ePortfolio Faculty Guide

Revised November, 2012

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Table of Contents

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 2

ePortfolios .................................................................................................................................................... 2 Types of ePortfolios ................................................................................................................................ 3

Getting Started ............................................................................................................................................. 6 The Role of the ePortfolio in Your Course ............................................................................................ 6

Revising Your Syllabus .......................................................................................................................... 7 Working within the ePortfolio Platform – Digication ............................................................................ 8 Digication vs. Blackboard ...................................................................................................................... 9 Resources for Faculty ............................................................................................................................. 9

Reflective Writing ........................................................................................................................................ 9

Checking Assignments and Grades ........................................................................................................ 11

Student Privacy ......................................................................................................................................... 11

Digication Technical Guide ....................................................................................................................... 13 Logging In .............................................................................................................................................. 13 Building Your Course ePortfolio .......................................................................................................... 13

Basic Information ................................................................................................................................................ 14 ePortfolio Templates ............................................................................................................................. 15 Creating an ePortfolio from Scratch .................................................................................................... 16 Customizing Your Theme ..................................................................................................................... 16 Permissions and Tagging ..................................................................................................................... 19 Editing Your ePortfolio ......................................................................................................................... 20

Adding Sections .................................................................................................................................................. 20 Adding Pages ..................................................................................................................................................... 22 Adding Modules .................................................................................................................................................. 23 Adding Text ........................................................................................................................................................ 24

Additional Resources ................................................................................................................................ 25

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Introduction Congratulations on joining the ePortfolio community at the School of Professional Studies. This guide will help you to incorporate ePortfolios into your courses and/or programs. While we hope this will provide you with the tools you need to get started, the ePortfolio Team at SPS is eager and available to assist you with any questions or concerns. Please reach out to us at eportfolios@sps.cuny.edu.

ePortfolios The purpose of ePortfolios is to provide students with a tool to collect, organize, reflect upon and display their academic work. ePortfolios allow students to take ownership of the learning process by encouraging them to think about their learning experiences in a broad context of family, career, and community responsibilities. They provide a record of where a student has been, where a student is, and where a student would like to go. Helping students to engage in this process, summed up by the phrase “collect, select, reflect, connect,” is where faculty play a key role.

The types of ePortfolios defined below are not mutually exclusive, and faculty should feel free to suggest new and innovative ways to use ePortfolio.

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Types of ePortfolios Course ePortfolios A course ePortfolio provides an opportunity for an instructor to revise or rethink a particularly challenging assignment in ways that facilitate scaffolding and incorporate multimedia. For example, an instructor may decide to move the steps of a research paper (finding and evaluating sources, creating a bibliography, developing an outline, drafting, revision, and reflection) to a single ePortfolio with tabs for each part of the assignment. ePortfolios also enable multimedia integration, allowing students to incorporate images, databases, PowerPoint presentations, audio, and video into projects. Instead of thinking of ePortfolios as “another thing to do,” think of ePortfolios as a convenient digital venue for an existing assignment.

All templates allow for creativity. Faculty can develop simple course ePortfolio templates with minimal instructions where students can add sections and pages as they need. In this course ePortfolio template, students are given 4 sections to complete. Instructions are minimal as students include an introduction to the course, an “About Me,” a reflection, their first assignment, and their final essay.

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Some course ePorfolios are more structured, including course requirements and assignments. Instructions are provided within each page/section and students delete/replace the instructions with their own work.

Capstone Course ePortfolios allow students to create a collection of their work as they complete their degree, drawing connections between courses and disciplines as well as their personal and professional selves. Reflection is an important part of a student’s personal and professional progress.

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Academic ePortfolios In academic ePortfolios, also called learning ePortfolios, students can collect representative assignments from all of their courses, creating a space in which to reflect upon their academic growth and make connections between courses. A learning ePortfolio is where reflection and documentation combine with collaboration or conversations about learning.

The capstone ePortfolio is similar to an Academic ePortfolio in that it collects evidence or “artifacts” and reflections from multiple courses/semesters. Since the Digication platform allows students to create multiple ePortfolios, it is easy for a student to hyperlink a course ePortfolio to his or her academic ePortfolio.

Some instructors may choose to develop “signature assignments” that provide evidence of students’ achievement of specific course learning objectives and ask students to place these assignments in their ePortfolios. This differs from the course ePortfolio in that a single assignment is being placed into a larger ePortfolio, rather than the ePortfolio being the assignment itself. Program ePortfolios Program ePortfolios are similar to Academic ePortfolios, except that they are specific to an academic program, such as Communication and Culture or Applied Theatre. The program ePortfolio should include a competency or learning outcomes matrix, listing the program learning objectives. Students then link assignments from each required program course to a competency, making visible the program requirements and how those requirements were satisfied. Program ePortfolios also provide useful evidence for program-level assessment.

Showcase/Resume ePortfolios

Showcase ePortfolios are organized to present accomplishments to graduate schools or to potential

employers. Showcase ePortfolios might include a resume , references, samples of work, and information

about extra-curricular or co-curricular activities. This type of ePortfolio should encourage the individuality and creativity of each student. In addition to working with the ePortfolio team, students will also work with Career Services to optimize their ePortfolio for showcasing purposes.

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Getting Started

The Role of the ePortfolio in Your Course One of the first things academic directors or instructors may want to know is how much their program/course will need to change in order to accommodate ePortfolios. Typically, very little. ePortfolios are a way to visibly display the good work that you and your students are already doing. However, determining the purpose ePortfolios will serve within your class or program means that planning is essential. General Questions General questions to consider for both Program and Course ePortfolios are:

What broader discipline-based skills and knowledge can an ePortfolio strengthen or elicit?

What choices will you make about learning objectives using ePortfolios?

How can a student best use ePortfolios to create and reflect upon meaningful learning experiences in your discipline?

Course ePortfolios Individual faculty using ePortfolios will need to determine the following:

What is the best fit between your discipline and a course-based ePortfolio strategy?

Will assignments be done in students’ ePortfolios or will students move finished, graded work to their ePortfolio?

How will you incorporate reflective writing into your coursework? (See section below on Reflective Writing for more information.)

Some other things to think about:

Check in with your students to see if any of them already have ePortfolios. If so, you might want to ask them to help you convey the concept and their experiences to your other students.

Think about when you’ll introduce ePortfolio to students during the term. Have a plan. We’ve found that it helps when faculty introduce the concept early on in the semester, and then structure time to have students deposit one or more assignments later on.

Thinking About Assignments: Developing a strong ePortfolio component to your course. ePortfolios can take a larger or smaller role within your course. Some students will already have ePortfolios from previous classes and others will eventually be creating a specific ePortfolio in the future such as a Capstone, Senior Project, or Professional ePortfolio. Whatever type of ePortfolio you choose for your course it will provide a valuable experience you and your students.

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Tips for creating a successful ePortfolio project:

Assign a “Signature Assignment” that addresses a major course learning outcome. These signature assignments can replace or be in addition to the coursework you normally expect of your students.

Instead of having students introduce themselves on the Discussion Board during the first week of class (for online courses), ask them to create an “about me” tab in their ePortfolio and share the links with their classmates, who can make comments.

Use ePortfolio to document and reflect upon field experiences or internships.

Include video clips of performances or demonstration of applied skills.

Assign team projects where students use ePortfolios to present their work.

Use ePortfolios to document the research process.

Have students write about their solution to a realistic Math problem. What was the process they used to solve the problem? What is the relevance of the problem, and/or the application of the problem solving skill to other issues or areas of life?

Use ePortfolios for a final reflection of the course. Have students upload their semester’s assignments and include a reflection tab where they will reflect upon their progress throughout the semester: how they felt about the subject at the beginning of the course and how they feel after taking the course.

If you want to look at other templates and course-based ePortfolios throughout CUNY please visit the following wiki page on the CUNY Academic Commons: http://commons.gc.cuny.edu/wiki/index.php/Templates_and_Course-Based_ePortfolios.

Revising Your Syllabus Once you determine how ePortfolios will be used for your course, it is important that the expectations are explained in your course syllabus. Describe your assignment(s) in the syllabus and make it clear if/when they are due in the ePortfolio. For example: ePortfolio Project: 30%— Your semester project will build on the work you contribute each week to the Discussion Board and in the Info Lit Blog. The ePortfolio Project will build on all this work by examining a specific topic, of your own choosing, in greater depth. The final paper will be 5-8 pages in length and will draw upon research you conduct after you have identified your topic and, if possible, work you have done already. For example, you may want to build your final paper upon an Info Lit Blog entry, or expand upon an exchange on the Discussion Board. Similarly, you may discover a topic, and sources to use, while browsing the web for a weekly assignment. You will be posting your paper and all the background source work related to it on an online ePortfolio that you will create for the course. A template for the ePortfolio project has been created that you can use to guide the development of your own ePortfolio. On the template you will also find the due dates for the different sections of the Final Paper/ePortfolio project.

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Program-wide ePortfolios Academic Program Directors implementing a program-wide ePortfolio strategy will need to answer the following questions to help to determine how ePortfolios will fit into your structure.

How will the program learning objectives be integrated in course designs and assignments using ePortfolios?

How will faculty and students learn about ePortfolios and their role in your program

How can a capstone be designed to create a cumulative and integrative learning experience across all courses in the program?

How will the program ePortfolio connect to graduate school and/or career development?

Working within the ePortfolio Platform – Digication The platform for ePortfolios at SPS is Digication (http://cunyonline.digication.com). Through Digication students are able to select templates and utilize modules, thus allowing them to place a greater focus on content. In addition, this platform permits students to create as many ePortfolios as they wish and make copies of existing ePortfolios. Before creating their ePortfolio accounts, students are encouraged to view the "Getting Started" videos which will walk them through the initial log in process and explains how to select a template ePortfolio. The video can be accessed at: http://cunyonline.digication.com/studentresource/Getting_Started . A Digication Technical Guide for faculty starts on page 13 of this handbook. Student Support: Students will be emailed their account information. This information will include the Digication website, their username, and a temporary password, which they will be instructed to change upon their first login. Students will also be made aware of the support services available to them through ePortfolio Advisors. This service includes one-on-one support for students via Live Chat or email, video tutorials, workshops, and ongoing ePortfolio advisement. Students who are interested in using a showcase ePortfolio for graduate admissions or employment purposes will be connected to the Manager of Career Services, Shannon Gallo, who can review their electronic resume and provide helpful feedback. The ePortfolio Student Resource Website can be found at: http://cunyonline.digication.com/studentresource/. Should faculty have any questions about the ePortfolio Advisor services please contact Louise Levine at louise.levine@mail.cuny.edu.

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Digication vs. Blackboard Some students may feel that using ePortfolios duplicates or is an added burden to the work they already do. For this reason it is important that faculty explain the benefits of putting their work into an ePortfolio. Here are some points you can make:

ePortfolios are a great way for coursework to live beyond the date on which it was submitted.

ePortfolios allow students to showcase their work in a way that is easily accessible inside and outside of the school.

ePortfolios are being implemented in higher education across the country.

Students may not have access to their coursework once the term is over, particularly online students who lose coursework in Blackboard at the end of the semester.

Having a space for reflective writing is akin to keeping a professional journal, except this journal is portable and accessible wherever a student has an internet connection.

With ePortfolios, students can create and manage their academic and professional online identities.

Resources for Faculty The ePortfolio Coordinator and Instructional Technology Fellows will work with academic directors and instructors as they create ePortfolio templates and throughout the semester. Once a faculty member determines how ePortfolios will be used in a course, ePortfolio Advisors will work to ensure that templates clearly indicate what is expected of a student. eP Advisors will also work directly with the student to ensure that he or she has a clear understanding of these expectations. At the start of the semester, students are provided with a copy of the student handbook and a link to the ePortfolio Resource Website. The resources website includes sections for both students and faculty. Faculty also have access to ePortfolio resources through the CUNY Academic Commons, which includes links, sample ePortfolios and template ideas. Click on the link to the ePortfolio Resources for SPS Faculty (the CUNY Commons page) or bookmark the link below: http://commons.gc.cuny.edu/wiki/index.php/EPortfolio_Resources_for_SPS_Faculty

Reflective Writing “Study without reflection is a waste of time; reflection without study is dangerous.” -Confucius ePortfolio is a vehicle for reflective and integrative thinking, for learners to examine their own development of knowledge and skills, and to measure their progress and their goals across time and across disciplines. What are the meanings of the work that they have chosen to display in their ePortfolio? What kind of value does it have for them? What did they learn from the work they did? What questions did they ask? What new questions emerged from their learning? How did their previous knowledge or experience affect what they learned or how they learned?

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Answering these kinds of reflective questions, and including these answers in their ePortfolios, will strengthen students’ academic skills, their ability to continue their education, and their understanding of their educational experiences. Ideally, reflective writing will be an integral part of the assignments and graded as part of that assignment. If you are uncomfortable grading reflective writing, you don’t have to, but you should probably then assign some “completion points” for when the student turns in the reflective writing. You may also read and comment on reflective writing without grading it. Tips and examples of reflective writing prompts

Tip: Incorporate prompts that solicit a few paragraphs of reflective writing into the assignment(s). The prompts can be about the assignment process or about what students learned overall in the course.

Tip: Give students a choice of prompts to which they can respond in their reflective writing, and make your expectations clear.

Example: How does your performance on this assignment demonstrate achievement of--or progress toward learning outcomes?

Example: How does this assignment (or this course) connect with what you learned in other courses?

Example: What impact did the assignment have on you or your understanding of the topic? What do you understand about the topic now that you did not understand at the beginning?

Example: What process did you go through to complete the assignment? [This can be particularly interesting if the assignment involved many steps or collaboration between several students]

Example: What challenges did you face in completing the assignment? How did you address them?

Example: Why did you pick this assignment to put in your ePortfolio? What does it demonstrate about your learning? [Assumes that instructor has given students a choice of assignments to include in the ePortfolio]

Example: How did participation in this service-learning partnership (internship, group project, etc.) help you better understand how the main concepts in this course apply to your life or community?

Example: How do(es) the assignment(s) illustrate the growth/change/progression you have had in this class?

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Checking Assignments and Grades Checking for Assignments If you choose to have students submit assignments directly through their ePortfolio, you need to develop a method of checking for completed work. Here are some suggestions to help make checking for assignments easier:

The ePortfolio team will create a community on Digication for your class. This will allow both you and the students to easily browse through each other’s profiles and ePortfolios.

Create a class ePortfolio where you can add links to your students’ ePortfolios. For examples please visit the following course ePortfolio sites:

https://cunyonline.digication.com/FLM307/Class_ePorfolios

https://bcc-cuny.digication.com/RODASmonsters12fall2011/student_ePortfolios2

Have students email you the URL for the page of their ePortfolio containing the assignment for your class.

If you subscribe to a student’s ePortfolio in Digication, it will be listed on your “Home” page in addition to the “Subscriptions” page.

If you teach using Blackboard, create an assignment that requires students to paste the URL for the page of their ePortfolio containing the assignment for your class into a wiki or discussion board thread.

Pair students up to do some peer review of their assignments and check whether their partner has put his/her assignment and reflective writing into the ePortfolio. Have each student certify to you that their partner has done so.

For in-person courses, divide students into small groups and have students “present” their ePortfolios to each other, including the relevant page for your assignment.

Consider having end-of-semester “ePortfolio Showcase” class presentations. Note: The ability for students to view each other’s portfolios and for you to view portfolios depends upon the privacy settings selected and on how your course it set up. For more information go to the permissions and tagging section on pg. 19. You may also contact the ePortfolio team to further discuss privacy settings. Grading ePortfolio Assignments Grades for ePortfolio assignments should not be posted in a student’s ePortfolio. You should grade the assignment then communicate the grade using the Grade Center or some other private form of communication that is available.

Student Privacy Students have the ability to select who can view their ePortfolios and can change their permission settings at any time. However, when starting their ePortfolios we recommend that students select “Anybody at my school can view, only I can edit.” With this setting ePortfolios are viewable to anyone in SPS and will allow students to view and comment on each other’s ePortfolios when they are logged into Digication. If students feel comfortable sharing their ePortfolio with those who are not logged into Digication they may

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opt to make their ePortfolios public. If a student does not feel comfortable sharing their ePortfolio either publically or within the entire school, they can limit access to the students and instructor of their class. For faculty, we recommend the following:

When pairing students to share their ePortfolios with each other, allow students with privacy concerns to opt out of that part of the assignment.

Just as you wouldn’t share a student’s grades with someone else, don’t give out ePortfolio URLs to a student’s friends, parents, reporters, etc. without the student’s permission. To obtain a student’s permission please have your student sign the following release form or contact the ePortfolio team at eportfolios@sps.cuny.edu.

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Digication Technical Guide

Logging In

1. Go to Digication.

Type www.cunyonline.digication.com into the address bar of your browser.

2. Log in. Your username is your firstnameinitial.lastname (i.e. Jane Doe = jdoe). Your initial password will be emailed to you.

3. Change your password. Click on your name in the upper-right-hand corner of the screen, type

your new password twice, then click Save.

Building Your Course ePortfolio Once you log into your ePortfolio account you are ready to create your Course ePortfolio. You can either work off of an existing template or you can create your ePortfolio from scratch.

vs. To view the list of templates in the gallery please visit: https://cunyonline.digication.com/studentresource/Template_Gallery.

Instructions for creating a new ePortfolio template from scratch begins on page 16.

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Click on the CREATE BUTTON to create a new ePortfolio.

Basic Information After selecting CREATE, you will be directed to the Portfolio Settings page beginning with the Basic Information section which will ask you to create a title, web address, contact and email for your ePortfolio. ePortfolio Title: Enter your course number + Template + (Your last name)

i.e.- CC 401 Template (Walters)

ePortfolio Web Address: Enter your course number + Template + Your Last Name

i.e.- CC401TemplateWalters

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ePortfolio Templates Using a Template: Templates are designed with a basic outline of the tabs and sections based on what you might want to include (see sample below). You can also choose to “Create From Scratch,” Keep in mind; you cannot go back and choose another template. To choose the template, Click on one of the icons or click “more templates”

To view the list of templates in the gallery please visit: https://cunyonline.digication.com/studentresource/Template_Gallery.

vs.

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Creating an ePortfolio from Scratch To create your ePortfolio from scratch (the owner chooses his/her own banner, sections, and pages), click on the green “Create from Scratch” icon before moving on to the “Choose a Theme” section.

Customizing Your Theme

Through the Theme Setting you will be able to set your directory icon as well as your banner (header image) and footer. From the “Choose a Theme” section, unclick the “Use Selected template’s theme”

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Now, click on the “Customize” button to open up the next section where you can change both the directory image, Banner and Footer.

DIRECTORY ICONS AND BANNERS (HEADER IMAGE) DIRECTORY ICONS Your icon is the image that will appear with your ePortfolio in the directory.

To upload your directory icon, browse your computer for the image you would like to use and upload it under Header Image located under Visual Styles. Your image will automatically be resized to 100x100 pixels. CHANGING THE BANNER All ePortfolios have the SPS default Banner (Header Image). To upload your own banner, click the button to “upload new image,” find the image you need and upload it. Your image will be resized to 779 pixels wide or less.

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BANNERS (HEADER IMAGE) cont’d This image will appear on the top of every page of your e-Portfolio. Pre-designed Banners (Header Images) provided by the ePortfolio Team can be downloaded here: https://cunyonline.digication.com/studentresource/Banners21. You must download the images to your computer in order to upload them on your visual styles.

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FOOTERS The Footer will appear at the bottom of each page. The footer is text that appears along the bottom of every page in your e-Portfolio. Many e-Portfolios have a quote here, or copyright information.

To add the footer, type in the text of choice in the box provided. Footers can be a quote or copyright information.

Permissions and Tagging Students and faculty are advised to set their permissions to “Private within CUNY Online” however you may want to set your template so only your students can see it. In that case, you would use the “Private, to me” settings and then add “Additional Permissions,” adding your “course” or individual students. The Directory: You would always want your template available in a searchable directory so students can find your template. Tagging: Tags are keywords that can be assigned to the pages of your e-Portfolio. If you or your visitors tag your pages, it'll be easier to find them in searches. You can turn tagging on or off at any time.

Congratulations, you just created an ePortfolio!

Don't forget to click Create

New e-Portfolio

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Editing your ePortfolio Once you have created your ePortfolio you may want to customize it. You can rename sections and pages, create new sections and pages, and restructure them as you see fit. Edit and Viewing modes can be found on the top Tabs. There are three top tabs Edit, Preview, and Published. In order to add, edit, or delete sections and pages your ePortfolio must be on Edit mode. Preview will show you what your saved edits will look like once published prior to publishing. Published will show you what viewers will see while viewing your ePortfolio. SECTIONS AND PAGES

Each portfolio has a top and a side menu. The top menu displays all the sections in your site. The side menu displays the list of pages in a section. Below are basic instructions on how to add and edit sections, pages and content.

SECTIONS

PAGES

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Adding Sections To add or edit sections, make sure the ePortfolio Edit tab is highlighted, then click on Add/Edit Sections and select Add Section.

For each section you want to add, type in the section name and then hit the Save button. Advance Settings will allow you to Change your Section Address (URL) or hide the section from viewers (making it private).

You can change the order of the sections by clicking on the section you wish to move and dragging it to the desired location. To change the name of the section or delete it, click on the pencil icon next to the section. *Deleting a section deletes all

pages under it.

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Adding Pages To add or edit pages click on Add/Edit next to ‘View Pages’ and click Add Page, name it and click the Save button. You can edit, reorder, and delete your pages using the same directions indicated for editing sections in the blue box on the previous page.

Advance Settings will give you the following options beyond naming your page:

Change your Page Address (URL).

Hide your page from viewers (making it private).

Collapse subpages.

Make the page non-clickable by selecting Heading.

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Adding Modules Modules provide areas for you to add images, movies, text and links to websites or files within your pages. More than one module can be added to a page to allow you to customize the display of your content. To add a module, select the section and page you wish to add a module to. Select the module that best fits your needs then click Add This Module. There are 6 modules to choose from:

Image/Video/Audio - Allows you to display one large media file.

Rich Text - Is the most flexible as it will allow you to incorporate text, video, links and images all on one document. We recommend using this module for most of your work.

Gallery - Allows you to upload several pieces of media (images, video, etc) with captions.

Contact Form - Allows you to receive emails sent by viewers without having to reveal your email address.

Twitter - Allows you to display a feed from your Twitter account.

Bookmarks - Allows users to share your page on popular social networking sites. Note: You should take some time to browse the different Modules, but we recommend using the Rich Text module for most of your work.

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Adding Text After you’ve created a Rich Text Module, it will appear with sample content. Click the Edit tab to begin adding your own content. Once you have added content you will need to Save your changes. Once saved, your changes will not be published for viewing until you click on the Publish This Page.

You can also…

Add links to Word/PDF documents and PowerPoint presentations using the Insert File icon.

Add images, using the Insert Media icon.

Add hyperlinks. Type the URL, highlight it, then click the Insert/Edit link icon.

Inset long quotations or other text, using the Indent icon.

Publish Changes

Save Changes

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Additional Resources

ePortfolio Resources for SPS Faculty: https://cunyonline.digication.com/studentresource/faculty

ePortfolio Resource Website: https://cunyonline.digication.com/studentresource/

Digication User Guides: https://cunyonline.digication.com/studentresource/Tutorials

LaGuardia Community College – Faculty Resources: http://www.eportfolio.lagcc.cuny.edu/faculty/resources.htm

Bronx Community College – ePortfolio Faculty Development: https://bcc-cuny.digication.com/ep/ePortfolio_Pedagogy

Pace University’s ePortfolio Assignment Guide: http://appsrv.pace.edu/ctlt/eportfolioFiles/Faculty%20ePortfolio%20Resources/ePortfolio%20Assignment%20Guide.pdf

CUNY Academic Commons ePortfolios Wiki: http://commons.gc.cuny.edu/wiki/index.php/EPortfolios_Committee_WIKI