Eportfolio, General Education, & Undergraduate Learning Goals

An ePortfolio and Learning Goal Matrix Case Study

Nicholas Schiller

• Library Instruction Coordinator Library Faculty, Reference Librarian Information Literacy Instruction Instructor for GE 101/301 Also teach technology seminars• As part of the GE 101/301 course• VIS Workshops

schiller@vancouver.wsu.edu http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/schiller/nicholas.html

Slides on the Web

For those viewing these slides on the web, please feel free to contact me with questions about the content. The slides themselves give a basic outline of my presentation at the Educause Western Regional Conference 2007, but for specific details or explanations, please give me a call or send an email.

~Nicholas Schiller

My Roles with the ePortfolio

• Instruction Librarian Information literacy sessions

• Classroom Instructor GE 101 (1st year) GE 301 (3rd year transfers)

• Technology Seminar Instructor

Technology fluency sessions

About our Campus

• Urban (regional) campus in the Washington State University system

• Enrollment 2,300 (1,667 FTE)

• Young Campus First courses held in 1990 Campus opened in 1996

• Lower Division students added Fall 2006

The Path to the ePortfolio

Preparing for Lower Division Students & General Education

Timeline

• January 2005: Lower-division planning committee launched

• April 24, 2005: Funding for lower-division approved by the legislature

• Fall 2005: ePortfolio planning committee launched

• August 2006: First class of freshman students appear on campus

General Education Program

• Learning Goals

• Series of courses GE 101/301, GE 303, GE 401

• ePortfolio platform

• Learning goal matrix

The Learning Goals

Critical ThinkingInformation LiteracyQuantitative and Symbolic ReasoningCommunicationSelf in SocietySpecialty

http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/gen_ed/learning%20goals.html

General Education Series

• GE 101/301: Introduction to the University Learning Goals Introduction to the ePortfolio

• GE 303: Research across the disciplines Learning goals in specific context

• GE 401: ePortfolios for the real world Using the ePortfolio to create a resume

The Learning Goal Matrix

• Students attach documents from their course work to specific learning goal

• Students write brief essays explaining why their documents provide evidence of mastery of the learning goal

• This process is repeated in all three courses (101/301, 303, &401), providing snapshots of progress throughout the undergraduate experience

Selecting an ePortfolio:

Choosing a platform that met our needs

ePortfolio Selection

Major factors in ePortfolio selection:

• Learning Goal Matrix

• Live in August 2006

•Must be turn-key (no in-house development or programming)

• Campus philosophy embracing open-source (faculty)

• Desire for a product with a proven track record

OSP/Sakai/rSmart

• Learning Goal Matrix

• Local University had a positive experience with OSP/Sakai/rSmart

• Center for Teaching & Learning Technology Pullman center exploring OSP at the time

• Ability to grow Development and hosting can be brought in-

house, eventually

Competing Products?

• Some discussion of Sharepoint

• Deliberations ceased once it was determined that contracting with rSmart to develop OSP would provide us with a turnkey ePortfolio live in August 2006

The ePortfolio in practice:

Observations, results, & assessment

Outcomes

• GE 101 Introducing the ePortfolio Student understanding and buy-in is key• The have been trained how to write essays and take

multiple choice exams• Learning how to assess and defend their own work is

a similar skill Having a 1 credit introduction to ePortfolio

course helpful to that end

Outcomes

• Changes to GE 101/301 after Fall Semester

• Focused on the learning goals

• Each week students wrote essays on a specific learning goal

• Not well received by transfer juniors• Self assessment did not match our assessment

Outcomes

• Changes for Spring Semester Each course chose a theme• Biotech foods• Intellectual property• Climate change• Police violence

Learning goals were presented in assignments related to the course topic

Care was taken to remind students that the course was about the learning goals, not the theme

Outcomes

• GE 303 (completed last week)

Familiarity with the ePortfolio and the matrix freed students to focus on the course material

Outcomes

Other GE courses

• ePortfolio use required (no matrix)

• Popular (well received)

• Course Management Light Discussion forum most heavily used module

• Helps get student documents into their repositories

Assessment

• Pending

• External reviewers evaluated certain matrix cells from Fall semster GE 101/301 courses

Review Rubric

From: Phelps, S. F. and Diller, K. R. (2007). Transforming the library: Applying multiple assessment methodologies to library instruction and planning. Pre-publication Manuscript

For more details

• Contact me schiller@vancouver.wsu.edu http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/schiller/nicholas.html

360 546 9171

• Contact Karen Diller diller@vancouver.wsu.edu http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/diller/home.html 360 546 0981