EPAC February 2009 online chat

Making Sense of ePortfolio Tools and Technologies -- Where to Begin?

Monday, February 23 at 10 a.m. PT/12 p.m. CT/1 p.m. ET

 

Given the wide range of ePortfolio-related tools and technologies currently on the market, how might one begin to make sense of these various tools, their features and purposes?  We've been exploring a few ideas for how we might organize and categorize ePortfolio-related tools as demonstrated here.  Additional resources to skim before our discussion include:

 

• Helen Barrett's "Balancing the Two Faces of ePortfolios" -- http://electronicportfolios.org/balance/ and her latest blog posting on "Which ePortfolio Tool" (2/6/09) at http://electronicportfolios.org/blog/
• WSU's Harvesting Gradebook at http://wsuctlt.wordpress.com/2009/01/20/harvesting_gradebook/ and related Campus Technology articles at http://campustechnology.com/articles/2008/02/the-future-of-web-20.aspx and http://campustechnology.com/articles/2009/02/04/eportfolios-and-communities-of-practice.aspx

 

Please join us for an interactive chat on Monday, February 23, 2009, at 10 a.m  PT/12 p.m. CT/1 p.m. ET to brainstorm ideas and criteria for understanding, categorizing, evaluating ePortfolio tools, particularly when making choices for a course, program, department, or institution.  For this chat, we will be joined by Dr. Helen Barrett, researcher and consultant (see http://www.electronicportfolios.com/) and Nils Peterson, Assistant Director, Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology at Washington State University, (http://ctlt.wsu.edu/staff/nils_peterson).

 

CHAT PARTICIPANTS (Please modify and correct - especially for those whose affiliations and emails we did not capture -- we want to know who you are so we can continue this conversation!)

1. Helen Barrett, "retired" but with courtesy appointment to University of Oregon Center for Advanced Technology in Education
2. Helen Chen, EPAC and Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning
3. John Ittelson, EPAC and CSU Monterey Bay & K20CETC
4. Nils Peterson, Center for Teaching Learning and Technology, Washington State University
5. Alan Kirker, University of Waterloo
6. Betsy DeGeorge, Publications Manager, UT College of Social Work
7. Bob Sproule, University of Waterloo
8. Chris Frost, San Diego State University
9. Catherine Paul, University of British Columbia
10. Emily?, Course Technologies Training & Support, University of British Columbia
11. Gary Kleemann, recently retired from Arizona State
12. Gary 1: Gary Brown, Washington State University
13. Glenn Johnson, Penn State University
14. Jean?
15. Jim - SDSU?
16. Joe Fahs, Elmira College
17. Judy Patton, Portland State University
18. Katherine Lithgow, University of Waterloo
19. Kathleen Willbanks - CSU
20. Kim Eccles, Mercer University-Atlanta
21. Lori Hager, University of Oregon
22. Nathan Garrett, Claremont Graduate University (CA)
23. Ruth Diones, Mercy College (NY)
24. Siri Anderson, Bemidji State University (MN)
25. Steve?
26. Steve 1:  Stephen Ward, Asst Prof, & MePort Team co-leader, Mercy College (NY)
27. Suzanne Topp, Salt Lake Community College
28. Paula Michniewicz, Salt Lake Community College

 

RESOURCES AND ISSUES MENTIONED DURING THE DISCUSSION - listed roughly in the order they were mentioned (What did we miss?  Please contribute to this list!!)

 

EPAC's evolving list of ePortfolio-related tools

http://epac.pbwiki.com/Evolving+List%C2%A0of%C2%A0ePortfolio-related%C2%A0Tools

 

WSU look at case studies of users creating learning portfolios

http://wsuctlt.wordpress.com/2008/03/20/learning-portfolio-strategy-be-public/

 

WSU's second ePortfolio contest

http://ctlt.wsu.edu/contest07/gallery

 

Helen Barrett's Categories of ePortfolio Tools

http://electronicportfolios.org/categories.html

 

Social Bookmarking as a way to make an ePortfolio?

http://www.nilspeterson.com/2008/11/14/tagme/

 

Nathan Garrett's Dissertation Draft

http://conversation.cgu.edu/garrettn/files/ -- labeled as "Garrett Dissertation 2009.02.09 - Ryan Draft.doc

Abstract: The goal of this project is to improve portfolio software design. Using learning and portfolio literature, I create a design model that predicts user adoption. I create and test a new portfolio system that supports each user's feelings of ownership, encourages them to learn from their peers, and borrows ideas from social software to improve ease of use. Students found the resulting system easy to use, and extensively utilized the social learning capabilities.

 

WSU's Harvesting Gradebook

http://wsuctlt.wordpress.com/2009/01/20/harvesting_gradebook/

 

Spectrum of Institution-Based Learning to Community-Based Learning: Where are you on the spectrum?

Nils Peterson, Gary Brown, and Theron Desrosier

https://teamsite.oue.wsu.edu/ctlt/home/Anonymous%20Access%20Documents/AACU%202009/inst%20vs%20comm%20based%20spectrum.pdf

 

Glenda Morgan - Research and practice in academic technology in higher education

http://accidentalpedagogy.typepad.com/about.html

 

George Hotz - Unlocking the iPhone

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Hotz

 

BuddyPress

http://buddypress.org/

 

Nils Peterson - Advice to a Web 2.0 Learner

http://www.nilspeterson.com/2008/07/24/advice-to-a-web-20-learner/

 

Reference on user adoption: 

ePortfolios eMerging: Sharing Evaluation Methods to Examine Success By Diane J. Goldsmith, Dean of Planning, Research, and Assessment, Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium

http://www.recordingachievement.org/special/IntlPres/Diane%20Goldsmith.pdf

 

The Networked Student and the new role of the instructor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwM4ieFOotA

 

Shulman, Lee. (1998). "Teacher Portfolios: A Theoretical Activity" (pp. 23-37). In N. Lyons (ed.) With Portfolio in Hand: Validating the new teacher professionalism. New York: Teachers College Press.

Page 35: "...why will portfolios be more resistant to perversion than all other  forms of assessment have been? And if one of the requirements in these cases is that you develop a sufficiently objective scoring system so you can fairly compare people with one another, will your scoring system end up objectifying what's in the portfolio to the point where the portfolio will be nothing but a very, very cumbersome multiple choice test?"

 

Technology Acceptance Model

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_acceptance_model

 

Elton, M., & Carey, J. (1983). Computerizing information: Consumer reactions to teletext. Journal of Communication, 33(1), 162-173.

[NOTE: I'm not sure this is the article Steve was referring to but in glancing at it, I can see how it is relevant to our discussion.  The authors conclude that although teletext was relatively simple, low cost, and easier to understand and use than videotex and related services that make use of personal computers, a number of barriers affected its adoption by the U.S. market.  So in short, ease of use is not enough]

 

CHAT TRANSCRIPT

View or download here: 2009.02.23 EPAC Chat Transcript.pdf