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Portfolios asRecords of Personal Learning

Janice A. Smith, Ph.D. Paul TreuerThree Canoes LLC University of Minnesota Duluth

AAEEBL 2011

janice.smith@threecanoes.comhttp://threecanoes.com

ptreuer@d.umn.eduhttp://www.d.umn.edu/kmc/eportfolio/

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PLR DefinitionPersonal Learning Record (PLR)

An interactive, online record used to:– Guide learners through an educational process– Document learner accomplishments and aspirations– Assist in career development and the job search– Prepare students for lifelong learning

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Moving from Paper Records

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To Digital Records

University of Minnesota ePortfolio

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In Support of Learning

Narragansett School System, Rhode Island, USA

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PLR Requirements• Abstracted from Open Source Portfolio (OSP) MiniSpecs in

preparation for portfolios in the Sakai Open Educational Environment

• OSP MiniSpecs are:– Written in the first person– Describe desired user activities– Grouped into illustrative categories– Useful for understanding PLR requirements

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Assembling Learner Artifacts

• Collect: I want to collect, organize, retrieve and preserve examples of my work over time.

• Access: I want to be able to access some or all of the records my institution keeps about me on a read-only basis.

• Document: I want to provide evidence of and a rationale for my learning.

• Reflect: I want to reflect spontaneously and/or in response to formal prompts.

• Select: I want to select examples from my collected work for purposes such as self-presentation, self-analysis, or demonstrating achievement.

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Managing Learning Artifacts

• Tag: I want label and organize artifacts so that they are searchable.

• Associate: I want to associate artifacts with each other, with learning outcomes in my courses, programs, with personal learning goals, and with external resources.

• Assess: I want to use rubrics for myself, my advisor, and my instructors to assess my learning.

• Repurpose: I want to use existing or revised examples of my work in new contexts.

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Communicating about Learning

• Receive Guidance: I want to receive guidance in the form of templates, assignments, informational files, rubrics, and prompts.

• Communicate: I want to communicate about my learning with my advisor and instructors.

• Receive Feedback: I want to receive formative feedback and summative evaluation on my learning.

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Taking Responsibility• Own: I want to own my data and learn to manage my virtual

identity.• Empower: I want to take responsibility for my learning and

development by making choices about how my data is developed and used.

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Sharing• Present: I want to present evidence of my learning to

different audiences in different ways.• Express: I want to express my own individuality in the

ways I present my information to others.• Share: I want to allow others inside and outside of my

institution to view evidence of my learning.

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Managing Data• Preserve: I want to be able to access and edit my data for

an indefinite length of time.• Snapshot: I want to be able to freeze and save versions or

collections of my artifacts at any point in time.• Download: I want to copy or transfer some or all of my

data to my computer or to other devices or media.• Migrate: I want to be able to move my portfolio data from

one system to another.

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Personal Learning Records

Must• Allow learners to access evidence of their learning• Encourage learners to take an active role in their learning• Serve as a tool to monitor and encourage learning

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Personal Learning Records

May Also:• Allow learners to

– Create and add their own evidence of learning– View their institutional records– Interact and share documents with advisors

• Integrate with other systems, e.g., CMS, LMS• Play a role in

– Educational planning– Career development– Search for employment– Professional documentation

• Follow learners after graduation

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Evidence of LearningPLRs allow learnersto create and access evidence of their learning

• Learning Artifacts• Reflections• Relevant Links• Educational Records provided by

– Student Information System– Individual

• Associated Learning Outcomes• Formative Feedback• Summative Evaluation

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Active Role in LearningRLRs encourage learnersto take an active role in their learning

• Moving from– grades to evidence of learning– instructor-centered to

learner-centered education• Allowing /encouraging control

over– one’s own actions– the results of those actions

• Constructive interaction withadvisors and teachers

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Monitoring and Encouraging

PLRs serveas tools to monitor and encourage learning

Students, advisors, and instructors– Develop a more comprehensive view of

learning– Begin to move from

• Credit-based educationto• Outcome-based education

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Accessing Institutional Records

PLRs may allow learnersto view their institutional records, including:– Transcripts– Progress toward degrees– Course and program registration

Integration with student information systems– Allows students to access read-

only views of their own data– Provides advisors and students

with views of the same data in the same format

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AdvisementPLRs may serveas interactive tools for advisement

• Advisors and students– Benefit from more accurate

and frequent communication– Access all relevant records

in one location• Students add personal

information to present a full picture of themselves

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ConnectionPLRs may connect to:– Course management

systems– Learning management

systems– Portfolio systems

In addition to:– Portals– Authentication systems– Student information

systems– Registration systems– Degree audit Systems

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Educational and Career Development

PLRs may play a role in:– Educational planning– Undergraduate transfer– Application to graduate

school– Career development– Search for employment– Professional documentation

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Lifelong LearningPLRs may follow learners after they leave an institution

PLR use forlifelong learning implies:

– Continued accessafter graduation

and/or– Transfer of data

across systems

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Open Source ePortfolio (OSeP)

• Secure web resource at the University of Minnesota available to all students, faculty, staff, and alumni for efficiently managing their own digital information and records.

• Efficient: Enter information once in ePortfolio, use it many times • Safe: Access your institutional and self-reported information and

documents from any networked computer in the world • Secure: Free storage of up to 5 GB of files on secure institutional

servers • Free: Free lifetime access upon graduation from U of Mn• Available worldwide. In the past year, users viewed 1,009,376

pages and 33,000 distinct users logged in from 104 countries.

at University of Minnesota Duluth

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OSeP

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OSeP User Features• Enter elements, upload files, or join one or more ePortfolio

communities and use their tools that provide guidance to enter information. All information entered by you is stored in your secure ePortfolio collection.

• Share information in your ePortfolio collection with others in publications, called portfolios. Each portfolio consists of one or more elements and/or files that is shared with one or more individuals. Community tools provide guidance for building, documenting and sharing knowledge.

• View portfolios that others have shared with you. These portfolios may also be commented on and/or evaluated against rubrics.

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OSeP SIS RecordsRead-only views shared by students and their advisors: Institutional Photo Transcripts Graduation Planner (Academic Plan) APAS (Degree Audit) Contact Information Demographic Information Tracking Flags College and Major Graduation Records (of Degrees) Residency Information Registration Records by Term University Training Record University Identification Number

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ePortfolio Communities (of Practice)

ePortfolio Community: Writing

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Learning Objectives Learning objectives are– Developed by each community of practice– Mapped to general elements for ease of reporting– Allow flexibility for disciplines and accountability for the institution

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Portfolios (Presentations)• University Profile

for use by advisors and advisees

• Portfolios to share with anyone

• Portfolios within communities for formative or summative purposes

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OSeP Process• Manage your collection

– Create new elements– Manage existing elements– Access your university records

• Communities of Practice– Join open communities or invited to join private communities– Participate in your communities (option of multiple roles)

• Portfolios– Create portfolios

• Using a community of practice template• Creating your own template• Make your portfolio public or private

– Manage your portfolios– View shared portfolios– Create and view comments on portfolios

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Additional OSeP Features• QR code

– Unique code for every portfolio you create– Scan it an put it on your business card– Point an iPhone at the code and open up the portfolio

• iPhone App– Take a picture on your IPhone and send it to your

portfolio.

• Facebook Connectivity– You can Like a portfolio made available to you

• Advisor Views– Portfolio lists all advisees along with their information– Everything is automatically updated– Section for private advisor notes on each advisees

(sharable with student)

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Exemplary OSeP Portfolios

https://portfolio.umn.edu/portfolio/215172