ePortfolios at the University of Wollongong Reviewing the progress of a campus-wide ePortfolio rollout

2 Presenter Ms Sarah Lambert Project Manager Student ePortfolio Project University of Wollongong Australia

3 Collection Selection Reflection and Presentation of Students’ best work…

4 ePortfolio - a vision In the future, “everybody would have a personal online space where they would store their ‘life’s work’ and make presentations of it in different formats for… friends and family, school and higher education, workmates, and job interviews. It would be a repository of all their accomplishments, their hopes and their reflections. It would stay with them for life and be a constant updatable companion: a diary, CV, a record, a forward planner” Stephani, Mason and Peglar, 2007

5 UoW and ePortfolios strategically exploring electronic portfolios since 2002 Home-grown database product in 2002/03 Recommendations to further explore build/buy options in 2004

6 2002/02 product

7 Many drivers Commitment to Graduate Attributes Employment trends Rise in Professional Skills, course accreditation Interest in ePortfolios to facilitate reflection on learning and the university experience AUQA

8 Australian University Quality Audit recommended pursuing ePortfolio to allow UoW to –“embed the Graduate Attributes into the curriculum and into teaching and assessment practices” as well as draw on the individual’s whole of life experiences outside the curriculum.”

9 UoW approach Academic integration for quality uptake Focus on embedding in programs Focus on urgent discipline needs with external accreditation pressures –Discipline specific Professional Skills Look into offering an optional ‘open to any student’ ePortfolio later

10 ePortfolio tool Reviewed a range of products Signed with Blackboard for Portfolio for Vista for 18 months –Tight integration with our LMS/VLE ie Vista –Enterprise wide solution, ITS support –Meets key user criteria

11 Customisation ePortfolio template can have –Customised graphics for the discipline –Inventory of professional skills pre-loaded via “goals” tool –Website structure of folders/areas pre- loaded includes a “how to use this ePortfolio” help module for students

12

13

14 Customised Goals

15 Outcome? Highlight and promote better understanding of Graduate Attributes and Professional Skills throughout UoW –For staff –For students Technology can be a lever for change –Open up a range of discussions otherwise difficult to have

cohorts

17 Evaluation with staff Video interviews about integration into classes, teaching, assessment

18 Dr Kate Bowles, Arts “There is a broader middle ground of students who are not saying I don’t want this, they are saying that unless it is compulsory, I don’t have time to figure out if it is useful. If we think that it is useful for them, we have to find ways of making time for them to do it. The only time we can give them is class time or assessment time…”

19 Latest research: takeup models

20 Where to next? Project Manager continues to work with new cohorts for 2008 including complete curriculum redesign of some courses Competition to source showcase samples of real student ePortfolio New website, to feature the showcases samples Carrick research scoping project