Call for Proposals

This page contains all the information to submit a proposal for the AAEEBL Annual Meeting 2023:

• Situating the Theme

• Session Formats and Proposal Submission

• Important Dates

• Review Criteria

Situating the Theme 'ePortfolio Learning in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Fostering Authentic Assessment Through Inclusive Pedagogies and Design Justice'

AAEEBL has a long history of, and commitment to, practices and pedagogies that enable learners to document and reflect on their learning and that promote / encourage authentic assessment and academic integrity. Indeed, ePortfolio pedagogies and research have demonstrated the importance of creating space for learners to share connections and transfer learning between and among contexts. New opportunities to consider the ways that we can engage learners with ePortfolios in authentic assessment continue to proliferate. 

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted (or forced) many of us in the ePortfolio community to rethink how we design ePortfolio implementations so as to center those who are often marginalized. Since then, the ongoing ramifications of post-pandemic life as well as new opportunities for rethinking pedagogical practices such as the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) require that we remain vigilant in designing ePortfolio opportunities that foster equity and inclusion while also promoting engagement, authentic learning, and academic integrity. Now more than ever, changes in enrollments and budgets demand that we articulate the value and impact of ePortfolios to institutional and community stakeholders. 

The 2023 AAEEBL Annual Meeting will be a place of exploration: How are inclusive pedagogies that harness ePortfolio practices in a post-pandemic world best designed to foster authentic assessment and academic integrity? AI is an emerging field and topic of discussion in the portfolio world. How do we interact with it? What does it all mean in regards to design justice, digital ethics, assessment, and inclusive portfolio planning? In which ways can AI benefit portfolio activities for both students and instructors? How do we leverage the principles of design justice to create successful portfolio implementation frameworks and follow digital ethics portfolio design principles to foster belonging for all?

We will have four focus areas:

1. Authentic assessment: How can authentic assessment strategies center marginalized voices, e.g. in institutional assessment and accreditation efforts, effective course and program design?

2. Digital tools, including AI: How can portfolio practice give students the critical digital literacies to navigate present and emerging digital tools in ways that complement and extend their learning, productivity, and well-being? How does technology expand and / or constrain the scope of our vision for ePortfolios that are designed with justice in mind?

3. Design justice: How can portfolio designs be justice oriented, and how can these designs improve and enhance higher education? How should we consider the principles of design when implementing ePortfolios?

4. Effective implementation frameworks: How can applying an effective implementation framework using a stakeholder approach and other high impact practices sustain, heal, and empower all members of our community? How can we most effectively promote equity, access, inclusion, and belonging through ePortfolio implementations? What practices (e.g. pedagogies, integrations, assessments, reflections, showcases, professional development) have proven to be successful in creating authentic assessments?

Session Formats

The Annual Meeting has three distinct components:

• Online part: 13 and 14 July 2023

• In-person pre-conference workshop day: 19 July 2023 in Vancouver, BC, Canada

• In-person part: 20-21 July 2023 in Vancouver, BC, Canada

The online part of the Annual Meeting will take various time zones into account by offering sessions on 13 July 2023 geared towards the Pacific region (west coast of the Americas, Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, South-East / East Asia). Sessions on 14 July 2023 will make it easier for participants from Africa, Europe, and the eastern parts of the Americas to participate. Sessions formats are:

• 20x20 presentation

• Concise presentation

• Workshop

• Digital poster

All sessions will be held on Zoom and will be recorded.

The in-person pre-conference workshop day and conference days privilege session formats that actively engage participants and lend themselves well for in-person conversations and working together. Sessions do not need to be mediated through technology, but can also take place outside on campus, use whiteboards, pen and post-it notes, and in general make use of our physical environment to engage with each other. The session formats are:

• 20x20 presentation

• Conversation

• Workshop

• Pre-conference workshop

• Digital poster

These sessions will not be held online and will not be recorded. Participants are encouraged to provide a summary of their working sessions or a concrete outcome that can be shared with the community.

20x20 Presentation (virtual or in-person)

A 20x20 presentation is part of a 1-hour session where seven presenters provoke an open dialogue with the community through a fast-paced and primarily visual presentation. Each presenter has 20 slides that auto-advance after 20 seconds and should focus on innovative teaching ideas, creative project processes, and/or developed project outcomes that to the conference theme.

Duration: 6.7 minutes per presentation

Workshop (virtual or in-person)

Workshops are intended to enhance hands-on skills and broaden attendees’ perspectives on ePortfolios. They should be interactive and designed to introduce a rigorous framework for learning a new area or to provide advanced training in an area.

Submissions will be selected on the basis of your description of the learning outcomes, participatory design of the session, and its contribution to the overall conference program and AAEEBL mission.

Duration: 

• Virtual: 85 minutes

• In-person: 55 minutes

Concise presentation (virtual)

Concise presentations provide opportunities for presentation and discussion of research, informed practice, works in progress, reports on specialized topics, pilot studies, or brief reports on innovative practice in technology-supported teaching and learning.

Duration: 20 minutes

Conversation (in-person)

These sessions are designed to provide time and space for participants to discuss aspects of ePortfolio use that fit with the conference theme. Conversation sessions should describe the topic to be discussed, ground the topic in the existing literature, and explain how you will facilitate the conversation. Proposals should identify the discussion questions in the proposal.

Presentation slides should not be used during these sessions.

Duration: 55 minutes

Pre-Conference Workshop (in-person)

We invite sessions aimed at engaging participants with the conference theme in more focused ways. These are also an opportunity for participants to learn about the ways that ePortfolios can foster authentic learning steeped in integrity. These sessions should provide deepened opportunities for participants to engage with the topic.

Duration: 3 hours

Digital Poster

We invite you to share new work or approaches to ePortfolios in digital posters (template provided by AAEEBL) of work happening on your campus, no matter whether it relates to the conference topic or not as we'd love to share what has happened in our community over the last 12 months.

You don't need to be available to speak to your poster but are welcome to. The session format will be determined once we know how many posters have been accepted.

Proposal Submission Closed

The proposal submission period has closed. Presenters and session facilitators will be contacted soon about the outcome of the review.

You can now register for the AAEEBL Annual Meeting 2023.

Review Criteria

• Fit with call for proposals: The proposal directly engages the conference call and contributes to conversations in authentic and inclusive ePortfolio practice. Exempted are poster proposals.

• Contribution: The proposal offers insights valuable for the AAEEBL community and has the potential to spark audience engagement and stimulate discussions about ePortfolio practice.

• Contextualization: The proposal contextualizes the focus of the proposal within scholarly dialogue related to ePortfolio practice.

• Focus: The proposal has a clear focus and sufficiently explains the approach to the presentation plan in ways that are feasible for the proposed format.