STEMx Conference Presentation

Exploring STEMx Competencies through

ePortfolios 

Betty Hurley-Dasgupta, Ed.D., ProfessorSUNY Empire State College, New York

betty.hurley-dasgupta@esc.edu

Poll

Please select the letter that best describes you:

A. Never used an ePortfolioB. Some experience with using ePortfoliosC. Already using ePortfolios with my

students

Future of eLearning and eTeaching….

Regarding the Global Achievement Gap (Tony Wagner, 2008)… the “Best schools” are not teaching or including in their curriculums the must have skills of the future which are:

Critical thinking and problem solvingCollaboration across networks and leading by influenceAgility and adaptability Initiative and entrepreneurialismEffective oral and written communicationAccessing and analyzing information Curiosity and imagination

•Bloom, Benjamin S. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (1956). Published by Allyn and Bacon, Boston, MA. Copyright (c) 1984 by Pearson Education.

Anderson, L.W., and D. Krathwohl (Eds.) (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching and Assessing: a Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Longman, New York.

Churches, A. (2008). Blooms taxonomy blooms digitally. Retrieved from http://www.techlearning.com/article/8670

Churches, A. (2008). Blooms taxonomy blooms digitally. Retrieved from http://www.techlearning.com/article/8670

Deep and Surface Learning

Deep..Focus is on “what is signified” 

Relates previous knowledge to new knowledge 

Relates knowledge from different courses 

Relates theoretical ideas to everyday experience 

Relates and distinguishes evidence and argument 

Organizes and structures content into coherent whole 

Emphasis is internal, from within the student 

Surface..Focus is on the “signs” (or on the

learning as a signifier of something else)

Focus on unrelated parts of the task 

Information for assessment is simply memorized 

Facts and concepts are associated unreflectively 

Principles are not distinguished from examples 

Task is treated as an external imposition 

Emphasis is external, from demands of assessment 

(Ramsden (1988), as cited in Atherton, 2005.)

Model for Learning

Helen Barrett Graphic- PLEs

https://sites.google.com/site/wheportfolios/home/resources-and-references/helen-barrett

Journaling

“Reflective journals have been employed by educators to deepen the quality of students learning by: (a) promoting critical thinking;

(b) encouraging a questioning attitude, enabling students to understand their own learning processes (metacognition); and

(c) strengthening active involvement in learning through personal ownership of the learning experience (Boud, 2001; Moon, 1999).

Reflective journaling has been shown to contribute to the exercise of voice(Peterson & Jones, 2001), and the narrative nature of journaling has been shownto contribute to development of a professional identity (Blevins, 2007; Redman, 2005).” Carter, T.J. & Marlowe, E. (2010) http://reflectivelearningwithdigitalmedia.pbworks.com/

Defining Critical Thinking

“Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.”

(Scriven & Paul, 1987)

PLE Visualized: From Private to Public. Nessman, S.L. (2008) http://www.flickr.com/photos/nessman/2590572476/

http://www.edtechpost.ca/wordpress/2008/06/18/my-ple-diagram/

Common Core and STEM Standards

Digital learners of the 21st century need skills for:

Critical ThinkingCommunicationInnovationCollaboration

ePortfolios Provide an Environment For…

Critical ThinkingCommunicationInnovationCollaboration

In Addition…

ePortfolios provide an environment for:

reflection (journaling) formative assessment learner-created work

Student Journal Example

Possible Providers

Google sites with Evernote or Blogger Weebly MaharaOthers: Digication, Wordpress, Epsilen,

PebblePad, etc.

Example of ePortfolio Page- Science

Example of ePortfolio Page

Mini-Course: Some Details

19

Use of Rubrics

• Rubric for an ePortfolio page

• Rubric for a journal

• Community engagement rubric

Sample Profile Page

21

References

• HP Academy Mini-course: http://catalyst-academy.org/course/exploring-stem-competencies-through-eportfolios/y

• Diigo page: https://groups.diigo.com/group/hp_eportfolios

• Public Mahara resource page: http://mahara.ecu.edu/view/view.php?id=115

• NOTE: slides available on SlideShare: http://www.slideshare.net/bhlawrence/presentations