Navigating the Shoals of Portfolio Implementation

Susan Kahn and Lynn Ward

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

One student’s perspective

“So you get here and they start asking you, ‘What do you…want to major in? …what courses [do] you want to take?’ and you get the impression that’s what it’s all about – courses and majors. So, you take the courses. You get your card punched. You try a little this and a little that. Then comes GRADUATION. And you wake up and you look at this bunch of courses and then it hits you: They don’t add up to anything. It’s just a bunch of courses. It doesn’t mean a thing.”

AAC&U Project on Integrative Learning

Definition of integrative learning:

• Integrative learning is “the ability to make, recognize, and evaluate connections among disparate concepts, fields, or contexts.”

Why now?• Knowledge explosion• Contemporary problems and solutions are multi-

disciplinary• Information encountered in daily life is

increasingly complex and fast-moving• In civic life, need to be aware of complex

interdependencies, connect theory to practice• In professional life, need to move among

different areas of expertise

The Principles of Undergraduate Learning (PULs)

• Core Communication and Quantitative Skills• Critical Thinking• Integration and Application of Knowledge• Intellectual Depth, Breadth, and

Adaptiveness• Understanding Society and Culture• Values and Ethics

Complete Pending Ready Locked

The IUPUI ePortfolio (ePort)

• Definition:

A selection of purposefully organized artifacts that supports retrospective and prospective reflection, as well as documentation, assessment, and enhancement of student learning over time.

Implications of ePortfolios for Learners and Teachers

• Learning-centered vs. teaching-centered• Support active learning pedagogies aimed at

promoting deeper learning• Support integrative, reflective learning• Support formative and summative

assessment• Thrive when faculty collaborate to develop

coherent curricula and well-defined learning outcomes

• Introduce ePort in first-year experience courses

• Training to prepare faculty and advisors

• Assumption that interest would grow among faculty, advisors, and students, as they became aware of the benefits

Initial Implementation Strategy

• Immature technology; technology not matched to institutional vision

• Forced adoption• Portfolio pedagogy not well understood • Portfolio treated as add-on, not integrated

into work of course/TLC• Perceived as top-down initiative• Lack of campus-wide buy-in to PULs and to

assessment

Initial Obstacles

• Small grants to interested departments and schools

• First year designated for department-wide curricular and pedagogical preparation

• Intensive one-on-one guidance and support• Projects geared to needs the academic unit

wants to address (e.g., customized matrices/wizards geared to program outcomes)

• Faculty in these departments are providing guidance for ongoing software development

Current Strategy: Integrative Department Grants

Other Enablers

• Center for Teaching and Learning: well-developed structure for supporting pedagogical and curricular innovation with technology

• Well-developed institutional and (some) program-level assessment programs

• ePort integrated into course management system

• Development of a few good examples/cadre of early-adopter programs

On the brink of wider adoption?

Current planning to:• Use ePortfolio in conjunction with Personal

Development Plan in first-year seminars• Use ePortfolio as site for artifacts and

reflections in new campus-wide experiential learning initiative (RISE)

• Adopt campus-wide at satellite campus

• Immature technology

• Forced adoption

• Portfolio pedagogy not well understood

• Portfolio treated as add-on, not integrated into work of course/TLC

• Perceived as top-down initiative• Lack of campus-wide buy-in to PULs and to

assessment

Initial Obstacles

• Small grants to interested departments and schools

• First year designated for department-wide curricular and pedagogical preparation

• Intensive one-on-one guidance and support• Projects geared to needs the academic unit

wants to address• Faculty in these departments are providing

guidance for ongoing software development

Current Strategy: Integrative Department Grants

• Know your key stakeholders• Talk with and listen to your stakeholders• Build from a campus need or point of strength• Engage and sustain campus leaders in

supporting and advocating for implementation• Secure solid funding

Secure Campus Buy in

• Provide virtual and “live” opportunities for peer support relative to both the technology and the pedagogy

• Eport user site• ePortfolio Community of Practice planned• Professional development workshops

Foster Collaboration

• Start small and keep project limited in scope• Design for scalability

– Technology– Assessing student work– Support structures

• Allow sufficient time for project planning– Help guide the process– ePortfolio readiness matrix

More Lessons

• Each project has an assigned support team consisting of an instructional designer, instructional technologist, and an assessment specialist

• Semi-annual ePortfolio symposium• ePort Readiness Matrix• Online user community

– Implementation examples– Articles– Sample rubrics– Mailing list and discussion forums

Project Support

• Outcomes mapping (mapping PULs to disciplinary outcomes)

• Curriculum mapping (determining where in the curriculum students learn and practice specific outcomes)

• Developing evaluation criteria (expectations and rubrics)

• Developing mastery assignments• Communicating purpose and value of

project to faculty and students

Common Planning Activities

ePortfolio Readiness Matrix

• A systematic approach to planning and analysis

• Acquaints project team with the software early in the planning process

• Allows project team to learn from the work of other projects

• Documents use and value of portfolios to individual schools, departments, faculty

ePortfolio Readiness Matrix