UBC Portfolio Community of Practice

• Roselynn Verwoord, Community of Practice Developer – Centre for Teaching and Academic Growth

• Catherine Paul, Community of Practice Facilitator – Office of Learning Technology

• Anne Scholefield, Coordinator, Special Programs – Teacher Education Office

• Cathryn Jackson, Instructor, NursingHighlighting the history and current initiatives within the Community of Practice

Brief History of Portfolios @ UBC

• A 3-year campus-wide initiative 2003-2006• TLEF funded (Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund)• investigated the pedagogical benefits & resource implications

of implementing e-portfolios for multiple purposes & contexts (course, program, personal)

• 13 projects from multiple disciplines• 2000 students, 91 instructors and 37 staff• strong community of practice (CoP) in parallel• informal CoP activities from 2006 – 2009• revitalized community of practice 2009 – present • 2 dedicated CoP coordinators, working collaboratively

What is a Community of Practice?

“Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.” Etienne Wenger

A CoP

• empowers individuals and groups• provides opportunities to work collaboratively• connects people working on similar projects

ePortfolio Successes at UBC

• cross-faculty collaboration• research component• engaged different areas of academic environment• encouraged informal learning spaces for students• deep learning

ePortfolio Challenges at UBC

• technology (no one size fits all!)• sustained support• add-on rather than integration• increased workload for instructors and students

What our CoP looks like, and aspires to be

• currently reviving the Portfolio Community of Practice, a collaborative coordination effort (Centre for Teaching and Academic Growth & Office of Learning Technology)

• regular meetings; highlighting work members are doing; opportunities for networking

• collecting stories• collaborating on workshops• developing and sharing resources through a new online space• connect people working on similar projects

Sustaining community

• Figure: Cambridge, et al (2005) components that make up the iterative ‘rhythm’ of a community

• foster collaborative projects; • send people to events; builds

prestige and encourages these members to give back to community

• don’t forget the important role of coordinator

Resources

**New online presence currently under construction!• http://blogs.ubc.ca/portfolios• General UBC ePortfolio info

o https://www.elearning.ubc.ca - click on ePortfolio• Archives of 2003-2006 pilot project:

o CoP blog http://blogs.ubc.ca/eportfolios/o Info about specific projects http://blogs.ubc.ca/projectportfolio/

• Teaching Portfolios:o http://tag.ubc.ca/resources/selected-teaching-learning-

topics/teaching-portfolios-2/