CIT eDoc: A case of collaborative & democratic design Rema Nilakanta (ISU), Olatz Lopez (UB), Tom Nyvang (AAU) & Laura Zurita (AAU) August , Aalborg University, DK

What is a portfolio? Typically, a portfolio is a purposeful collection of artifacts Different types of portfolios: –Marketing/Employment/Showcase –Assessment –Learning –Teaching –Course

Marketing/Showcase/Employment & Assessment portfolio Purpose: evaluation/employment/showcase A static collection of artifacts, usually of exemplary work Portfolio structure directed by educational institution or potential employer/s (Wolf & Dietz, 1998)

Learning & Teaching portfolio Purpose: Learning, professional development reflective journal documents the process of learning - includes works in progress - drafts - demonstrates progress over time contains feedback - formative evaluation or collaborative mentoring Author-owned and directed; student/teacher as the audience

Course portfolio Purpose: Improve a course, one’s teaching, and understand student’s learning Teacher’s analysis of a course (Cerbin, online, Barkley, 2003) Similar to a learning/teaching portfolio but focused on a single course Contains content from course, student work, teacher’s reflections

What is a portfolio? Four dominating perspectives: –a collection (physical) pragmatic –a tool for reflection cognitive –a process (e-foliation) cognitive/psychological –a theoretical activity theoretical/philosophical

Portfolio Types Portfolio TypePerspective  Marketing/Showcase/ Employment  Assessment Collection  Learning  Teaching  Course Reflective tool Process Theoretical act

Portfolio as a physical entity A portfolio is a “representative sample of one’s work. As the word’s roots suggest (and as is still the case in the arts) the sample of work is fashioned for a particular objective and carried from place to place for inspection or exhibition” (Wiggins in Barrett, on-line)

Portfolio as tool for reflection An electronic portfolio is not a haphazard collection of artifacts (i.e., a digital scrapbook or a multimedia presentation) but rather a reflective tool that demonstrates growth over time … [and is based] around a set of standards or learning goals. (Barrett, on-line)

Portfolio as a process [E]foliate might be to peel back the layers of learning in an electronic or technological format (wherein the creator sees unique connections throughout the process) (Norton-Meier, 2003).

Portfolio as a theoretical act Every time you design, organize, or create in your teacher education program a template, a framework, or a model for a teaching portfolio, you are engaged in an act of theory. Your theory of teaching will determine a reasonable portfolio entry (Shulman, 1998)

CIT eDoc: Context The eDoc Project IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY FSHN eDoc (Food Science & Human Nutrition) ISUComm eDoc (ISU Communication) ELPS eDoc (Educational Leadership & Policy Studies) CIT eDoc (Curriculum & Instructional Technology)

CIT eDoc Context –Part of a larger campus-wide project called eDoc ( The aim of eDoc is to design and develop discipline specific electronic portfolio “themes” for students to compile and display evidence of their knowledge and skill acquired during their study program – Utilizes open source technology –Integrated with uPortal - aggregates all servers on campus to provide a common entry point. (

CIT eDoc Aim –Design and develop an electronic portfolio system for Ph.D. students to facilitate their learning, professional development, and annual assessment –Develop a community of scholars of educational technology where identities are formed and transformed (Wenger 1998) - democratic learning

CIT eDoc Design Features: –Easy and quick access to artifacts (evidence of knowledge gained) with the help of the artifact grid –Informative display of artifact and accompanying reflections –Integrated discussion forum equipped with qualitative research tools enhancing the resourcefulness and utility of asynchronous communication –Assessment integrated with learning with the help of the artifact grid

CIT eDoc Design Process End users as designers - ISU and non ISU Ph.D. students and faculty members Collaborative and democratic –Design team includes students, faculty members, programmer, interface designers, trainers Iterative with several prototypes Reflective - revisit themes and critically analyze decisions Negotiated process involving designers, programmers, and students

Comments from an outsider… Tom Nyvang, Aalborg University

Comments… Process and product Context and transferability

CIT eDoc – Process and Product The technology we use shapes our perception of the task at hand – and existing practice shapes our perception of a new technology The CIT eDoc acknowledges this in two ways: –The eDoc is designed with existing practice as a springboard –The eDoc is used as a springboard for a new practice

Existing Practice as a Springboard Goals defined based on knowledge of what it takes to do a Ph.D. and problems defined by students and faculty –Learning objectives –Quality assurance objectives –Administrative objectives Faculty involvement Student driven (to a large extent) Grounded in an emerging tradition for electronic portfolios Grounded in research

A Springboard For a New Practice Electronic portfolio: From an emerging practice to a fully implemented mode of operation Towards more collaboration between Ph.D. students

Context and transferability ISU CIT Ph.D. –Heavy course load –Requirements to course load, subjects and products –Many Ph.D. students AAU HCI Ph.D. –Lesser courses and course load –Growing requirements to course load, subjects and product –Growing number of Ph.D. students HCI portfolio – learning, quality assurance and administrative objectives?

CIT eDoc Design Process from UB A monthly eDoc meeting (all ISU teams) A weekly CIT eDoc meeting (1h): –Agenda, distributed tasks, taking decisions… COLLABORATIVE DESIGN WebCT Platform –As a research electronic environment –Info about the project, people involved, resources, mock ups, minutes, discussions… UB/GREAM: Moodle platform

UB ILET participation GREAM: –ILET: ge.html ge.html –ILET UB: –ILET personal website: