Day of DialogueFebruary 2009

Lynette Olson, Ed.D.

Assessment & Effectiveness DirectorOffice of the Chancellor

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities

…each electronic portfolio (site) displays selected items & reflections based on the owner’s choices.

Items that you might select (often called artifacts or evidence of learning) can be…

Electronic Portfolio Contentwhat you post is what will others will see

xFolioscreen

overview

ManageContent Panels

eFolio Page Workspace

ManageSites & Pages

ContextSensitive Help

sitecontrols

Common Icons

Create To-do Properties Add Trash Restore Date Picker CollectorBuild RemoveEdit Delete

High School, College, Work Tools about me (eFolio, Facebook, etc.)

eFolioWorld New Strategies

Advising, Grad PlannerProgram Planning

GPS LifePlan, 1st Year Student

Competency Tools Outcomes & Assessment

IMS Tools, Web 2.0 Social Networking

Artifacts of Learning, Processes, Data &Analysis

Program Review

DigitalStorytelling

AccreditationStakeholders

eFolioMinnesota Team

Electronic Portfolios: Answering the Call for Transparency

Chancellor’s Initiatives (2006 – 2009) FY07 awarded $75,000.00 to create a system-wide

and national model for standards & competency principles and practices for institutional accreditation.

FY08 awarded $120,000 for program accreditation. FY09 awarded $50,000 focuses primarily on grant

awards to promote best practices in demonstrating student learning outcomes throughout the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.

Chancellor’s Initiatives

FY07 eFolio use Institutional Accreditation

FY08 eFolio use

Program Accreditation

Institutional Electronic Portfolio Resource Center

FY09 eFolio useStudent Learning Outcomes

Partnering Projects NCEPR – Cohort III

Research Question Asks: “Does the use of eFolio Minnesota to document accomplishment of learning and other outcomes also enhance learning and influence decision-making for individuals and organizations?”

AAC&U’s Value Partner - Study of Metarubrics

Higher Learning Commission/AQIP Model – Research Study The purpose of the study was to discover how institutional

electronic portfolios contribute to the learning organization by demonstrating accountability to stakeholders and serving as a vehicle for institution-wide reflection, learning, and improvement of higher education institutions through the implementation of an institutional electronic portfolio tool being used in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System.

Research Findings(Attached white paper)

The outcomes of the study included recommendations for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system academic leadership and to the Higher Learning Commission, Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP) regarding the use of institutional electronic portfolios to improve public accountability and transparency of data.

1. Investigate additional technology and tools that might help facilitate accrediting agencies reviewer’s knowledge of the new formats for documentation of institutional processes.

Technology, such as web enhanced meeting rooms, consensus software for decision making, and electronically assisted tools for communication could generate an environment that would cultivate a means to valid and reliable materials in an electronic format.

Recommendations to strengthen institutional electronic portfolio use, applicability, validity, and institutional process efficiencies for accreditation:

Recommendations (Cont.)

2. Institutions look at the “holistic” approach to assessment. As illustrated in the perceptions reflected in the research study (Olson 2008), there was limited awareness of the potential use to document organizational learning.

While many studies have proven that student electronic portfolios can be used for reflection of learning, similar avenues exist for an organization to reflect on their accomplishments and the knowledge that they have gained over time. Artifacts of student learning, as well as artifacts of an institution’s continuous improvement processes would foster a culture of change.

Recommendations (Cont.)

3. The research suggests that future studies examine the impact of digital storytelling and how it would affect accreditation writing and documentation. As the literature suggests, the interesting software will be software that is connected to the web.

Batson (2008) emphasized the affordability of Web 2.0 tools such as wikis, blogs, and social networking environments identified how these technologies are creating new pathways for how next generation electronic portfolios, and described how they can be designed, accessed, shared, and presented.

Public Transparency

Further research will help strengthen the belief that institutional electronic portfolios fused with multi media tools to enhance documentation are effective for meeting public transparency.

Contact Information

Lynette Olson, Ed.D.

Assessment & Effectiveness Director

Office of the Chancellor

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities

e-Mail: lynette.olson@csu.mnscu.edu

Phone: 651-649-5957