the future of electronic portfolios: do they help with accreditation?

The Future of Electronic Portfolios:Do They Help with Accreditation?

Kathleen WillbanksCenter for Distributed Learning

California State University, Office of the ChancellorUnited States

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

OVERVIEW

EDMEDIA 2009 -- ePortfolios/Accreditation K. Willbanks

http://www.wordle.net/create

http://www.wordle.net/create

Intersecting Trends

Students’ work in electronic format+ dynamic databases

+ progress of the internet (anywhere, anytime)

= electronic portfoliosEDMEDIA 2009 -- ePortfolios/Accreditation

K. Willbanks

External pressure

Accreditation agencies attention to:

ongoing assessment of student workand

accomplishments of institutional goals


BACKGROUND


The Commission on the Future of Higher Education

(one of the first drafts of the 2006 report)• called for the creation of a “national

accreditation framework” • asked the National Assessment of Educational

Progress be revised to measure students’ readiness for college and employment.

• recommended accreditation agencies “act in a more timely manner”


Accreditation Agencies

• National Council for Accreditation for Teacher Education (NCATE)

• ABET (the recognized U.S. accreditor of college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology)

• The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)


Accreditation Requirements

• outcomes driven• requiring examples of student learning • aggregation of assessment data for internal

program evaluation. • Some agencies provide outcomes workshops

for members (http://www.abet.org/workshop.shtml)

encouraging immediate adoption of these expectations


“We are moving from assessment to accountability. Shifting to National, State, and System levels as opposed to local, and assessment should be a systematic process about setting goals.”

Ralph WolffWASC Executive Director

2006


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WASC Requests

• consider the accreditation process an opportunity to learning something rather than proving something,

• looking for continued improvement• key indicators of performance and evidence,

including actual student work• rather than a once-every-ten-years visit

accreditation will be a steady review


Data has to be more readily accessible than

in the past


LITERATURE REVIEW


I stand on the shoulders of giants. L to R: H. Barrett, J. Ittelson, A. Jafari, T. Banta

Photo by CatDancing - Redwoods 5498

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http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://newsinfo.iu.edu/pub/libs/images/usr/3502.jpg&imgrefurl=http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/6290.html&usg=__O3MLKOn_KA4MUS_AEm9YkI10SWw=&h=308&w=308&sz=21&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=b_L-AiJStnIE0M:&tbnh=117&tbnw=117&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dali%2Bjafari%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1G1GGLQ_ENUS248%26um%3D1

George Lorenzo and John Ittelson:An Overview of E-Portfolios (2005)

• Institutional information more visible = accessible = increase accountability

• Data collected aggregated and compared over time to reveal how well standards are being met opportunity for continual improvement

• lifelong e-portfolios and the potential benefits for career development

• ePortfolios may evolve to be as important as learning management systems (LMS)


Ali Jafari The “Sticky” ePortfolio System: Tackling

Challenges & Identifying Attributes (2004)

• ePortfolio system for Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis at Indianapolis, Indiana (IUPUI)

• demonstrate and assess student learning• Deans and department chairs want to use

ePortfolio systems for accreditation and external review


Trudy Banta Electronic Portfolios for Accreditation?

(2003)

• IUPUI accreditation using ePortfolios• electronic portfolios may be the answer to

outcomes assessment• evidence of students’ current status• evidence of growth and development over

time


Allan, Zylinski, Temple, Hilsop, and Gray (2003)

• students creating assessment output in web format

• the student does the work, the tool collects the data

• 67% agree the ePortfolio added valuable knowledge

• student-centered and learning oriented assessment are key to accreditation


Helen Barrett Differentiating Electronic Portfolios and Online

Assessment Management Systems (2004)

• by the students and for the students. • “Just because technology allows aggregation

of portfolio data, should we succumb to this temptation?”

• with the pressures of accreditation agencies this is a moot point: with the focus on accountability we have to aggregate data.


John Retallick and Susan Groundwater-Smith Teachers’ Workplace Learning and the

Learning Portfolio (1999)• Social changes move us from industrial

economies to knowledge economies • increased teacher’s responsibilities to include

formal learning and live experience.• validity, authenticity, reliability, currency• “… the intention is to indicate the learning that

has occurred during and as a result of, the project”


More Literature

• Y. Bai and R. Pigott – 2004 engineering• J. Bullard and M. McLean – 2000 geography• Trent Batson – 2006+


THE QUESTION


What are we doing in the CSU with ePortfolios, and have they been

effectively used in accreditation?


Research

• Survey – too many questions• Methodology – the ‘wrong’ people• Data & Findings – returned within a week


Too Many Questions• Questions included:• Your campus:• Your department:• Your name:• Total students on campus: • What electronic portfolio system do you use?• When did your campus adopt ePortfolios?• When did your school adopt ePortfolios?• When did your program adopt ePortfolios?• Total students using electronic portfolios?• When did you go through accreditation? (month/year)• When are you scheduled to go through accreditation again? (month/year)• When did you decide to use electronic portfolios? (month/year)• Was accreditation a motivator for using (adopting) electronic portfolios?• Did using electronic portfolios help you pass accreditation?• Can I contact you to discuss this further?


2006, 2008, today

• CSU 2006 – of those using ePortfolios, those using in accreditation had very positive results.

• 2008 – ePac & NMC http://teachingcommons.cdl.edu/eportfolio/acred.html

• 2009 – new data


http://teachingcommons.cdl.edu/eportfolio/acred.html

http://teachingcommons.cdl.edu/eportfolio/acred.html

References (1 of 2)• AASCB Standards - http://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/business/STANDARDS.pdf Retrieved August 8, 2006.

• ABET Mission, Vision and Strategic Plan http://www.abet.org/mission.shtml. Retrieved August 8, 2006.

• Allan, G., Zylinski, J., Temple, V., Hilsop, J., and Gray, K. (2003). The use of E-portfolios to enhance student learning: a Faculty-level strategy and experience. In G.Crisp, D.Thiele, I.Scholten, S.Barker and J.Baron (Eds), Interact, Integrate, Impact: Proceedings of the 20th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education. Adelaide, 7-10 December 2003.

• Bai, Y., & Pigott, R. (2004). Assessing Outcomes Using Program Assessment Portfolio Approach. Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education & Practice, 130(4), 246-254. Retrieved Tuesday, August 8, 2006 from the Academic Search Premier database.

• Banta, T. (2003) Electronic Portfolios for Accreditation? Assessment Update, July – August 2003. 15(4), 3-4. Retrieved Tuesday, August 8, 2006 from the Academic Search Premier database.

• Barrett, H. (2002). “Researching the Process and Outcomes of Electronic Portfolio Development in a Teacher Education Program.” Paper presented at the Society for Information Technology in Teacher Education Conference, Nashville, March 17-23. Retrieve Saturday, August 5, 2006, from http://electronicportfolios.org/portfolios/SITE2002.pdf

• Barrett, H. (2004). “Differentiating Electronic Portfolios and Online Assessment Management Systems.” Proceedings of Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education Conference 2004 (pp. 46-50). Chesapeake, VA: AACE. Retrieve Saturday, August 5, 2006, from http://electronicportfolios.com/systems/concerns.html.


http://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/business/STANDARDS.pdf

http://www.abet.org/mission.shtml

http://electronicportfolios.org/portfolios/SITE2002.pdf

References (2 of 2)• Batson, Trent (2002) “The Electronic Portfolio Boom: What's it all about?” [Online]. Retrieved Saturday, August 5, 2006, from

http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=6984 [20th July 2003].

• Bullard, J., & McLean, M. (2000). Jumping through Hoops?: philosophy and practice expressed in geographers' teaching portfolios. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 24(1), 37-52. Retrieved Tuesday, August 15, 2006 from the Academic Search Premier database.

• Commission on the Future of Higher Education - Revised Draft Report, dated August 8, 2006. Retrieve Wednesday, August 16, 2006, from http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/hiedfuture/index.html

• Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. “Report: A Comprehensive Evaluation Visit” for the Higher Learning Commission, a Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. November 18-20, 2002. Retrieve Saturday, August 5, 2006 from http://www.iport.iupui.edu/selfstudy/nca_report.pdf

• Jafari, A. (2004). “The “Sticky” ePortfolio System: Tackling Challenges & Identifying Attributes.” EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 39, no. 4 (July/August 2004): 38–49. Retrieve Friday, August 3, 2006, from http://www.educause.edu/apps/er/erm04/erm0442.asp

• Lorenzo, G., & Ittelson, J. (2005). An Overview of ePortfolios. D. Oblinger, ed., ELI paper, July 2005. http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI3001.pdf

• Retallick, J., & Groundwater-Smith, S. (1999). Teachers' Workplace Learning and the Learning Portfolio. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 27(1), 47. Retrieved Tuesday, August 15, 2006 from the Academic Search Premier database.

• WASC workshops are listed on http://www.wascsenior.org/wasc/, with accompanying PowerPoint presentations as of 8/15/06


More info

• www.twitter.com/kw_eportfolios• http://teachingcommons.cdl.edu/eportfolio/• Aug. 13 – San Jose, CA

http://conference.csuprojects.org/eportfolios• [email protected]


the future of electronic portfolios: do they help with accreditation?

Documents

electronic portfoliosedmedia

actual student workrather

university programs

accreditor of college

steady reviewedmedia

systematic process

future of higher educationone

teacher education ncateabet