The Future of Electronic Portfolios:Do They Help with Accreditation?
Kathleen WillbanksCenter for Distributed Learning
California State University, Office of the ChancellorUnited States
OVERVIEW
EDMEDIA 2009 -- ePortfolios/Accreditation K. Willbanks
http://www.wordle.net/create
Intersecting Trends
Students’ work in electronic format+ dynamic databases
+ progress of the internet (anywhere, anytime)
= electronic portfoliosEDMEDIA 2009 -- ePortfolios/Accreditation
K. Willbanks
External pressure
Accreditation agencies attention to:
ongoing assessment of student workand
accomplishments of institutional goals
EDMEDIA 2009 -- ePortfolios/Accreditation K. Willbanks
BACKGROUND
EDMEDIA 2009 -- ePortfolios/Accreditation K. Willbanks
The Commission on the Future of Higher Education
(one of the first drafts of the 2006 report)• called for the creation of a “national
accreditation framework” • asked the National Assessment of Educational
Progress be revised to measure students’ readiness for college and employment.
• recommended accreditation agencies “act in a more timely manner”
EDMEDIA 2009 -- ePortfolios/Accreditation K. Willbanks
Accreditation Agencies
• National Council for Accreditation for Teacher Education (NCATE)
• ABET (the recognized U.S. accreditor of college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology)
• The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)
EDMEDIA 2009 -- ePortfolios/Accreditation K. Willbanks
Accreditation Requirements
• outcomes driven• requiring examples of student learning • aggregation of assessment data for internal
program evaluation. • Some agencies provide outcomes workshops
for members (http://www.abet.org/workshop.shtml)
encouraging immediate adoption of these expectations
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“We are moving from assessment to accountability. Shifting to National, State, and System levels as opposed to local, and assessment should be a systematic process about setting goals.”
Ralph WolffWASC Executive Director
2006
EDMEDIA 2009 -- ePortfolios/Accreditation K. Willbanks
WASC Requests
• consider the accreditation process an opportunity to learning something rather than proving something,
• looking for continued improvement• key indicators of performance and evidence,
including actual student work• rather than a once-every-ten-years visit
accreditation will be a steady review
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Data has to be more readily accessible than
in the past
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LITERATURE REVIEW
EDMEDIA 2009 -- ePortfolios/Accreditation K. Willbanks
I stand on the shoulders of giants. L to R: H. Barrett, J. Ittelson, A. Jafari, T. Banta
Photo by CatDancing - Redwoods 5498
George Lorenzo and John Ittelson:An Overview of E-Portfolios (2005)
• Institutional information more visible = accessible = increase accountability
• Data collected aggregated and compared over time to reveal how well standards are being met opportunity for continual improvement
• lifelong e-portfolios and the potential benefits for career development
• ePortfolios may evolve to be as important as learning management systems (LMS)
EDMEDIA 2009 -- ePortfolios/Accreditation K. Willbanks
Ali Jafari The “Sticky” ePortfolio System: Tackling
Challenges & Identifying Attributes (2004)
• ePortfolio system for Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis at Indianapolis, Indiana (IUPUI)
• demonstrate and assess student learning• Deans and department chairs want to use
ePortfolio systems for accreditation and external review
EDMEDIA 2009 -- ePortfolios/Accreditation K. Willbanks
Trudy Banta Electronic Portfolios for Accreditation?
(2003)
• IUPUI accreditation using ePortfolios• electronic portfolios may be the answer to
outcomes assessment• evidence of students’ current status• evidence of growth and development over
time
EDMEDIA 2009 -- ePortfolios/Accreditation K. Willbanks
Allan, Zylinski, Temple, Hilsop, and Gray (2003)
• students creating assessment output in web format
• the student does the work, the tool collects the data
• 67% agree the ePortfolio added valuable knowledge
• student-centered and learning oriented assessment are key to accreditation
EDMEDIA 2009 -- ePortfolios/Accreditation K. Willbanks
Helen Barrett Differentiating Electronic Portfolios and Online
Assessment Management Systems (2004)
• by the students and for the students. • “Just because technology allows aggregation
of portfolio data, should we succumb to this temptation?”
• with the pressures of accreditation agencies this is a moot point: with the focus on accountability we have to aggregate data.
EDMEDIA 2009 -- ePortfolios/Accreditation K. Willbanks
John Retallick and Susan Groundwater-Smith Teachers’ Workplace Learning and the
Learning Portfolio (1999)• Social changes move us from industrial
economies to knowledge economies • increased teacher’s responsibilities to include
formal learning and live experience.• validity, authenticity, reliability, currency• “… the intention is to indicate the learning that
has occurred during and as a result of, the project”
EDMEDIA 2009 -- ePortfolios/Accreditation K. Willbanks
More Literature
• Y. Bai and R. Pigott – 2004 engineering• J. Bullard and M. McLean – 2000 geography• Trent Batson – 2006+
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THE QUESTION
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What are we doing in the CSU with ePortfolios, and have they been
effectively used in accreditation?
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Research
• Survey – too many questions• Methodology – the ‘wrong’ people• Data & Findings – returned within a week
EDMEDIA 2009 -- ePortfolios/Accreditation K. Willbanks
Too Many Questions• Questions included:• Your campus:• Your department:• Your name:• Total students on campus: • What electronic portfolio system do you use?• When did your campus adopt ePortfolios?• When did your school adopt ePortfolios?• When did your program adopt ePortfolios?• Total students using electronic portfolios?• When did you go through accreditation? (month/year)• When are you scheduled to go through accreditation again? (month/year)• When did you decide to use electronic portfolios? (month/year)• Was accreditation a motivator for using (adopting) electronic portfolios?• Did using electronic portfolios help you pass accreditation?• Can I contact you to discuss this further?
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2006, 2008, today
• CSU 2006 – of those using ePortfolios, those using in accreditation had very positive results.
• 2008 – ePac & NMC http://teachingcommons.cdl.edu/eportfolio/acred.html
• 2009 – new data
EDMEDIA 2009 -- ePortfolios/Accreditation K. Willbanks
References (1 of 2)• AASCB Standards - http://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/business/STANDARDS.pdf Retrieved August 8, 2006.
• ABET Mission, Vision and Strategic Plan http://www.abet.org/mission.shtml. Retrieved August 8, 2006.
• Allan, G., Zylinski, J., Temple, V., Hilsop, J., and Gray, K. (2003). The use of E-portfolios to enhance student learning: a Faculty-level strategy and experience. In G.Crisp, D.Thiele, I.Scholten, S.Barker and J.Baron (Eds), Interact, Integrate, Impact: Proceedings of the 20th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education. Adelaide, 7-10 December 2003.
• Bai, Y., & Pigott, R. (2004). Assessing Outcomes Using Program Assessment Portfolio Approach. Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education & Practice, 130(4), 246-254. Retrieved Tuesday, August 8, 2006 from the Academic Search Premier database.
• Banta, T. (2003) Electronic Portfolios for Accreditation? Assessment Update, July – August 2003. 15(4), 3-4. Retrieved Tuesday, August 8, 2006 from the Academic Search Premier database.
• Barrett, H. (2002). “Researching the Process and Outcomes of Electronic Portfolio Development in a Teacher Education Program.” Paper presented at the Society for Information Technology in Teacher Education Conference, Nashville, March 17-23. Retrieve Saturday, August 5, 2006, from http://electronicportfolios.org/portfolios/SITE2002.pdf
• Barrett, H. (2004). “Differentiating Electronic Portfolios and Online Assessment Management Systems.” Proceedings of Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education Conference 2004 (pp. 46-50). Chesapeake, VA: AACE. Retrieve Saturday, August 5, 2006, from http://electronicportfolios.com/systems/concerns.html.
EDMEDIA 2009 -- ePortfolios/Accreditation K. Willbanks
References (2 of 2)• Batson, Trent (2002) “The Electronic Portfolio Boom: What's it all about?” [Online]. Retrieved Saturday, August 5, 2006, from
http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=6984 [20th July 2003].
• Bullard, J., & McLean, M. (2000). Jumping through Hoops?: philosophy and practice expressed in geographers' teaching portfolios. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 24(1), 37-52. Retrieved Tuesday, August 15, 2006 from the Academic Search Premier database.
• Commission on the Future of Higher Education - Revised Draft Report, dated August 8, 2006. Retrieve Wednesday, August 16, 2006, from http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/hiedfuture/index.html
• Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. “Report: A Comprehensive Evaluation Visit” for the Higher Learning Commission, a Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. November 18-20, 2002. Retrieve Saturday, August 5, 2006 from http://www.iport.iupui.edu/selfstudy/nca_report.pdf
• Jafari, A. (2004). “The “Sticky” ePortfolio System: Tackling Challenges & Identifying Attributes.” EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 39, no. 4 (July/August 2004): 38–49. Retrieve Friday, August 3, 2006, from http://www.educause.edu/apps/er/erm04/erm0442.asp
• Lorenzo, G., & Ittelson, J. (2005). An Overview of ePortfolios. D. Oblinger, ed., ELI paper, July 2005. http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI3001.pdf
• Retallick, J., & Groundwater-Smith, S. (1999). Teachers' Workplace Learning and the Learning Portfolio. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 27(1), 47. Retrieved Tuesday, August 15, 2006 from the Academic Search Premier database.
• WASC workshops are listed on http://www.wascsenior.org/wasc/, with accompanying PowerPoint presentations as of 8/15/06
EDMEDIA 2009 -- ePortfolios/Accreditation K. Willbanks
More info
• www.twitter.com/kw_eportfolios• http://teachingcommons.cdl.edu/eportfolio/• Aug. 13 – San Jose, CA
http://conference.csuprojects.org/eportfolios• [email protected]
EDMEDIA 2009 -- ePortfolios/Accreditation K. Willbanks