e-portfolios and the problem of learning

Randy Bass, Georgetown University

E-Portfolios and the Problem of Learning

in the Post-Course Era

Randy Bass, Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS),

Georgetown University

General Education 3.0 (AAC&U)

March 4, 2011


“You know. It was taught as a Gen Ed course and I took it as

a Gen Ed course.”

Georgetown student, end of first year, focus group: reflecting on a particular course in

which, he claimed, he was not asked to engage with the material.


Core Questions

•What are the conditions for the most meaningful learning inside and outside the formal curriculum?

•How do we make it possible to see and capture evidence of meaningful learning in new ways? (moving target)

•Can we keep the “evidence of learning” agenda open in an age of metrics and accountability?


The Post-Course Era


The Post-Course Era

•The course as a useful way of managing time, staff resources, equivalencies

•A collection of courses as way of telling the story of the discipline or profession

•Coursework and the formal curriculum as the center of the educational experience—the places where the most significant learning takes place.


The Post-Course Era

End of the era of the self-contained course as the center of

the curriculum

“The fragmentation of the curriculum into a collection of independently ‘owned’

courses is itself an impediment to student accomplishment, because the different

courses students take, even on the same campus, are not expected to engage or build on one another.” (AAC&U, 2004)


Post-Course: Smaller and Bigger

the intermediate

(capturing intermediate thinking processes)

&

the integrative

(making meaning across courses, experiences and time)


Second Wave of the Learning Paradigm

(course design & curriculum design)

• Active Learning:

• Theory/ knowing

• Experience / doing

• Integrative Learning

• Theory/ knowing

• Experience/ doing

• Reflecting / connecting


High Impact Practices (National Survey of Student Engagement--

NSSE)

• First-year seminars and experiences

• Learning communities

• Writing intensive courses

• Collaborative assignments

• Undergraduate research

• Global learning/ study abroad

• Internships

• Capstone courses and projectsGeorge Kuh, High Impact Practices: What are they, who

has access to them, and why they matter. (AAC&U, 2008)


Outcomes associated with High impact Practices

•Attend to underlying meaning

• Integrate and synthesize

• Discern patterns

• Apply knowledge in diverse situations

• View issues from multiple perspectives

• Acquire gains in skills, knowledge, practical competence , personal and social development

Experiences that help

students…

George Kuh, High Impact Practices: What are they, who has access to them, and why they matter. (AAC&U,

2008)


High Impact Activities and Outcomes

High Impact Practices:

• First-year seminars and experiences

• Learning communities

• Writing intensive courses

• Collaborative assignments

• Undergraduate research

• Global learning/ study abroad

• Internships

• Capstone courses and projects

Outcomes associated with High impact practices

• Attend to underlying meaning

• Integrate and synthesize

• Discern patterns

• Apply knowledge in diverse situations

• View issues from multiple perspectives

• Gains in Skills, knowledge, practical competence , personal and social development


So, if high impact practices are largely in the extra-curriculum (or

co-curriculum), then where are the low-impact

practices?


Low-impact practices: Formally known as ‘the curriculum’?


If the formal curriculum is not where the high impact

experiences are then what are the options?


Making courses more like high-impact practices

courses designed as inquiry-based &

participatory

Virtual Labs

Leveraging “the crowd” as a way of

teaching

Constructivist social tools: wikis & blogs


If the formal curriculum is not where the high impact

experiences are then what are the options?

1. Make courses higher impact

1. Design for greater fluidity and connection between the formal

and experiential curriculum

<< e-portfolios >>


What are the shared and salient features of participatory cultures in

Web-based environments?

Jenkins, et. al., Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture (MacArthur Foundation, 2006)

wikipedia

Video gaming communities

grass roots organizations

fan sites


Participatory Culture of the Web

• Features of participatory culture

• Low barriers to entry

• Strong support for sharing one’s contributions

• Informal mentorship, experienced to novice

• Members feel a sense of connection to each other

• Students feel a sense of ownership of what is being created

• Strong collective sense that something is at stake

Jenkins, et. al., Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture (MacArthur Foundation, 2006)


The Formal

Curriculum

InformalLearning

Participatory culture

High impact practices

Experiential Co-

curriculum


The Formal

Curriculum

InformalLearning



Experiential Co-

curriculum

Can we continue to operate on the assumption that the formal

curriculum is the center of the undergraduate experience?


The Formal

Curriculum

InformalLearning



Experiential Co-

curriculumThe Intermediate

and the Integrative


John Seely Brown: Practice to Content

content

practice

From John Seely Brown, “Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0”


The Formal

Curriculum

InformalLearning



Experiential Co-

curriculum

Where and how does one “learn-to-be,” inside and outside the formal

curriculum?


NOVICE MIRACLE EXPERT

product product

Connecting Intermediate Processes to Practice


NOVICEprocesses

EXPERTproductpractice

LEARNINGprocesses

LEARNINGprocesses

evidence of process


LEARNINGprocesses


NOVICEprocesses

EXPERTpractice

LEARNINGprocesses

LEARNINGprocesses

How can we better understand

these intermediate processes?

How might we design to foster and

capture them?

evidence of process


LEARNINGprocesses

Our learning environments are rapidly expanding the ways we can make the

intermediate visible…


Making Intermediate

Thinking Visible


Making IntermediateThinking Visible


Making Intermediate Thinking Visible


Derek Bruff, Vanderbilt University

derekbruff.com


Derek Bruff (Vanderbilt University)

Bruff’s remapping of Cliff Atkinson’s uses of Backchannel:

• Note taking

• Sharing Resources

• Commenting

• Amplifying

• Asking Questions

• Helping One Another

• Offering Suggestions

• Building community

• Opening the Classroom derekbruff.co

m


NOVICEprocesses

EXPERTpractice

How can we better

understand these

intermediate processes?

How do these processes serve as a bridge from

novice processes to

expert practice?


Social media and intermediate thinking processes

Note takingSharing Resources

Commenting Amplifying

Asking QuestionsHelping One AnotherOffering SuggestionsBuilding community

Opening the Classroom


On the use of Twitter in the classroom (Mark Sample, GMU—

after Rick Reo, GMU)

“Twitter is a Snark Valve” http://www.samplereality.com/


Michael Smith & Ali Erkan, Ithaca College

•Using Wiki’s to teach history

•Students work in collaborative teams to write history wiki-texts on subjects that interest them in historical context


Bottleneck(s) in History

•Students often have difficulty understanding that history is about constructing an interpretation based on multiple sources and perspectives

•They often have trouble making connections between specific details and broader context



“How can students be engaged so that there is meaning in the structure of wikis they produce?” “If there is meaning in the structure of student wikis, how can it be harvested and, subsequently, analyzed?

“Thin Slicing”?


NOVICEprocesses

EXPERTpractice

How can we better

understand these

intermediate processes?

How might we design to foster and

capture them?

Connecting Intermediate Processes to Expert PracticeThe places we can look for captures of

learning are expanding rapidly…

How do you capture the relationship

between intermediate engagement and

intellectual development?

Evidence of gen ed goal?

LEARNINGprocesses

The Formal

Curriculum

InformalLearning



Experiential Co-

curriculumIntermediate

--------------------------Integrative


ePortfolio as Social Pedagogy

Collaborative

Integrative

Interactive

RecursiveEmbodied

Adaptive

Connecting through ePortfolio

Student

Student

Faculty& Staff

External Audiences

Across Disciplines

Across Semesters

Academic Curriculum

Lived Curriculum


ePortfolios as tools and practices for integrating

Connect to Learning (FIPSE)


Second Wave of the Learning Paradigm

• Active Learning:

• Theory/ knowing

• Experience / doing

• Integrative Learning

• Theory/ knowing

• Experience/ doing

• Reflecting / connecting


Reflection at the heart of ePorfolio

practice


Dewey’s Criteria for Reflection

•Carol Rodgers has summarized Dewey’s criteria for effective reflection into these four statements:

• Reflection as connection • Reflection as systematic and disciplined • Reflection as social pedagogy• Reflection and personal growth


Reflection as Connection

(1) Reflection is a meaning-making process that moves a learner from one experience into the next with a deeper understanding of its relationship with and connections to other experiences and ideas. It is the thread that makes continuity of learning possible.


Exp Exp Exp Exp


Exp Exp Exp Exp

Reflection


Exp Exp Exp Exp

Reflection Reflection


Exp Exp Exp Exp

Reflection ReflectionReflection


Exp Exp Exp Exp


Prior Learning(Experience &

Theory)


Exp Exp Exp Exp



Theory)

Making Meaning

Integration


(2) Reflection as Systematic & Disciplined


(2) Reflection as systematic and disciplined inquiry

Exp Exp Exp Exp



Theory)

Making Meaning

Integration


(3) Reflection as Social Pedagogy

•Reflection needs to happen in community, in interaction with others.


(4) Reflection and Personal Growth

•Reflection requires attitudes that value the personal and intellectual growth of oneself and others


Three Rivers CC (Nursing)


In search of effective practices of reflection…

Reflection as professional development: iterative program-level design

N101 N102 N201 N203 N205•Description of experience•Focus on goals & outcomes•Self-evaluation•Increasingly comparative•Social at all stages

Three Rivers Community College


Foundational

Description of experience setting up

comparison with other

work

“Backward design” of reflective practice implies that faculty think forward and together: “All clinical faculty promote development of reflective skills.”

Three Rivers CC (Nursing)


Three Rivers CC: Iterative design

“The assignment builds upon the semester previous with a focus in development of their professional

voice.”


Three Rivers CC: Making reflection “social” and public


Three Rivers CC: Making reflection “social” from the beginning

Reflection as social pedagogy begins with

entry level courses

“Students write a letter to future students of the

course”


Virginia Tech’s SERVE Living Community


Virginia Tech’s SERVE Living Community

“SERVE community members are

encouraged to be active through both

service and reflection. In their

portfolios, you will find detailed experiences of

their engagement as well as reflective pieces

synthesizing their journeys” (VT ePortfolio page)

Co-curricular engagement portfolios


Comprehensive Reflection Assignment

Comprehensive

Reflection Assignment


“Final Exam Replacement” – ePortfolio Assembly, Comprehensive Reflection, and

Letter to Self (200/1000 total points)

• Step II - Comprehensive Reflection (150 points)

Your comprehensive reflection entry will be the home page for the “Synthesis and Reflection” tab. This final paper should demonstrate your ability to reflect critically on the whole of the class (readings, discussions, projects, experiences) and articulate how your views and understanding has progressed. This comprehensive paper is a synthesis of both the theoretical and practical constructs of reflection, dialogue, group process, service, and leadership. Look to the “course objectives” outlined in the syllabus as one possible checklist of tracking potential learning and reflecting on the course. More specifically, the paper should include exploration of some of the following questions:

What are some critical components of community building? How has your understanding of “the call to service,” “citizenship,” and/or “democracy” evolved over the course.

Include relevant and updated pieces from your “My ‘why’” assignment Provide concrete examples of particular experiences, discussions, or readings that illustrate areas of learning or

personal growth How has your service personally impacted you? What did you learn about the social issues being addressed at

your site? How has the study of social change and the change lab activity shaped you? How might you consider using some

of these experiences/studies to help you in future pursuits?

• Step III – Letter to Self (25 points) It is the end of the semester, and you have just finished your comprehensive reflection. This is your last bit of work

before you can close the book on this class and your first semester here at VT. Write a letter to your future self (the one who, presumably, will spend the winter break enjoying some much deserved relaxation. Catch this future self up on all you’ve accomplished and give him/her some direction into your favorite parts of your ePortfolio, some learning points / experiences / reflections you want to highlight. Then take a minute to give some direction on where you would like to go for your second semester here at VT. Is there some new project you would like to initiate to address some social issue or meet some student need? Is there someone you met this semester whom you need to get to know better or want to learn more from? Whatever it may be, big or small, take this opportunity to jump-start yourself into action.

Reflect critically on the whole class

(readings, discussions,

projects, experiences) and

articulate how your views and

understanding has progressed.

This paper is a synthesis of

both theoretical and

practical constructs of

reflection, dialogue,

group process, service, and leadershipHow has your understanding …

evolved? How has… it impacted you? What did you learn? How has it…

shaped you?


Dewey’s Criteria for Reflection

•Carol Rogers has summarized Dewey’s criteria for effective reflection into these four statements:

•Reflection as connection •Reflection as systematic and disciplined •Reflection as social pedagogy•Reflection and personal growth


Carol Rodgers on Reflection: Deepening Developmental Cycle


The Big Finish


Synthesis: the “problem of learning” in the post-course

era

the Intermediate

&

the Integrative

Social Learnin

g

Deepening Cycles

of Reflectio

n


Making Thinking Visible and the Deepening Reflection Cycle

Note takingSharing Resources

Commenting Amplifying

Asking QuestionsHelping One AnotherOffering SuggestionsBuilding community

Opening the Classroom

Intermediate --------------------------Integrative


The Formal

Curriculum

InformalLearning



Experiential Co-

curriculumIntermediate

--------------------------Integrative

[email protected]

duThanks to:Ali Erkan and Michael Smith, Ithaca College

John Seely BrownMark Sample, GMU

Derek Bruff, VanderbiltBret Eynon and Judit Torok and the Connect to Learning Team at LGCC

Trent Batson (AAEEBEL, Connect to Learning)Three Rivers CC

Virginia Tech ePortfolio and SERVE teamThe Teagle Foundation

Heidi Elmendorf, GeorgetownMy colleagues at the Center for New Designs in

Learning and Scholarship

cndls.georgetown.edu

e-portfolios and the problem of learning

Education

highimpact practices

high impact experiences

outcomes high impact

high impact activities

lowimpact practices

significant learning

experiential curriculum

integrative learning