Janaury 2009  EPAC NEWS

http://epac.pbwiki.com/  

Happy new year! Lots going on this week with three ePortfolio-related conferences -- EIfEL's iLearning Forum, ELI in Orlando, FLA, AAC&U's annual meeting in Seattle, WA -- so be sure to check out those links and summaries

Some of the latest updates include an evolving list of ePortfolio-related tool(s), the posting of our EPAC December 2009 chat transcript and various summaries of ePortfolio-related sessions in our conference archive as well as upcoming events including AAC&U's Network for Academic Renewal meeting in February (lots of ePortfolio work being presented there!)

We are still in the process of finding a date for our next chat which will focus on a framework for categorizing ePortfolio-related tools and technologies with invited experts including Helen Barrett and Nils Peterson from Washington State University.  We're also trying to line up a few webcasts too so please stay tuned.  In the meantime, we have added some new resources and features, including "Queries for the Community"which we invite you to contribute to before next Friday, January 30th.  Check it all out below...

Newest Features

Queries for the EPAC Community

Often times we will get questions from the EPAC community that we normally would have posted to our listserv to solicit responses.  But rather than sending emails back and forth, what better way of tapping into the collective knowledge of EPAC members AND summarizing the responses than to use our wiki? Check out the questions here and if you would like to respond or make a comment, you will need to create a pbwiki account first and login. 

What ePortfolio tool(s) are you using?

It goes without saying that the most common questions asked by and of EPAC members are "What ePortfolio tool(s) are you using and is there anything you would recommend?" EPAC does not advocate for any specific ePortfolio tool or product but we would like to take this opportunity to invite all EPAC members to help us compile a comprehensive list of ePortfolio tools and technologies (software and/or hardware) that you using.  We'll take advantage of the features of our wiki to start putting this together so if you'd like to contribute, just click on the "Edit" tab at the top of the page and "Save" at the bottom of the page when you're done. You will need to create a pbwiki account before editing.  Check out our evolving list here. 

EPAC Chats and Webcasts

On Friday, December 5th, 14 members of the EPAC community joined to evaluate the "Foundations and Skills for Lifelong Learning" Metarubric developed by a team of faculty from around the country as part of the Association of American Colleges & Universities' (AAC&U) VALUE (Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education) project.  We were fortunate enough to have Terry Rhodes, AAC&U Vice President, Office of Quality, Curriculum and Assessment, and VALUE Project lead join us for the conversation.  Chat transcript and summary of resources are posted here. 

 Upcoming Conferences and Meetings

• EIfEL's iLearning Forum 2009

  • January 19-20, 2009 in Paris, France.  See program at http://events.eife-l.org/ilearn2009/conference/progen and conference information here: http://events.eife-l.org/ilearn2009/

• Educause 2009 Annual Meeting

  • Educause Learning Initiative's (ELI) Annual Meeting, Participation and Collaboration: Social Learning for the 21st Century, will take place January 20-22, 2009 in Orlando Florida. Conference information and registration can be found at http://net.educause.edu/content.asp?SECTION_ID=374.  Selected sessions from the program that may be of interest to EPAC members are summarized here.

• AAC&U's 2009 Annual Meeting

  • AAC&U’s 2009 Annual Meeting, Ready or Not: Global Challenges, College Learning, and America’s Promise, will be held in Seattle, Washington, January 21-24, 2009. Online and mail registration options are available.  Selected sessions from the program that may be of interest to EPAC members will be summarized here.  Also, here's a link to a piece that the Center for Teaching, Learning, & Technology is preparing to present at the conference's eportfolio session on Friday morning:  http://wsuctlt.wordpress.com/2009/01/15/assumptions-underlying-the-harvesting-grade-book/

• ePortfolios West Coast Summit

  • ePortfolios West Coast Summit - February 24-25, 2009 in San Francisco, California.  Description:  We have invited notable speakers from the United Kingdom, Canada, and across the United States. There will also be opportunities for you to engage in dialogues about ePortfolios, no matter what your experience may be--thinking about it, just getting started, or implementing at a large scale. We have identified 3 main themes for the day: Teaching and Learning with ePortfolios (electronic portfolios), Workforce/ Professional Development, and Assessment/Accountability. This day-long event designed to bring together K- 20 and workforce organizations who use or who are interested in using ePortfolios.  Attendees will have opportunities to hear students, faculty, employers, and experts address issues of teaching, learning, assessment, bridging to careers, and ePortfolio tools. We would like to share successes, lessons learned, challenges and strategies for the future use of electronic portfolios. You will find the complete program, a link to the online registration, and other information about the conference at the following website: http://conference.csuprojects.org/eportfolios

• AAC&U’s Network for Academic Renewal meeting

  • Plan to attend AAC&U’s Network for Academic Renewal meeting in Baltimore, Maryland on February 26-28, 2009. The meeting's theme, General Education, Assessment, and the Learning Students Need, will explore how well general education programs match up with expectations for student accomplishment. It will help campuses align general education vision and action, including action to assess and strengthen students’ cumulative learning. The four conference tracks are organized around one or more “big questions” related to philosophical and practical challenges facing campuses today and an expectation of evidence—the ability to show “what’s working” and why. For more information and to register, visit the meeting Web page. Selected sessions from the program that may be of interest to EPAC members are summarized here.

• Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference (SITE), March 2-6, 2009, Charleston, South Carolina

  • SITE 2009 is the 20th annual conference of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education. This society represents individual teacher educators and affiliated organizations of teacher educators in all disciplines, who are interested in the creation and dissemination of knowledge about the use of information technology in teacher education and faculty/staff development. SITE is a society of the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). SITE is unique as the only organization which has as its sole focus the integration of instructional technologies into teacher education programs. Selected sessions from the program that may be of interest to EPAC members are summarized here. 

    • Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE): http://site.aace.org/

    • Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE): http://www.aace.org/

    • Assessment/E-Folios SIG: http://site.aace.org/sigs/assessment-e-folios-sig.html

• Sloan-C International Symposium on Emerging Technology Applications for Online Learning, June 17-19, 2009, San Francisco, CA

  • This conference brings together individuals interested in the technological aspects of online learning. Experts, intermediate users and novices are welcome to participate in Symposium activities that will include face-to-face and virtual components. Symposium tracks feature research, application and best practices in important emerging technological tools for social networking, assessment, open educational resources, new media and support services. For more information, see http://www.sloan-c.org/emergingtechno2009. NOTE: This conference will be held in conjunction with the MoodleMoot San Francisco confererence -- see http://moodlemoot.org/course/view.php?id=9.  Also check out the discussion thread in the forum on "Student ePortfolios vs. Personal Learning Environments" at http://www.emergingonlinelearningtechnology.org/node/86.

• ED-MEDIA 2009: World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications, June 22-26, 2009, Honolulu, Hawaii

  • ED-MEDIA 2009 is an international conference, sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). This annual conference serves as a multi-disciplinary forum for the discussion and exchange of information on the research, development, and applications on all topics related to multimedia, hypermedia and telecommunications/distance education. ED-MEDIA, the premiere international conference in the field, spans all disciplines and levels of education and attracts more than 1,500 attendees from over 60 countries. For more information, visit: http://www.aace.org/CONF/EDMEDIA/

Calls for Proposals, Papers, Conference and Publication Submissions

• MoodleMoot San Francisco 2009, San Francisco, CA, June 17-19, 2009.

  • Submit a proposal for the 2009 MoodleMoot, which will be held in conjunction with the 2nd Sloan-C Symposium on Emerging Technology in Online Learning. Two conferences for one price! The MoodleMoot and Sloan-C Symposium will bring together people who are interested in the ways that Moodle and other emerging technologies are transforming education by addressing challenges in learning, affordability, accessibility, and faculty and student satisfaction. While Sloan-C has closed its call for proposals, the Moodle conference is still seeking presentations. Applicable presentations about open source ePortfolio tools (Mahara, OSPI, etc.) or ePortfolios integrated with learning management systems like Moodle would be welcome! See conference website: http://moodlemoot.org/course/view.php?id=9  Deadline for proposals: 31 January 2009 

• Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) 2009 Academic Resource Conference (ARC), Hollywood, CA, April 15-18, 2009. 

  • Conference website: http://www.wascsenior.org/ARC2009

• International Conference on Multimedia and ICT in Education (m-ICTE2009), Lisbon (Portugal), 22-24 April 2009

  • We invite you to participate and submit abstracts to m-ICTE2009 in order to share your achievements in the field of ICT applied to education. m-ICTE2009 will be an opportunity to meet other researchers, make new contacts and discuss about innovative pedagogical practices and initiatives using technology that foster and transform the development of education, and check the state of the art in this field. m-ICTE2009 intends to consolidate a series of conferences, which started in 2002 and whose last edition was held in Seville (Spain) in 2006 and was attended for about 450 participants of nearly 60 countries. There will be a special session on ePortfolios and an opportunity for virtual participation. Abstracts submission deadline: 27 January 2009/ Early registration deadline: 15 January 2009

    •   Conference information:  http://www.formatex.org/micte2009

    • Abstract submission: http://www.formatex.org/micte2009/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=66

    • Special session on ePortfolios: http://www.formatex.org/micte2009/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=63

    • Virtual participation (deadline: 30 March 2009): http://www.formatex.org/micte2009/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51&Itemid=5  

• ePortfolio 2009, London, England, June 22-24, 2009.  

  • Conference website: http://www.epforum.eu/  Deadline for submissions: February 28, 2009.

• E-Learn 2009, Vancouver, British Columbia, October 26-30, 2009. 

  • World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, & Higher Education is an international conference organized by the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE) and co-sponsored by the International Journal on E-Learning.  This annual conference serves as a multi-disciplinary forum for the exchange of information on research, development, and applications of all topics related to e-Learning in the Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education sectors.  The scope of the conference includes, but is not limited to, the following topics as they relate to e-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education. All topics listed here. Deadline for submissions: April 29, 2009.  Conference website: http://www.aace.org/conf/elearn/call.htm

• 12th International Conference on Interactive Computer-aided Learning, Villach, Austria, September 23-25, 2009.

  • This interdisciplinary conference aims to focus on the exchange of  relevant trends and research  results as well as the presentation of practical experiences gained while developing and testing elements of  interactive computer aided learning, especially in Engineering Education. Therefore pilot projects, applications and products will also be welcome. There will be a special track on E-Portfolios. Deadline for full papers: May 15, 2009.  Deadline for short papers, demonstrations, posters, special tracks, tutorials, workshops: May 29, 2009.  Conference website: http://www.icl-conference.org/

ePortfolios in the News

• 2009.01 - Recently discovered website: the e-learning.europa.info community at http://www.elearningeuropa.info/main/index.php?page=home focusing on promoting innovation in lifelong learning.  They have resources (search for "portfolio") and an ongoing forum discussion on ePortfolios: http://www.elearningeuropa.info/community/index.php?page=forumtopic&f=2&t=15

• 2009.01 - Building upon our evolving list of ePortfolio-related tools, see also Helen Barrett's recent blog posting: http://electronicportfolios.org/blog/2008/12/blogging-and-reflection-in-eportfolios.html

• 2009.01 - Serge Ravet of the EIfEL group writes about ePortfolio definitions on the EIfEL team blog: http://www.learningfutures.eu/2009/01/about-eportfolio-definitions.html 

• 2009.01 - Web 2.0, e-Portfolios, PLEs and much more- transcript of an interview conducted by Graham Attwell with folks from the University of Ilmenau in Germany, titled "Identität 2.0 durch E-Portfolios’ - Identity 2.0 through e-Portfolios" can be viewed at http://www.pontydysgu.org/2009/01/web-20-e-portfolio-ples-and-much-more/comment-page-1/#comment-14440

• 2009.01 - Another blog to keep an eye on - Ray Tolley's EFolio in the UK at http://www.efoliointheuk.blogspot.com/

• 2009.01 - Check out Trent Batson's article in Campus Technology on "The Portfolio Enigma in a Time of Ephemera,"http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2009/01/07/The-Portfolio-Enigma-in-a-Time-of-Ephemera.aspx?Page=1.  See a responses to the article in these blog postings: 1), "Confusion reigns with ePortfolios" at http://blogs.educationau.edu.au/jleeson/2009/01/13/confusion-reigns-with-eportfolios/; and 2) "A Proliferation of e-Portfolios?" at http://efoliointheuk.blogspot.com/2009/01/proliferation-of-e-portfolios.html

• 2009.01 - The Future of ePortfolios Roundtable by Bret Eynon. On April 10-12, 2008, LaGuardia Community College held an international conference entitled,“Making Connections: ePortfolios, Integrative Learning and Assessment.” The conference was keynoted by Kathleen B. Yancey and offered fifty-five different sessions by faculty and students, half from LaGuardia and half from other institutions using ePortfolio. More than six hundred people attended, coming from seventy different colleges in thirty states and five different countries. This is the transcript of a well-attended roundtable session that joined LaGuardia faculty with internationally recognized ePortfolio leaders to discuss the issues facing the ePortfolio movement. http://www.academiccommons.org/commons/essay/future-eportfolio-roundtable

• 2009.01 -Making Common Cause: Electronic Portfolios, Learning, and the Power of Community by Kathleen Yancey. In Electronic Portfolio 2.0: Emergent Research on Implementation and Impact, edited by Darren Cambridge,  Barbara Cambridge, and Kathleen Blake Yancey, contributors from diverse institutions of higher education in sites across two continents share their research on electronic portfolios. Here, excerpting from the conclusion to this volume, we consider how electronic portfolios provide a vehicle for a transition into the future of higher education.

          http://www.academiccommons.org/commons/essay/making-common-cause-electronic-portfolios

ABOUT EPAC and how to get involved in our community

We are actively seeking suggestions for future chat topics, webcast presenters, and especially people to help keep our wiki up-to-date by editing and posting announcements, finding ePortfolio-related events, summarizing conference programs, and helping to keep our community active and thriving!  If you are interested in contributing to these efforts, please contact me!