A Pan-Canadian E-portfolio Research Agenda: Interactive Workshop

LIFIA Working Forum

April 19, 2005

 

Philip C. Abrami, Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance (CSLP)

&

Helen Barrett, University of Alaska

 

http://www.PeteHubbard.net/LIfIA/Pan-Canadian-E-portfolio-Research-Agenda-Interactive-Workshop.htm , V 1.0, April 22, 2005.
Phil Abrami gave Pete Hubbard permission to convert the original WORD .doc of this research agenda to this .htm version, and to publicize it.
Pete will announce it thru LIfIA channels, and in his Elgg blog.
Pete also created a topic in NCDA Forums (NF) to promote discussion. (NF is free and anyone can register and use it.)
Also, create as many additional topics as you wish. See this forum (a group of topics) about ePortfolios.

Send me links to blogs or webpages where you discuss an item below and I will convert that item to a hyperlink. Click here to see a few additions he has made.
Click here to go to the bottom to reivew a reverse chronologoical listing of changes.

 

This interactive workshop is open to all conference members interested in exploring directions for research on electronic portfolios (EPORT) from a collaborative, pan-Canadian perspective.  The workshop co-chairs will digitally record the session and then post an edited transcript and executive summary on the LIFIA and CSLP websites. The edited transcript and executive summary will also be submitted for publication to a special issue on electronic portfolios of the Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology. Finally, interested members will be invited to follow up on the discussion including funding opportunities and other means to undertake the research.

 

Discussion topics will include, but may not be limited to:

 

  1. What are the tangible and intangible costs and benefits of EPORT systems, for both creators and processors (e.g., educational institutions), in formal education, workplace training, career development, and lifelong, informal learning environments?
  2. From the perspectives of both EPORT creators and processors, is the return on investment adequate? How does it compare on the return on investment in other forms of elearning or learning management?
  3. What are the key issues in the design and development (e.g., goal setting, reflection, conferencing, etc.) of process and showcase EPORTs? How do we student/user growth and teacher/educator professional development?
  4. What evidence needs to be generated on the process (e.g., self-regulation, collaboration, critical thinking, etc.) and products of EPORT use for learning and other outcomes? Why use them and for what reasons? Is there support for these claims?
  5. How do we scale and sustain the use of EPORT systems?

 

 

Discussions will be focused and time limits will be observed to insure the issues are covered.


  1. Learners/users
    1. What are the immediate and long-term outcomes EPORT use supports?

                                                    i.     Cognitive skills

1.     Types/levels/skills related to content/curricular achievement (knowledgeàevaluation); deep vs. surface understanding

2.     Technology skills

                                                  ii.     Meta-cognitive skills

1.     Self-regulation

2.     Lifelong learning/learning how to learn

                                                iii.     Attitudinal, motivational and affective outcomes

1.     Intrinsic interest in content area

2.     Engagement/time-on-task

3.     Self-efficacy; learner control; ownership & student-centered

4.     Effort-outcome covariation

5.     Mastery vs. performance & work-avoidant learning orientation

6.     Academic and social self-esteem

7.     Interpersonal & social skills

    1. What are the cognitive, motivational and affective processes EPORT use supports?

                                                    i.     Personal reflection & authentic assessment

                                                  ii.     Goal setting

                                                iii.     Peer, teacher and parent conferencing

                                                iv.     Knowledge building & refinement

                                                  v.     Contextualized & meaningful tasks

                                                vi.     Multimedia learning/ learning with technology

    1. What is the relationship between process and outcome? How do these processes impact on the learner and learning outcomes? What quality and quantity of EPORT use encourages learning gains (immediate & long-term)?
    2. How do we best teach students to use EPORTs? How do we scaffold this learning using/within EPORT?
    3. How do we design and apply EPORTs so learners/users use them willingly and strategically? How important is customization and individualization of the tool and its features?

 

  1. Instructors (plus parents and employers)
    1. What form of technical training is necessary?

                                                    i.     Technical skills in software use and in development of multimedia content (e.g., Digital photography, scanning, Quicktime videos etc.)

                                                  ii.     Technology integration skills

    1. What form of pedagogical development is needed?

                                                    i.     General principles of socio-constructivism

                                                  ii.     How, when, and why to use EPORT?

                                                iii.     Strategies, processes and outcomes of EPORT use and how to achieve them

                                                iv.     Peer or student led conferencing: How to lead discussion (student)? How to guide and engage in discussion (parents)?

                                                  v.     Employers: How to extract meaningful information and link it to job requirements

    1. How should this professional development be delivered?

                                                    i.     Workshops, mentoring, etc.?

                                                  ii.     Embedded just-in-time multimedia activities or electronic performance support?

                                                iii.     Scaffolded tools, guidelines, planning tools, scoring rubrics, demonstrations, explanations, activities and templates, embedded in EPORT?

                                                iv.     EPORT embedded in curriculum, not add-on

                                                  v.     Swap and Share days: communities of practice

                                                vi.     Online communities and blogs/wigis

    1. How do we encourage teacher & principal & administrator buy-in?

                                                    i.     Use of EPORT to meet Teaching Standards and (ISTE National  Educational) Technology Standards

                                                  ii.     Encourages curricular and pedagogical fidelity

                                                iii.     Encourages student-centered learning

 

  1. Pedagogical Context
    1. For which learners are EPORTs advantageous and why?

                                                    i.     Gender effects

                                                  ii.     Ability effects

                                                iii.     Inclusivity & special needs

                                                iv.     Age effects (school children, vs., university, vs. adult and workplace applications)

    1. For which instructors?
    2. For which content, curricula, and type/level of expertise?

 

  1. Types and characteristics of EPORTs
    1. What are the uses of EPORT?

                                                    i.     Process

1.     Learning management

2.     Development, improvement & lifelong learning

                                                  ii.     Showcase/demonstration—nature of contents

1.     Learner competencies & achievements

2.     Electronic resume/CV/job applications

3.     Workplace skills demonstrations

4.     Description of skills & competenciesà demonstration of skills & competencies

                                                iii.     Evaluation/assessment portfolios—nature of content

1.     Demonstration of learning

2.     Formative & summative assessment of learning

a.      Scoring rubrics

b.     Templates

c.      Benchmarks

3.     Lifelong learning & personal reflection

4.     Workplace training

5.     Prior learning-immigrants & mature learners/life experiences

    1. Who’s EPORT?

                                                    i.     Individuals—learners, teachers/professors

                                                  ii.     Groups-learning & work teams; schools & offices as learning communities

                                                iii.     Organizations/communities—larger units; institutions; companies, factories, government agencies, NGOs

    1. What are the affordances of EPORT?

                                                    i.     Literacy--writing & editing

                                                  ii.     Numeracy—mathematical equations & problem solving

                                                iii.     Other literacies (ICT/media, musical, artistic—paint/draw)

                                                iv.     Collaboration and communication

1.     Peers & co-workers (individual accountability; positive interdependence)

2.     Teachers

3.     Parents

4.     Employers

5.     CSCW--simultaneous and successive group work/compositions

                                                  v.     Flexible evidence & means–time & place--of learning

                                                vi.     Multimedia

1.     Artifacts

2.     Text, audio & video

3.     conferencing (NCDA Forums) , webcasts, audio/video conferences, blogs (Elgg), wikis (ePortfolios)

4.     Enriched, interactive content

5.     Concept maps & visual models/networks

                                              vii.     Standardization across regions; accessibility—ease of use, special needs, immigrants; portability

    1. What are the appropriate scope & audience?

                                                    i.     What are the broad categories of EPORTs? A virtual identity?

1.     Education—learning & research

a.      K-12

b.     Postsecondary

c.      Adult learning/lifelong learning

2.     Health/medical records

3.     Financial

4.     Legal

5.     Work-related, career & professional activities

6.     Family scrapbook

7.     Social—friends; colleagues

8.     Personal—hobbies, extracurricular activities, diaries

                                                  ii.     Structure & organization over time (periodic, daily, annual, etc.)—What should they be?

1.     Creation of a virtual personal library

a.      Cataloging/tagging of information—complex & dynamic

b.     Information management—storage & retrievel

2.     Organization of content & work

3.     Tracking of progress & calendaring

4.     Data files & storage

5.     Assessment evidence & evaluation results

    1. Assessment & evaluation—how do we approach these issues?

                                                    i.     Authenticity & ethics

                                                  ii.     Technical skills/barriers to using

                                                iii.     Judging quality and quantity—the practice of portfolio assessment

1.     Scoring rubrics & templates

                                                iv.     Evaluation & assessment strategies for:

1.     Learning portfolios

2.     Informal learning portfolios --prior learning, foreign credentials, experiential, non-credit & competency-based assessment

3.     Accreditation portfolios--training, credit, and certification purposes

                                                  v.     Portfolio assessment

1.     Reliability/convergence

2.     Validity/truthfulness

3.     Standards—accuracy & comprehensiveness

4.     What are the advantages & disadvantages of portfolio assessment compared to:

5.     Paper-based portfolios

6.     Traditional tests and essays; high stakes assessment

7.     Interviews and resumes

 

  1. What do we know and need to know about technical & administrative issues?
    1. What are the key technical & development issues

                                                    i.     MYSQL vs. SQL

                                                  ii.     Open Source & source code ownership/modifications

                                                iii.     Interoperability & standards

                                                iv.     Archiving: Storage & size

                                                  v.     Portability over time and locations

                                                vi.     Interface with data bases for organizational use (e.g., school boards)

                                              vii.     Public vs. private access

                                            viii.     Security

                                                 ix.     Dealing with illegal & inappropriate content

                                                   x.     Bilingual in Canada; multilingual

                                                 xi.     Inclusivity & accessibility

                                               xii.     Technical  & pedagogical support

                                             xiii.     Usability & value

    1. Similarities and differences with other tools

                                                    i.     Course & learning management systems (e.g., WebCT, Blackboard)

                                                  ii.     Multimedia text processors (e.g., WORD)

                                                iii.     Learning objects & LORs

    1. What do we know about administrative issues?

                                                    i.     Getting technical and administrative buy in; value-added; return on investment

                                                  ii.     Follow up and support

                                                iii.     Policy issues and government/agency support/use

 

  1. What is evidence of EPORT success?
    1. Use & adoptions—scalability
    2. Satisfaction—sustainability & long-term maintenance
    3. Learning & effectiveness (personal enrichment)
    4. Cost/benefit & efficiency; Return on Investment
    5. Accurate prior learning assessment
    6. Successful job placement

 

  1. How do we move forward with funding & infrastructure?
    1. CANREP—Canadian Research on E-Portfolio
    2. How do we create and maintain a research network creation & membership base?
    3. What is/are appropriate structure, roles, responsibilities, mandates, priorities, reporting, vision, etc. of network?
    4. How and who will funding come from?   Who will take the lead on writing funding proposals?
    5. Start small: How do we establish research priority areas?

Reverse chronological list of changes. Links will take you to that section.

04/24/2005 1) Interoperability - added a link; 2) Link to EIfEL inventory; 3) Link to FuturEd e-library .