1. Exploring the ePortfolio in Canvas
A little background… Portfolios have long been recognized as an effective assessment tool for art classes and writing classes. For writing assessment, they replaced exams during the early 80s. The 90s saw the advent of ePortfolios.
a webinar by Gail A. Ryder
2/12/18

2. What is an ePortfolio?
“. . . collection of student work that demonstrates achievement or improvement” (Stiggins, 1994)
“a portfolio is a collection of evidence that is gathered together to show a person’s learning journey over time and to demonstrate their abilities” (Butler, 2006)
It may include essays, posters, photographs, videos, artwork, reflections, study guides, critical reviews, references listings, research etc..
They may also capture other aspects of students’ community service, special projects, work/study, internships,
“collection of student work that demonstrates achievement or improvement” (Stiggins 1994)
“a portfolio is a collection of evidence that is gathered together to show a person’s learning journey over time and to demonstrate their abilities” (Butler 2006)
Typically, ePortfolios are assembled with materials ACROSS courses to meet program outcomes. I’m using them in a narrowed way to have students assemble materials across modules within a course to meet course outcomes. More on that later.
The two examples I will share are from 2 different courses—GRS 598—Foundations of Research and Professional Writing and ENG 485 Voices of the Harlem Renaissance.

3. eVolved definition
“…a purposeful collection of student work that illustrates efforts, progress, and achievement in one or more areas [over time]. The collection must include: student participation in selecting contents, the criteria for selection, the criteria for judging merit, and evidence of self-reflection”
(The Northwest Evaluation Association cited in Barret 2005)
This definition adds even more elements… efforts, one or more areas, over time, student CHOICE, criteria, self-reflection

4. Characteristics of the ePortfolio
ePortfolios generate as well as document learning
They provide an opportunity and virtual space for students to critically assess their academic work, to reflect on the work and make connections to other courses and concepts
ePortfolios grew out of a learning theory known as social constructivism
This theory of social constructivism argued that learning happens most effectively when students construct systems of knowledge for themselves. Others researching ePortfolios assert that the process of critical reflection involved in the creation of an ePortfolio as one that makes “invisible learning” visible.

5. My samples will each include items across modules of a single course GRS 598 and ENG 485

6. This is the home page for my project on Harlem Dance Styles of the 1920s. I knew that I had to convey directions to the students and I didn’t want those to be separate from my ePortfolio, so I combined the two. This home page tells students what an ePortfolio is and what they might consider including in it. You’ll notice that some of the items in the bulleted list are included in the menu to the left. Each one of the blue menu items is linked to an individual page. Look at the upper write for directions. “How do I?”

7. This is the bottom of the Home page, and I’ve linked the main tutorial for how to create an ePortfolio here. I also included links and directions in my module overview. It doesn't hurt to put them in several places. So this page tells students how to complete this assignment, but it also acts as a visual demonstration. I also made a video for my students where I talk about how I put this portfolio together. So, they have that, too.

8. This page has a map of Harlem Clubs that can be zoomed in on
This page has a map of Harlem Clubs that can be zoomed in on. I’ve supplied background on the map and cited where it came from. I’m asking students to do this so that when they write their short reflection on this “curated collection,” they will be able to use proper citation format. A working bibliography was one of the early “checkpoint” assignments for this course.

9. Here, I’ve been able to show students that we can link videos to our ePortfolio. I collected dance videos that demonstrated the 3 main popular dances of the time. One thing I like is that I can keep adding to this if I find more materials that I like better. It’s both a process and a product.

10. Here, I’ve used a painting by Archibald Motley, and if you scrolled down, I have a poem titled “Zazzonia” which gives the poet’s view of this era and the how important dance was as an art form.
There’s a lot more to explore here, but I wanted to show you another ePorftolio used for a graduate level writing course. I’m not as happy with it and I learned a lot about using them from this one.

11. Again, this is the home page for my ePortfolio that illustrates how I want my students to organize their materials. You’ll see my directions here in the list and on the left hand menu in blue are links to each page which has live links to the directions back in the modules. So, this project is one that takes place over time and includes specific assignments from the modules. You can see the order they are submitted by the blue menu. First, the annotated article.

12. This one is less visually attractive, so if I taught this again, I’d remedy that. Students have links to the support materials here, but I wanted to show you that you can make comments on each piece they submit. This is called a “checkpoint.” So, by the time the course is over, the student should have solid final work here. It may be work you have already graded, so all you have to do is grade the ePortfolio for how thorough and thoughtful the it is—overall.
This ePortfolio included multiple checkpoints because it included a final critique of a journal article. So, students had to include the annotated article, a precis, as summary, etc. There was an outline and a revised outline, a rough draft, a peer review and a final product. It also include a professional journal summary—they were to keep a journal during the course and then summarize it a the end. I didn’t use a rubric here because each piece was separately graded. They did have the opportunity to improve each piece using my feedback. So, I just graded this holistically.

13. Create Your Own Plan Collect Organize Build Reflect
Do you own first. Take the tutorials in CANVAS. Link the student tutorials to an assignment page so your students will always have the links. Just search for ePortfolio in the Canvas Guides. Or, you can do like I did. Find the link and just start in. When you get lost, you can read directions or watch the tutorials.
Look at your outcomes. How will you know that students have met them.
You might wonder how long it took for me to build mine. Since I know a great deal about the Harlem Renaissance, I didn’t have to start from scratch, so one afternoon and I was able to assemble the materials. I’ll show you what it looks like now.

14. Final Thoughts Student centered activity fosters student agency
Choices
Establish clear expectations (models, samples, rubrics?)
Scaffolding and checkpoints
Make it social/peer response or review? Collaborative?
Make it count! Share with class
Questions??? Comments