A Legacy of Learning

Bridget Resetco President’s Leadership Program

Christopher Newport University (Newport News, VA)

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with Portfolio Assessment

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Session Objectives:

1. Analyze the current state of assessment for learning/development of peer-leaders in your program

2. Learn how ePortfolios are being implemented in various aspects of academic and student affairs

3. Discover ways in which ePortfolios can promote student learning throughout the peer-leader experience

4. Develop an understanding of best practices for implementing a Portfolio project in your program

5. Evaluate whether a Portfolio project could enhance student learning in your program

Session Overview

• Discuss current practices for promoting and assessing student learning for peer-leaders… what’s missing?

• Overview of ePortfolios in relation to Student Learning/Development – Blended advising and first-year seminar portfolios

• Example of Portfolio Project at CNU, implications for Peer-Leader Portfolios

• Lessons Learned in Project Implementation

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Small Group Discussion

What tools or practices do you use to promote student-learning for your peer leaders?

– Journals/Blogs

– 1-1 advising or mentoring meetings

– Small group meetings or Focus Groups

– Presentations

– Surveys

– Other creative assignments or activities?

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What’s Missing?

• Can students articulate why their peer-leader experience was meaningful?

• What skills are students learning? Can they articulate these skills?

• How are students learning?

• Is their learning authentic and self-directed?

• Can you tangibly assess students’ development?

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Research on ePortfolios Academic & Student Affairs

• More than 50% of U.S. colleges and universities utilize the ePortfolio in some capacity (Dahlstrom, Dzuiban, & Walker, 2013) – Improve Retention and Graduation Rates (Completion Agenda)

– Improve GPA

– Measure Learning in Content Area

– Career Development

– Student Development

• International Journal of ePortfolio

• Inter/National Coalition for Electronic Portfolio Research

• Two Research Studies with implications for Peer-Leader Portfolios 1. Blended Advising

2. First-Year Seminars

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Blended Advising

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• “Flipping” the advising process

• Learning can happen anytime, anyplace, and to anyone

• “Advisors no longer carry the burden of capturing and documenting the meeting in their notes; instead, the students are responsible for their own learning career...” (81).

• “…practices should be about serving and engaging more students more effectively” (75).

Ambrose, G. A., & Ambrose, L. W., (2013)

First-Year Seminars • Research study on electronic personal development plan (ePDP) in first year seminars

at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)

• Combining two high-impact practices (Kuh, 2008)

• “…personal portfolios allow the learner to define and narrate their learning as they see it” (50).

• Researchers used the student narrative (ePDP) as a source of authentic evidence to evaluate stated outcomes of a first-year seminar

• Learning portfolios serve as “living documents that emphasize the learning that occurs through the process of developing a portfolio, rather than the portfolio itself as an outcome” (49).

7 Buyarski, C. A., Landis, C. M. (2014)

Research Themes

ePortfolios…. – Promote self-directed learning and discovery

– Provide space for reflection, which leads to awareness

– Require students to articulate experiences and skill development

– Provide data-sets for assessing student-learning and program effectiveness

– Encourage deeper and more meaningful face-to-face interactions

– Encourage creativity

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Leadership Portfolio @ CNU Leadership is not a series of prescribed steps, but rather an individualized pursuit that requires a significant personal investment. The true value of PLP lies in your ability to articulate your personal journey in leadership and the investment you have made in yourself, CNU and our local community. The Leadership Portfolio is an opportunity to express what the program means to you by documenting your growth and development through all four years.

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Planning Process

1. What’s the purpose of the Portfolio? Assessment vs. Personal Development

2. Develop outcomes for student experience

3. Determine which outcomes the Portfolio can address

4. Create assignments that target outcomes

5. Develop reasonable timeline for assignments

6. Create “syllabus” for Portfolio, including overview of entire project and specific details for each assignment

7. Create Template or Example

8. Determine ideal communication plan to ‘roll out’ project for students

9. Create ‘check points’ to assess students progress/provide feedback

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Overview of Leadership Portfolio Submissions Y

ear

1:

Ex

plo

rati

on

Engagement Plan [Goal Setting] and Reflection – The purpose of the engagement plan is to help you establish an

intentional course of action to become involved in the program, on campus, and in the community in a way that has

purpose and significance for you. As is reflected in the description of Exploration, this is a year of discovery and

awareness-building in so many aspects of your PLP and CNU experience. Not only will you explore campus and

community resources, you will also explore your own identity, passions and purpose.

Year

2:

Au

then

ticit

y Updated Engagement Plan and Reflection

Resume – Your resume is a living document that you will continue to edit and refine throughout your academic and

professional career. This submission is an opportunity to periodically update and articulate your professional,

academic and extracurricular experience, as well as notable accomplishments in these areas.

Leadership Values – During your second year, you will learn about and contemplate the theories and values that

influence leadership. You will also be exploring authenticity and the values, experiences and influences that make you

who you are. In this submission, you will distinguish the values that are important to you as a leader, and those that

inform your understanding of leadership, while describing the significance of these values in your life.

Year

3:

Ap

pli

cati

on

&

Ad

ap

tati

on

Updated Resume

Leadership Philosophy and Application – A leadership philosophy is a statement about the fundamental beliefs and

values that inform your practice and understanding of leadership. You will develop a thoughtful statement – either

static or evolving – that represents your philosophy on leadership. After developing your statement, you will then

describe how you actively apply this philosophy in your life. This may be a reflection on leadership efforts you have

engaged in over the course of the past three years, or how you intend to apply this understanding as you move into

your final year of the program and beyond.

Year

4:

Syn

thesi

s Updated Resume

Senior Project – This is an opportunity to create a final product that illustrates the ways in which your leadership

experiences in PLP and at CNU have shaped who you are as a person. You should show how you have met each of the

three major goals of the program (see page 1), and consider how you will continue to engage the values of leadership,

scholarship and service as you enter the next chapter of your life. Your senior project can be a traditional paper or

narrative reflection, video or other creative project that fulfills the objective of showing how you have grown and will

continue to grow in your leadership.

Example of First Assignment Spreadsheet with Portfolio Links

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Project Implementation Lessons Learned

• Work backward from goals and outcomes when developing submission structure

• Develop a clear, yet reasonable timeline

• Clearly communicate expectations and guidelines for assignments

• Encourage creativity and authenticity!

• Be transparent with findings

• Allow room for discovery and self-directed learning

• Generate buy-in when rolling out a new project – make it exciting!

• Be prepared for honest narratives

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References

Ambrose, G. A., & Ambrose, L. W., (2013). The blended advising model: transforming advising with ePortfolios. International Journal of ePortfolio, 3(1). Retrieved from http://www.theijep.com/pdf/IJEP97.pdf

Buyarski, C. A., Landis, C. M. (2014). Using an ePortfolio to assess the outcomes of a first-year seminar: student narrative and authentic assessment. International Journal of ePortfolio, 3(1). Retrieved from http://www.theijep.com/pdf/IJEP133.pdf

Dahlstrom, E., Dziuban, C., & Walker, J. D. (2013). ECAR study of undergraduate students and information technology, 2013 (Research report). Louisville, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Analysis and Research.

Eynon, B., Gambino., Laura., & Torok, J. (2014). What difference can ePortfolio make? A field report from the Connect to Learning Project. International Journal of ePortfolio, 4(1). Retrieved from http://www.theijep.com/pdf/IJEP127.pdf

Kuh, G. D. (2008). High-impact educational practices: What they are, who has access to them, and why

they matter. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.

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after the session description.