical competence , personal

and social development

The Formal

Curriculum

InformalLearning

Participatory culture

High impact practices

Experiential Co-

curriculum

The Formal

Curriculum

InformalLearning

Participatory culture

High impact practices

Experiential Co-

curriculum

Can we continue to operate on the assumption that the formal

curriculum is the center of the undergraduate experience?

The Formal

Curriculum

InformalLearning

Participatory culture

High impact practices

Experiential Co-

curriculum

Authentic Learning and ePortfolios?

Where do you put your interest in ePortfolios, with regards to the relationship between the formal

curriculum, the co-curriculum and beyond?

The Post-Course Era

The Post-Course Era

End of the era of the self-contained course as the center of the curriculum

“The fragmentation of the curriculum into a collection of independently ‘owned’

courses is itself an impediment to student accomplishment, because the different

courses students take, even on the same campus, are not expected to engage or build on one another.” (AAC&U, 2004)

If the formal curriculum is not where the high impact

experiences are then what are the options?

(1) Make courses higher impact

Authentic Learning “in” the Classroom

courses designed as

inquiry-based & participatory

Community-based Course ConnectionsVirtual Labs

Authentic Learning: “approximations” of the

authentic Leveraging “the crowd” as a way

of teaching

Using social tools at scale

Michael Wesch (Kansas St U) world hunger simulation

If the formal curriculum is not where the high impact

experiences are then what are the options?

(1) Make courses higher impact

(2) Create better connections between courses and the high impact experiences outside the formal curriculum

(3) Accept that there is a ‘low impact’ formal curriculum that constitutes an essential base for the high impact co-curriculum. (…i.e. make this a premise for curricular design)

All of the above…

Whether we turn to improving the quality of courses, or try harder to connect courses to experiences, “courses” will no longer be the

bounded experiences they have been.

the post-course era

The Formal

Curriculum

InformalLearning

Participatory culture

High impact practices

Experiential Co-

curriculum

Less likely that the formal curriculum (center) will become defined by the edge, then that it

might get pulled towards it.

From Push to Pull

• Forecasting needs; designing most efficient systems to meet those needs

• Knowledge stocks

• Carefully scripted and standardized processes

• Knowledge primarily held centrally

Push

“The Big Shift”

• Forecasting needs; designing most efficient systems to meet those needs

• Knowledge stocks

• Carefully scripted and standardized processes

• Knowledge primarily held centrally

• Find and access people and resources when we need them

• Knowledge flows

• Emergent, often function by serendipity

• Knowledge exists primarily at the edge, often across institutions, boundaries, distances

Push Pull“The Big

Shift”

John Seely Brown: Practice to Content

content

practice

“Minds on Fire”

• Forecasting needs; designing most efficient systems to meet those needs

• Knowledge stocks

• Carefully scripted and standardized processes

• Knowledge primarily held centrally

• Find and access people and resources when we need them

• Knowledge flows

• Emergent, often function by serendipity

• Knowledge exists primarily at the edge, often across institutions, boundaries, distances

Push Pull“The Big

Shift”

From Push to Pull

What does this have to do with authentic learning and ePortfolios?

From Push to Pull

•“We are literally pushed into educational systems designed to anticipate our needs over twelve or more years of schooling and our key needs for skills over the rest of our lives.” (Power of Pull)

Formal education is based on the “push” model

From Push to Pull

The formal curriculum is designed on push…[center]

The co-curriculum (the experiential curriculum) has always functioned by pull…

[edge]

From Push to Pull

The formal curriculum is designed on push…[center]

The co-curriculum (the informal curriculum) has always functioned by

pull… [edge]

Are ePortfolios the essential bridge between the push and pull dimensions

of HE?

The Formal

Curriculum

InformalLearning

Participatory culture

High impact practices

Experiential Co-

curriculumCollege-based ePortfolios are a space for creating an identity between the experiences the institution largely

chooses for you and the experiences you largely choose for yourself.

The Formal

Curriculum

InformalLearning

Participatory culture

High impact practices

Experiential Co-

curriculumCollege-based ePortfolios are a space for creating an identity between the experiences the institution largely

chooses for you and the experiences you largely choose for yourself.

Experiential…

Evidence based…

Authentic?

“Shaping a Life of the Mind for Practice ” (Sullivan & Rosin)

•A practice-focused curriculum

•Teaching for practical reasoning (beyond critical thinking)

•Reflective judgment in conditions of uncertainty

“Shaping the Life of the Mind for Practice ” (Sullivan & Rosin)

• “Teaching for practical reason means providing students with educational experiences that model what it means to put skill and knowledge to work through judgment and action.”

“Shaping the Life of the Mind for Practice ” (Sullivan & Rosin)

• “Teaching for practical reason means providing students with educational experiences that model what it means to put skill and knowledge to work through judgment and action.”

“…develop habits of mind that are useful for managing chaos and complex thought with

increasing effectiveness.”

“I call it contingency thinking”

The challenges of designing a curriculum focused on practical reason and reflective judgment

• Rethink the formal curriculum as being in service to high impact experiential learning

• Design for habits of mind curriculum (contingency thinking), creating more opportunities for appreciating (and reflecting on) failure and uncertainty

• Reimagine the distribution of resources on principles of most / least?

Challenges for the implementation of ePortfolios in an environment designed for practical reason and reflective judgment:

Design ePortfolio initiatives according to the principles of pull, not push (i.e. knowledge flows, collaboration, serendipity)

Design the use of ePortfolios as critical tools of a most/least strategy (e.g. discipilnary-based reflection)

Design the use of ePortfolios as a means for helping students slow down to think

No Time to Think

Challenges for the implementation of ePortfolios in an environment designed for practical reason and reflective judgment:

Design ePortfolio initiatives according to the principles of pull, not push (i.e. knowledge flows, collaboration, serendipity)

Design the use of ePortfolios as critical tools of a most/least strategy (e.g. discipilnary-based reflection)

Design the use of ePortfolios as a means for helping students slow down to think

bassr@georgetown.e

du

Many thanks to Joan Lederman The Soft Earth

(thesoftearth.com)

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