Several Western Programs Collaborate in an e-Portfolio Initiative

Fall 2005

by Patricia LeClaire

In one sense, the concept of online portfolios of faculty and student work is nothing new. Writing programs and Art departments have been using them to publish student work on the Internet since the mid-90s, while many faculty members post work on individual web sites. Some people refer to these personal sites as "WebFolios", a term considered by some to be interchangeable with "e-Portfolios".

So why all the increased interest and 'buzz' about adoption of 'new' e-Portfolio technology by so many colleges and universities? Is it just a semantic difference? Does the momentum reflect a fundamental change in instructional strategies, or does the new e-Portfolio technology offer a distinct advantage to teaching and learning?

The latest e-portfolios provide several distinct advantages over earlier web sites or WebFolios, including:

• Administrative tools to allow the individual user to control who gets access to what information at the site
• Templates so that users don't have to learn web development skills
• Management tools that allow for the aggregation of portfolio information across a group of e-portfolios (e.g. across an entire course, major, or program)
• Unlike a static links-driven Web site (WebFolio) which simply includes a collection of static web pages, an e-Portfolio can provide a dynamic database-driven web interface that can draw upon and integrate ongoing information from multiple repositories

A Comparison

WebFolio:

• Student must learn a web authoring program (DreamWeaver, FrontPage)
• Submit assignment to instructor and wait for grade
• Find time to upload new item and link it within a new or existing page that clearly makes the connection between Program Requirements and this item
• Grade cannot be certified through web
• Add new navigation (if necessary to create a new page)
• Item is available to all who visit the WebFolio web pages

• No need to learn Web authoring; students use either a self-selected template from the e-portfolio's options or one designed by an instructor to place content into the portfolio
• Submit assignment to instructor from within the e-portfolio
• Instructor provides qualitative feedback and a certified grade from within the portfolio
• Either the instructor can attach the item to the Program Requirements portion of the portfolio, or the student can make this decision
• e-Portfolio is immediately updated with both the student and instructor information
• Only those viewers who've been granted access to this part of the e-Portfolio can see this information. The owner of the e-Portfolio can define many levels of access rights, enabling others (such as faculty advisors, external auditors or potential employers) to review and comment on specific items.

e-Portfolios at Western
Numerous departments and several colleges have expressed interest in adopting e-portfolio technology at Western. To ensure that this new technology meets academic needs, it's critical that the appropriate product be selected by faculty and students. ATUS has therefore formed an e-Portfolio Advisory Group to consider how e-portfolios can simultaneously serve the needs of students, faculty, and administration.

The Human Services department of Woodring College, the Center for Instructional Innovation, and Fairhaven College are taking leading roles, as those areas had already begun internal e-portfolio initiatives. The Office of Institutional Assessment, Research and Testing has also played an early role by identifying the following potential areas for use of e-portfolios:

• Campus accountability groups
• Accreditation
• First-year programs
• General studies
• General education assessment

An e-Portfolio Advisory Group composed of faculty members was formed during Spring quarter. This group has prepared a preliminary Needs Requirement document identifying key e-portfolio objectives representing the needs of all stakeholders. The Advisory Group participated in vendor presentations matched to the Needs Requirement document, identified three applications for a closer look and has participated in summer trials of the following applications:

Three faculty/staff teams conducted the trials, with each team taking one application and evaluating it against a test script based on the Needs Requirement document. Each team will return an evaluation at the end of the trials period, the results will be compared and will inform the third phase of this evaluation process - a wider trial including more faculty during fall term.

To suggest an e-Portfolio application for closer review, to join the Advisory Group, or just for more information, contact Patricia LeClaire, ATUS Instructional Designer, 650-2557.

To review the Needs Requirement document and best-practice examples from other universities, you are encouraged to participate in the collaborative Web site at www.wwu.edu/portfolios.