Thursday, October 30, 2014

Faculty inquiry about ePortfolios in higher ed

I received the following email from an educator:
I am very interested in learning more about ePortfolios.  I can think of so many advantages to using them and find the idea very appealing.  However, I don't really know where to start.  I tried to connect with our IT people on campus this last summer and they don't have any expertise in this area.  Your website looks like a great place to start reading and learning for me.  Can you tell me when there might be an online course offered next, or a workshop in the general vicinity, please?  I am very interested in the topic.
Here is my response:

Thanks for the inquiry. Are you interested for your own students, or for the entire campus community? If for yourself, then you can start with a minimal investment of cost, time and effort. An organizational implementation involves a lot more planning and infrastructure.

Did you find my free self-paced online courses on developing ePortfolios (designed for K-12 teachers)?
https://sites.google.com/site/k12eportfolios/ (generic online tools)
https://sites.google.com/site/k12eportfolioapps/ (Google Apps)

Your students need to have some type of online space for their work (Storage). If your university has Google Apps for Education, your problem is solved. If not, your students will need to adopt an online storage space. I also like the free WordPress.com software for storing and organizing student work. There are links in my online class that discuss turning blogs into showcase portfolios. I like blogs because they are a great space for ongoing reflection on work. Here is a website that I developed to identify free online tools:
http://electronicportfolios.org/eportfolios/tools.html

I have several Sites that discuss developing ePortfolios with these tools:
https://sites.google.com/site/eportfolioapps/
https://sites.google.com/site/eportfolioswp/

I believe that adult students should own their own online ePortfolio webspace, rather than using a customized system owned by the university. Here is a link to the website at Salt Lake City Community College, where they support students using one of these free online tools:
http://www.slcc.edu/gened/eportfolio/
www.weebly.com
www.wordpress.com
sites.google.com
www.jimdo.com
www.wix.com
You might contact the folks at IUPUI in Indianapolis. They have a very well-developed ePortfolio program, although they have specific assessment goals and use customized tools.
http://academicaffairs.iupui.edu/PlansInitiatives/Initiatives/ePortfolio
You might contact Susan Kahn at IUPUI. They have an event planned for November.
I am not familiar with any universities in Ohio implementing ePortfolios.

There are also some events planned by AAEEBL (the professional ePortfolio organization for higher ed): http://www.aaeebl.org

Hopefully that gives you some place to start. Good luck.