L&T Lunchtime Forum – 16 October 2012

e-Portfolios for language learning and assessment

A curriculum enhancement project

by Liviana Ferrari and Dasha Zhurauskaya

• Aims of the project

• How it developed

• Examples of student work

• Challenges encountered along the way

• Positive outcomes

• What next

Overview

to provide an up-to-date and engaging form of assessment, taking into account the

opportunities for enhancing T&L offered by existing technology available to student and

staff

or, very simply…

FROM: TO:

Key aim of the project

To enable students to: •develop e-portfolio building skills alongside language skills•use Mahara creatively for formative & summative assessment•include audio and video files•e-submit portfolio work without printing•benefit from alternative forms of feedback

To make it easier for students, external examiner and staff (both admin and academic) to submit, access, mark, moderate and store portfolios.

More specific aims

A preparatory phase (semester 2, 11/12) involved:

•evaluating the existing language portfolios in paper format through exploratory interviews with academic and admin staff about the existing portfolios and how they could be improved in their new electronic form

•creating an ePortfolio prototype

•revising of marking and assessment criteria

How the project developed

Phase two (semester 2, 11/12) involved:•piloting the new system with eight students enrolled on an Italian post-beginner module – credit bearing, elective•introducing the new tool and giving students technical support (Dasha) •guiding them to evidence their independent learning on Mahara

The ePorfolio included the following sections:•listening, writing and speaking activities•internet-based leaning•cultural awareness•a learning blog

The pilot was evaluated through interviews and a focus groups conducted with the students.

How the project developed

Link to a student e-Portfolio

Link to another student e-Portfolio

Examples of student work

• Mahara’s capacity

• Mahara not as intuitive as other systems

• Mixed-level IT skills amongst students

• Varying degrees of student engagement

• Different activities suited to an e-Portfolio compared to a paper one

• Knowing how much formative feedback to provide

Challenges encountered along the way

• positive student evaluation, esp. opportunity to video themselves and practice speaking

• evidence of much greater engagement by two students with the e-Portfolio compared to the paper portfolio completed for their first Italian module in the previous year

• positive reaction to online feedback (both written & video)

• strong support by external examiners in favour of using the e-Portfolio with all language modules

Positive outcomes

• Find ways of working around the Mahara constraints and exploit its potential

• Get other staff involved and on board

• Use a revised version of the e-Portfolio with at least one module for each teaching staff in sem.2, 12/13

• Replace paper portfolios with e-Portfolios for all language modules from 13/14

but meanwhile….

What next?

the best of it all is…..

Any questions?