ePortfolio Practicum

Portfolios in higher education, based in theory or context, are historically part of course practicum across university degree programs. Instructors in countless higher education institutions have used a paper-based format of portfolios as an assessment tool to evaluate student performance. The new territory in the 21st century classrooms demands or expects migration from a paper-based portfolio to an electronic or ePortfolio across an increasing number of university programs. Similar to their paper-based counterpart, ePortfolios provide students and instructors a digital tool to demonstrate or assess skills, generalized outcomes, and student learning as it relates to the curricular outcomes of a particular course or department. In addition, ePortfolios also serve as a networking outlet for both students and instructors allowing engagement or demonstration of life-long skills, professional development, representing skills or achievements within a particular field.

ePortfolios are digital dynamic development spaces representing a consortium of your academic skills, professional experience, and expertise in a particular field on the web. Most commonly, we see classroom ePortfolios include a solid representation of one’s skills and achievements while in school, as well as a blog element. By highlighting key aspects of professional development, such as education, publications, service, awards, or even recommendations, one can not only establish a solid representation of school achievements but ascertain themselves as an active or aspiring professional in a particular field.  Creating a unique ePortfolio by juxtaposing school and professional achievements gives a well-rounded professional presence and can be catered by design to reflect the personality of the user.

ePortfolio Platforms

Companies providing ePortfolios are perpetually sprouting up in the United States and internationally. One can be overwhelmed with ePortfolios if a university does not offer a standard ePortfolio platform for integration in curricular practicum. Internationally, PebblePad is widely used in the United Kingdom and Australia and commonly referred to as a Personal Learning Network. While PebblePad hasn’t gained much ground on American universities, Mahara, an open-source ePortfolio is becoming increasingly popular with its integration with Moodle. FolioSpaces is a free ePorfolio powered by Mahara but is not considered “open-source.” Avenet eFolio offers content management system solutions to the public, profit, nonprofit, and government sectors, notably known for their student “eFolio” systems.

Companies that offer ePortfolios such as Chalk and Wire, TaskStream, Digication, FolioTek, Epsilen, LiveTex, RCampus, Symplicity, iWebFolio, eLumen, and Adobe offer ePortfolio authoring products that can be purchased. While the majority of these companies offer products and services for instructors and institutions of higher education, some also extend those services to individuals and businesses seeking ePorfolio networking and social media solutions. Each company that offers ePortfolio systems has its own unique advantages and should be researched by the prospective consumer to ensure that student learning needs are met and can be easily integrated into your course management system.

Blogs as ePortfolios

With the increase in Blogging among students and “bloggers” alike, some instructors are turning to blogs and customizing its features to build a unique ePortfolio. Most blogs, such as WordPress, Blogger, and TypePad offer free and premium services that offer users a customizable blog that can be used for education, personal, or business purposes. Next week, I will offer an overview of what makes a great ePortfolio blog but in general, students enjoy using this format because of the customization abilities, easy use, quick time updating capabilities, and familiarity of a “blog feeling.” To view a sample of a student ePorfolio using a blog, click here.

Social Meda as ePortfolios

If Facebook is the big gun of personal social networking, then LinkedIn would be the king of business social networking. As business professionals are increasingly utilizing LinkedIn to network on a social media platform, more students are using this outlet to interact and promote themselves versus a traditional “ePortfolio.” As the need for this particular social media increases among business professionals, more schools are personalizing ePortfolios using LinkedIn versus an ePortfolio system, such as “eFolio.” One of the clear advantages of using LinkedIn is it offers free and premium services. In addition, the networking advantages give endless opportunities for students to promote their school and future professional field achievements while they are still a student in school. This month, I will outline the benefits of using LinkedIn as a substitute for “ePortfolios” for students and professionals alike.

 

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Resources for Today’s “Techie” Teacher

It’s no surprise that teachers are O V E R W H E L M E D with the amount of social media resources and “techie” tools for the classroom. Today’s teacher can subscribe to countless blogs, vlogs, podcasts, e-newsletters, tweets, facebook pages, RSS feeds, and the like. My last blog talked about a paradigm shift that we are experiencing. The student sitting in a classroom today is not like a student sitting in a classroom 10 years ago. Rather than going to the library to find paper copies of resources needed for a class, students are turning to smartphones, ipads, laptops, itunes, blogs, and other collaborative social media related sites. The teacher has not been asked, but required to morph into a techie-like guru to satisfy this demand among students. The problem is…..where is all the BEST information? Quantity is NOT the problem. Just Google”teacher resources” and in 0.09 seconds, you will have 53,400,000 results, roughly.

Throughout the next few weeks, I will cover QUALITY social media and technology tools teachers can use in their course. Best of all, all of these resources are free.

First, check out the ALA Best Websites for Teaching and Learning by clicking this link:
http://bit.ly/5rZcKI

Second, follow me on Twitter @LisaHoule. I give daily updates on the best social media and technology tools instructors can use.

Third, remember to start small. You do not have to incorporate everything….trust me, your students don’t want you to do that! What students want are consistency, assistance from the instructor, application, and interaction. Meaning, keep it simple, offer me help, make it apply to my world, and make it F U N!

Check back next week where I highlight a creative way to use blogging in your class that your students will LOVE!

 
Follow @LisaHoule

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Paradigm Shift

Creating a learner-centered environment for students is widely accepted among scholars in multiple post-secondary disciplines as common practice in curriculum design. As professors, we have hastily shifted the paradigm of knowledge solely dispensed from elite scholars within the ‘ivory tower’ of higher education by engaging learners through applied-learning and embracing technology as a tool in teaching. This is an exceptional time to be teaching in higher education as traditional paradigms shift to embrace learning that is not feasible solely in closed physical classrooms.

As technology and social media revolutionize education, we are not only serving learners by engaging them in the world but meeting an expectation. Learners expect to use technology in coursework as it is demanded as a common skill set in the corporate environment. Further, learners entering the post secondary classroom are adapt to using technology. Today’s college student is part of the cell phone, video game, Facebook, application, internet, and it’s got an app generation. These traditional college freshman age learners are part of the first generation to be born post-dot-com-bust of the late 90s. This means that this generation of learners grew up learning with technology from the start of their K-12 education.

Embracing this change has not been easy for everyone in higher education. However, the open source education movement is giving teachers options to engage students using technology in the classroom that was not previously available in years past. Technology Gurus’, as I like to refer to (including myself), use social media and technology such as Moodle, Flickr, WordPress, Google, Animoto, TED, among others, to bridge the gap between students and the world they live in.

Open source resources allow teachers to be empowered by showing learners the coursework in a new paradigm: Putting theory into practice to engage students in the world they live in. Do you know that a lay person can watch a class at Harvard or Stanford through podcasts? Did you realize that students can self-publish their projects and essays using blogs, such as WordPress, in addition to professional resources such as Blurb and LuLu? Or, how about following blogs and engage in commentary to learn more about a culture that cannot normally be reached within the walls of a classroom?

Are you interested in the paradigm shift now? Check back next week where I provide valuable resources for teachers to use open source and technology resources to embrace applied-learning and technology as synchronous tools.

 

Follow @LisaHoule

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