What AreWhat Are Portfolio Tools Portfolio Toolsand Why Would I Want to Use Them in aand Why Would I Want to Use Them in a

Sakai Site?Sakai Site?

Janice A. Smith

The rSmart Group

OSP Tool Suite in Sakai 2.3

• Portfolio Sites• Resources• Matrices• Glossary• Wizards• Evaluations

• Forms• Styles• Portfolio Layouts• Portfolio Templates• Portfolios• Reports

OSP Tools

• Require preplanning and customization

• Work together to support educational processes at your institution

• May be a part of any Sakai site

• Can support participant work in courses and projects as well as in stand-alone portfolio sites

• Require additional .xml programming

Influences on ePortfolios

• Long tradition of paper portfolios in art, writing, engineering, and other professions

• Assessment movement brings standards and learning outcomes to higher education

• Accreditation agencies require accountability in relation to standards and outcomes

• Folio thinking emerges as philosophy behind portfolio use

Assessment and Accreditation

• Disciplines encouraged to define learning outcomes and apply standards to evidence of student learning

• Integration of learning across disciplines is increasingly valued– General Education– Institutional Values and Outcomes

• Accrediting agencies insist on concrete evidence • Portfolios provide the means to capture

evidence of learning

Folio Thinking

• Embodies deep learning

• Works backwards from desired learning outcomes

• Offers practices to use deep learning to bring about desired outcomes

Many thanks to Darren Cambridgeand Helen Chen for their ideas on

Folio Thinking.

Dimensions of Deep Learning

• Reflective

• Integrative

• Social

Reflective Learning

• Learning and performance is a cycle of reflection and action– (Schon, The Reflective Practitioner)

• Information becomes knowledge when situated in the cycle by a knower– (Brown and Duguid, Social Life of

Information)

• The cycle is hard-wired into our brains– (Zull, The Art of Changing the Brain)

Many Ways to Reflect

Reflection-in-action “reviewing,projecting,revising”

Constructive reflection“developing a cumulative,

multi-selved,multi-vocal identity”

Reflection-in-presentation“articulating the relationshipsbetween and among” creation,

creator, and context of creation”

Reflection as conversationwith artifacts,

with self,with others

(— Kathleen Yancey, Reflection in the Writing Classroom)

Integrative Learning as Expert Thinking

Experts

• Have a conceptual framework for information

• Notice features and patterns

• Organize content knowledge to reflect deep understanding

• Apply information in new situations

• Monitor their own understanding in a process of “adaptive expertise,” modifying concepts, identifying information gaps, and taking control of their learning

– (Donovan, et. al., How People Learn)

Importance of Integrative Learning

• Scholarship of integration– (Boyer, Scholarship Reconsidered)

• Learning careers– (Chen and Mazow, Stanford Ctr. for Innovation in Learning)

• 75% of students older, independent, work full time, attend part time (NCES 2002)

• 58% attend multiple institutions (NCES 2002) • Systems thinking

– (Partnership for 21st Century Skills) • Career trajectories, not careers

– (Brown 2004 AAHE keynote)

Social Learning

• Our identities are formed through participation in communities of practice

– (Wenger, Communities of Practice)

• Learning to be a member of a disciplinary or professional community is as important or more important than learning “content”

– (Brown and Duguid)

• Multiple identities– Are formed in the context of multiple communities– Are integrated into learning career trajectories

In Summary, Folio Thinking

• Works backward from what we know

• Defines behaviors based on deep learning

• Is reflective, integrative, and social

• Guides learners in explaining and predicting the development of their identities

Portfolio Process

Collection

Selection

Reflection

Connection

A continuously iterative process

Articulating relationships to

personal and social experience

Locating and pulling togetherrelevant evidence of learning

Putting evidenceto use

Giving and receivefeedback

Continuing to refineevidence and

reflection

Choosing evidencefor particular purposes.

Identifying gaps andconnections.

ePortfolio Purposes

• Self-Presentation– Student career development and job search– Faculty development and evaluation– Lifelong learning

• Teaching and Learning– Student awareness of learning– Instructor assessment of learning

• Institutional assessment and accreditation

Portfolio Sites

• Differentiated from course / project sites

• Specifically dedicated to portfolio work

• Specialized tools/roles /permissions

• Portfolio tools also available for course and project sites

Forms• Users access forms

through Resources• Purposes

– Reflection and evaluation in matrices and wizards

– Adding content to matrices, wizards, and portfolios

• One saved instance of a form can be used many times

• Site organizers create forms with .xsd programming in Forms tool

Wizards and Matrices

• Documentation, reflection and assessment of learning

• Sequential, hierarchical or tabular process

• Pages or cells with– Instruction, rationale, and

examples– User evidence of

learning– Reflection, feedback, and

evaluation• Created with user interface

and .xsd programming

Evaluations• Formative review in

wizard or matrix• Summative evaluation of

matrix cell or wizard/wizard page via evaluation form

• Customizable (using .xsd programming) for– Prompts– Scales– Comments

Styles and Layouts

• Styles applied to– Matrices– Wizards– Portfolios

• Layouts applied to– Portfolios

• Customizable using .xml programming

Portfolios

• Opportunity to share evidence and reflection with others

• User designed with styles and layouts

• Institutionally designed with portfolio templates

• Customizable using .xml programming

Reports

• Report templates specify data to be collected

• Data may be displayed, shared, printed, and exported

• Customizable using .xml programming

Portfolio Examples

• Self Presentation– Resumes– Artist Showcase

• Teaching and Learning– General Education Outcomes– Co-Curricular Progress– Programatic/Disciplinary Outcomes

• Program Assessment and Accreditation– Combining Teaching and Learning with Reporting

Self PresentationSite participants• Enter evidence in

Resources• Access portfolio

templates through Portfolios tool to create– Resume– Artist portfolio

• Or design their own portfolios using available styles and layouts

Teaching and Learning• Instructors design

wizards and matrices• Students submit

documentation of and reflection on learning

• Instructors evaluate evidence and reflection

• Students share completed wizard or matrix via a portfolio template

Assessment and Accreditation

Rhode Island High Schools:• Goal Management Tool

provides standards• Assignments tool collects

evidence• Grad Portfolio Template

selects evidence and reflection

• Reports aggregate evidence of learning for high school accreditation and state report cards