Fad or Foundation: Are ePortfolios Academic Facebooks?

AAEEBL Western Regional ConferenceWestminster College, February 28 – March 1, 2011

Terrel L. RhodesAssociation of American Colleges and Universities

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Overview

• Learning as a High Impact Practice• Social Media• E-Portfolios as High Impact Practice• Assessment as a High Impact Practice

High-Impact Practices

First-Year Seminars and Experiences  Common Intellectual Experiences Learning Communities Writing-Intensive Courses Collaborative Assignments and Projects “Science as Science Is Done”/Undergraduate Research Diversity/Global Learning Service Learning, Community-Based Learning Internships Capstone Courses and Projects

High-Impact Practices

First-Year Seminars and Experiences  Common Intellectual Experiences Learning Communities Writing-Intensive Courses Collaborative Assignments and Projects “Science as Science Is Done”/Undergraduate Research Diversity/Global Learning Service Learning, Community-Based Learning Internships Capstone Courses and Projects

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Characteristics of High Impact Practices

• Demand student devote considerable time and effort to purposeful tasks

• Demand student interact with faculty and peers about substantive matters, over extended periods of time

• Participating in one or more HIPs, increases diversity experiences• Student receives frequent feedback on performance• Students see how what they are learning works in different

settings, on and off campus• Can be life changing

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Why multiple measures?

• Good assessment practice

• We must hold ourselves accountable for assessing our students’ best work, not generic skills and not introductory levels of learning.

• College-level learning takes different forms for different majors, fields, levels.

• Diagnostic, milestone, and culminating assessments all play a role.

7Peter Hart Assoc., Employer Poll,

2007 7

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What Employers Say“[Employers] generally are...frustrated with their

inability to find ‘360 degree people’ who have both the specific job/technical skills and the broader skills (communication and problem-solving skills, work ethic, and ability to work with others) necessary to promise greater success for both the individual and the employer.”

From Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Report of Findings Based on Focus Groups Among Business Executives (AAC&U, 2006)

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Percentage of Variance Between Institutions on NSSE Benchmarks of Effective Educational Practice

Variance between institutions is mostly less than 10%...

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Academic Challenge at Two Public Universities both with score of 55…

Student engagement varies more within than between institutions.

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Huber, Figure 1 (example)Figure 4. Impact of Participation in High Impact Practices on Percentage of

Senior NSSE Respondents Graduating on Time by Racial & Ethnic Background

38%

54%

48%

63%65%

68%

73%

69%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

Latina/o Respondents Other Respondents

Pera

tage

Gra

duat

ing

"on

Tim

e" (i

.e.,

in 2

006-

07)

None 1 HIP 2 HIPs 3 or more HIPs

[V=.109 (.094)][V=.255 (.007)]

Multiple HIPs distributed through general education and major programs would, we are convinced, “require only small curricular changes.” Such “modest change” can yield a significant increase in student success and persistence.

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Social Media

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• Facebook is the most popular social networking site in several English-speaking countries.

• In regional Internet markets, Facebook penetration is highest in North America (69 percent), followed by Middle East-Africa (67 percent), Latin America (58 percent), Europe (57 percent), and Asia-Pacific (17 percent).

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• As of January 2011, Facebook has more than 600 million active users.

• Quantcast estimates Facebook has 135.1 million monthly unique U.S. visitors in October 2010.

• Twitter is mainly used by older adults who might not have used other social sites before Twitter, said Jeremiah Owyang, an industry analyst studying social media.

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• In December 2008, the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory ruled that Facebook is a valid protocol to serve court notices to defendants. It is believed to be the world's first legal judgement that defines a summons posted on Facebook as legally binding.

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• Live feedback about the "back to back" January 5 Republican and Democratic debates. Both debates, held at the Dana Center for the Humanities at Saint Anselm College. Facebook users took part in debate groups organized around specific topics, register to vote, and message questions

• An article written by Michelle Sullivan of Uwire.com illustrates how the "facebook effect“ affected youth voting rates, support by youth of political candidates, and general involvement by the youth population in the 2008 election.

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• Guilty plea in Facebook burglary case• A Southeast man Tuesday pled guilty to second-degree burglary in

connection with a December break-in of a Northwest home during which he posted a photograph of himself on the victim's own Facebook page.

• Police identified Rodney Knight Jr. as the suspect weeks after Washington Post editor Marc Fisher detailed the robbery of his D.C. home. Fisher also posted a photo from his son's Facebook account in which the burglar, later identified as Knight, posted a picture of himself wearing Fisher's stolen coat and holding up cash.

• Prosecutors said Knight stole about $400 in cash, along with the coat and two laptop computers.

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Power of E-Portfolios• Capture multiple modes of learning• Evidence from formal and informal curriculum and co-

curriculum• Cumulative, over time• Faculty designed, student owned• Portable• Organized around outcomes• Integration and reflection• Assessment for learning and accountability• Powerful communication

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LaGuardia Community College

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LaGuardia Community College

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• Types of Assessment

VALUE Rubrics & Assessment

Types Of Assessments Used In General Education

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Which of the following do you use to assess student learning outcomes in general education?

Rubrics applied to examples of student workCulminating or capstone projectsSurveys and self-reportsLocally developed common assignments in some coursesStandardized national tests of general skills, such as critical thinkingLocally developed examinationsStandardized national tests of general knowledge, such as science or humanitiesStudent essays/writing portfoliosMy institution doesn’t assess outcomes in general education

40%37%35%27%26%23%16%

1%48%

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• Testing• PISA• TIMSS• CLA International

• Bologna Process

• Credit for pedagogy• Tuning• Degree Framework• Portfolios

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Why Assess? The Multiple Purposes

• For faculty to learn what is working and what is not and to improve programs, courses, departmental outcomes.

• To enable students to see their own progress and learn how to improve over time.

• To provide information students can use to demonstrate what they know and can do to future employers, colleges and others.

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FSSE 2009: How important is it to you that undergraduates at your institution do the following? (important, very important) Practicum, internship, field experience, co-op experience, or clinical

assignment

Community service or volunteer work

Participation in a learning community or some other formal program where groups of students take two or more classes together

Work on a research project with a faculty member outside of course or program requirements

Study abroad Culminating senior experience (capstone course, senior project or thesis,

comprehensive exam, etc.)

• 84%

• 63%• 52%• 56%

• 46%• 85%

But Many Students Do Not Understand the Expected Learning Outcomes

How many of your students understand your institution’s intended goals or outcomes for undergraduate learning?*

* Among members at institutions with learning outcomes for all undergraduates

Majority

Some

Almost allNot many

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Degree Qualifications ProfilePotential Applications of the Draft

• Guiding Quality Reviews of Institutions (Particularly Amenable to an “Audit” Methodology of the Published, Taught, Experienced, and Learned Curricula)

• As a Guide for Developing New Assessments

• As the Basis for Establishing “Learning Contracts” Between Entering Students and Institutions

• As a Guide for Developing Outcomes-Based State Articulation and Transfer Standards

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The Power of Rubrics for Assessing Learning

• Help guide students around learning expectations

• Help guide faculty

• Reinforces assessment for learning

• Places individual faculty judgment within national shared experience

• Can build up from course level to institutional reporting needs AND down from general to specific program/course context

rhodes@aacu.org

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• Fifteen rubrics for essential learning• Tested over 100 campuses• Developed by teams of faculty and academic

professionals• Used on over 2000 campuses

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•15 Rubrics based on the LEAP Essential Learning

Outcomes

Inquiry and analysis Critical thinking Creative thinking Written communication Oral communication Quantitative literacy Information literacy Teamwork

Problem solving Reading Civic knowledge and engagement—local and global Intercultural knowledge and competence Ethical reasoning Foundations and skills for lifelong learning Integrative learning

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VALUE Project Results• Brings forward a focus on student learning outcomes that are

essential – statements of expected learning for 15 essential outcomes

• Uses actual student work• Provides the kind of information institutions, faculty – most

importantly – students need• Reflects actual progress, growth and development of learning –

not a snapshot - through e-portfolios• Results can be used through aggregation to demonstrate

institutional level student learning for accountability purposes• Establishes nationally shared expectations for learning with face

and content validity

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The Principles of Excellence

Principle One: Aim High—and Make Excellence Inclusive

Make the Essential Learning Outcomes a Framework for the entire Educational Experience, Connecting School, College, Work, and Life

Principle Two: Give Students a CompassFocus Each Student’s Plan of Study on Achieving the

Essential Learning Outcomes—and Assess Progress

Principle Three: Teach the Arts of Inquiry and Innovation

Immerse All Students in Analysis, Discovery, Problem Solving, and Communication, Beginning in School and Advancing in CollegeCollege Learning for the New Global Century

The Principles of ExcellencePrinciple Four: Engage the Big Questions

Teach through the Curriculum to Far-Reaching Issues—Contemporary and Enduring—in Science and Society, Cultures and Values, Global Interdependence, the Changing Economy, and Human Dignity and Freedom

Principle Five: Connect Knowledge with Choices and ActionPrepare Students for Citizenship and Work through Engaged and

Guided Learning on “Real-World” Problems

Principle Six: Foster Civic, Intercultural, and Ethical LearningEmphasize Personal and Social Responsibility, in Every Field of

Study

Principle Seven: Assess Students’ Ability to Apply Learning to Complex Problems

Use Assessment to Deepen Learning and to Establish a Culture of Shared Purpose and Continuous Improvement

College Learning for the New Global Century, 2007

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LEAP (Liberal Education and America’s Promise)—AAC&U

• Embed assessment in meaningful student learning experiences.

• Include assessment experiences at key milestones in the students’ entire baccalaureate career.

• Assess meaningful work over important learning dimensions.

• Put the student in the center.

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In terms of student learning:

• If we (e.g., students, faculty, institutions) engage in meaningful, consequential assessment activities,

• we will generate the evidence for accountability (and for enhanced learning).