© 2003 • Board of Trustees • Leland Stanford Junior University

Supporting Individual Folio Learning: Folio Thinking in Practice

Helen L. Chen, Ph.D.Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning

NLII Annual Meeting, January 27, 2004

© 2004 • Board of Trustees • Leland Stanford Junior University

E-Folios in SCIL

• Informed by 2 projects:• Learning Careers• Folio Thinking

• The outcomes from our research have focused on the pedagogical implications and issues relating to the implementation of e-portfolios:– From the perspective of the student or learner– Emphasizing techniques and best practices to

support reflective learning

© 2004 • Board of Trustees • Leland Stanford Junior University

The Problem

Students’ intellectual experience of higher education is fragmented due to:

• Lack of curricular coherence• Increasing demands of an information-rich

environment• Growing importance of out-of-class learning

experiences

© 2004 • Board of Trustees • Leland Stanford Junior University

Our Approach

Provide structured opportunities to:1. create learning portfolios

2. reflect on learning experiences

Enable students to:• integrate and synthesize learning• enhance their self-understanding • make deliberate choices in their learning career• develop an intellectual identity

© 2004 • Board of Trustees • Leland Stanford Junior University

Folio Thinking

• The reflective practice of creating learning portfolios for the purpose of creating coherence and making meaning• Draws on:

experiential learning metacognition reflective thinking critical thinking mastery orientation to learning

© 2004 • Board of Trustees • Leland Stanford Junior University

What does Folio Thinking look like in practice?

• Extend Folio Thinking to a more specific context and application

• 2 research projects currently underway in Mechanical Engineering design

• RQ: How can we refine and tailor Folio Thinking practices and techniques so that it is appropriate for design engineering?

© 2004 • Board of Trustees • Leland Stanford Junior University

Applying Folio Thinking to Design Engineering

• ME 013N: Designing the Human Experience: introductory freshman seminar

• ME 310: PBL-X: Team-Based Design Development with Corporate Partners

• Both courses:– Project-based with real clients– Team-oriented– Real subject of the course: design process, design thinking

© 2004 • Board of Trustees • Leland Stanford Junior University

Study Objectives

To explore the impact of Folio Thinking on a student’s level of self-confidence in her ability to be an engineer by:

• Increasing student self-awareness of knowledge & skills

• Helping the student make explicit connections among aptitudes, knowledge, skills, & the real work of engineering

© 2004 • Board of Trustees • Leland Stanford Junior University

Blogs within a Tiki-Wiki Environment

• Informal, continuous, easy and low barriers to posting

• Students already potentially familiar with blogs

• Ability to link reflection to artifacts• Individual commenting/feedback from

coaches and others at a distance

© 2004 • Board of Trustees • Leland Stanford Junior University

Implications & Issues

© 2004 • Board of Trustees • Leland Stanford Junior University

Next Steps

• Examples and stories of Folio Thinking in practice – What does Folio Thinking look like?

• Collecting and sharing of assessment tools, instruments, techniques, best practices for evaluating Folio Thinking