How does this high-impact practice facilitate learning through reflection?

The e-folio provides opportunities for students to respond to prompts that guide the learner through various stages of high-level thinking. Recognized for its value to integrative and lifelong learning, "the Association of American Colleges and Universities has long advocated e-portfolio adoption throughout higher education" [1]. As an instructional platform, e-folios can be used to integrate learning across the curriculum. Reflective prompts can facilitate learning about experiences, coursework, and skills through directed reflection incorporated into the e-folio. Essentially, reflection engages students to make sense of what they are learning and transfer that knowledge to new contexts. Thus an integrative learning e-folio helps students identify and communicate what they know, reinforcing the higher-level thinking skills our graduates should possess.

How does an e-Portfolio facilitate assessment?

The e-folio can be organized by outcomes, thereby making program-level assessment more efficient. Organization by outcomes can also prompt the development of the e-folio to match the criteria most valued by reviewers and accreditation committees. Finally, e-folios can serve as a repository of artifacts that can be assessed for learning:

Through the use of VALUE rubrics, mirroring the ELOs [Essential Learning Outcomes], e-portfolios provide a means for direct assessment of student work drawn from the curriculum, cocurriculum and beyond the campus. The work students produce through embedded assignments in courses, programs, activities, internships, research projects and other High Impact Practices become the basis for student progress and attainment in a unified e-portfolio system. E-portfolios create transparency around demonstrated learning and allow student artifacts to be used as evidence of accomplishment for employment, graduate school or accountability and reporting to external audiences [1].

How is the Texas A&M Center for Teaching Excellence using e-folios?

Helping students make connections to their learning experiences across the curriculum, the TAMU QEP "Aggies Commit to Learning for a Lifetime" supports the use of an electronic portfolio [2]. Using reflection supported by descriptions of when, where, and how learning has happened, students can capture evidence of their learning through the use of an e-Portfolio. The Center currently uses the e-Portfolio to facilitate teaching, curriculum redesign, and professional development. Resources and workshops are available to help faculty use e-Portfolios to develop their courses as well as assess student learning. Resources include the TAMU CTE Portfolio Builder, housing templates and resources for building teaching and course portfolios.

What criteria describe an effective integrated learning e-folio assignment?

Thus, instructional resources should address the following:

• • Are different contexts of use described so that students know how to target their work (including supporting materials) strategically for different audiences and purposes?

  • Are the learning outcomes clearly communicated? Will the student know what the e-folio he creates is expected to show?

  • Do reflective prompts clearly connect to the expected outcomes? See Common Integrative and Lifelong Learning Prompts for suggestions.

  • Do the prompts elicit examples of evidence the student could use to support his claims?

  • Are the different types of evidence that could be used to support the outcomes clear? Will students understand which types of evidence best support each outcome?

  • Are strong writing skills supported through instruction and resources on development, organization, clarity, style, tone, design, and convention?

  • Are opportunities for interim feedback available as work progresses?

  • Are the resources for completing the e-folio assignment sufficient enough to allow for most of the work to be completed outside of the classroom?

  • Do the technologies used to create the e-folios offer resources to support the users? Can the students work on their own e-folios independent of their course instructor or class meetings?

  • Do the students sense that they "own" the work? Can (and will) the e-folio be used (and be continually revised) beyond the course?

What criteria describe an e-folio deliverable?

Thus, the deliverable the student submits should address the following:

• • Does the e-folio contents and organization target a specific context of use? (Thus, it is not a "hodgepodge" of seemingly unrelated materials but has been directed by a particular application identified by the writer and evidenced by the e-folio development.)

  • Is the e-folio easy to navigate?

  • Are the project learning outcomes met through the work submitted? See AAC&U VALUE Rubrics for more on assessing individual learning outcomes.

  • Is development supported by sufficient and relevant evidence?

  • Are strong writing skills present?

Of course, as you create your own e-folio assignments, your criteria for assessment will stem from your own purposes of using an e-folio in the course you teach (or program you oversee). The most effective way to "teach" the e-folio and reach the learning outcomes you set is to create one yourself. Creating one yourself will help you learn how to use the tools and resources you give to your students as well as help you modify the purposes you set for its use and the criteria you identify for assessment before your students begin the process themselves. Best of all, your own e-folio will emphasize the value of this tool for lifelong learning as you model the practice you want your students to embrace.

Where can you find resources for building a portfolio?

See the Portfolio Builder resource for templates to create a teaching and a course portfolio.

Sources:

[1] Association of American Colleges and Universities. (2013). "Eportfolios." Washington, DC. (2012). At http://www.aacu.org/eportfolios/.

[2] Texas A&M University. "Aggies Commit to Learning for a Lifetime: A Quality Enhancement Plan." (2012). PDF. http://provost.tamu.edu/initiatives/quality-enhancement-plan/TAMUQEPforWEB_021712.pdf.

Image credit:

ADLC, LLC. http://adlcllc.com. 15 August 2013.