Ed Tech Year End
•
1 like•263 views
The document summarizes the goals and progress of a 3-year ePortfolio pilot project at a university. In Year One, the project met its goals of assessing ePortfolio models, providing training to faculty and students, evaluating the pilot, and piloting an ePortfolio site. It expanded to include students from other departments. In Year Two, the project will present its evaluation, mentor additional faculty, and continue workshops. In Year Three, it will further expand involvement and increase visibility through conferences. The project aims to help students develop professional materials and is requesting additional funding to expand its website and resources.
Report
Share
Ed Tech Year End
- 1. According to the 2005-06 grant proposal we had four primary goals for Year One of the pilot project implementation. These were: • To assess different available eportfolio models and standards to determine whether any currently available models are appropriate for the A&AA learning environment. • Provide appropriate training to faculty and students in eportfolio development. • To document and evaluate the pilot for the purposes of program improvement. • To pilot an eportfolio site We met and exceeded each of the goals stated above, and are beginning to look at the possibilities of extending ePortfolios to other departments on campus, such as the School of Journalism and the College of Education. With a small summer stipend from AAD, I was able to begin planning and development of the project last summer (05). I researched current ePortfolio models and their applicability to AAD and AAA, and met regularly with JD Hauger (Media Services), and Eric Schiff (Adjunct Instructor, AAD) to plan the project website and implementation strategy. At the beginning of Fall quarter, I began and completed the process of hiring our ePortfolio tutors and GTF for the project. Mary Bradley agreed to provide computer lab space for the project in the Millrace computer lab, which is immediately adjacent to the classroom where AAD students meet for their IT classes. I also designed a rigorous program evaluation, which included monitoring lab usage, lab time, and what the students needed the most help from the tutors with, using both quantitative and qualitative information. We began regular ePortfolio team meetings. Our GTF received training from JD on utilizing the word press website for our ePortfolio project needs. Fall Quarter During fall quarter, each week AAD graduate students met with ePortfolio tutors in the Millrace Computer Lab to design and post their ePortfolios. We began with 4 ePortfolios at the beginning of the term, and by the end of fall term, we had 10 ePortfolios posted on the project website. Last year, only 4 students out of 15 completed their ePortfolios. This year 10 out of 15 successfully completed and posted their ePortfolios on the website. Students utilized the tutors for help in the following areas: Dreamweaver, file organization, Fireworks, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, and content archiving. We worked with 30 students for a total of 76 outside-of-class hours, providing regularly scheduled lab hours as well as “mobile lab hours” for the AAD graduate students. The tutoring lab sessions were consistently rated extremely high by the students in terms of usefulness and tutor expertise and knowledge about the applications.
- 2. Winter Quarter During winter quarter, we expanded our project to include non-AAD students in other AAA Departments to offer a 3-workshop series on ePortfolio development for AAA PODS (Professional Outreach and Development for Students). 12 students from across AAA, including Interior Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Arts, Public Planning, and Digital Arts, participated. We continued to offer tutoring to students in the AAD internship and IT course sequences. I also completed a mid-year project evaluation. In this report are provided detailed responses to each of the project goals, implementation challenges and strategies, evaluative materials, assessments, and other project documentation. Spring Quarter Based on evaluations from the PODS workshops, we are planning to partner with PODS to offer ePortfolios tutors to assist AAA students to develop and post their ePortfolios on the project website. We will also create an interactive display for the AAA Career Fair in May, will include a 5-minute project video, and the ePortfolios. AAD graduate students will take the final IT course sequence and work with the tutors to complete and post their ePortfolios at the end of spring quarter. We anticipate having a total of 30-35 ePortfolios by the end of spring quarter. Summer Quarter Kartz Ucci, our faculty liaison with the Digital Arts program, will conduct a day long workshop in ePortfolio development at the end of her weeklong DVD authoring/web development course. Students completing this workshop will be expected to complete and post their ePortfolios on the project website. Year Two and Year Three of the Pilot Project Implementation We are on track for planning and implementing the project goals as stated in the grant. These were: 06/07: Year Two • Presentation of pilot and evaluation to Ed Tech committee. • Mentor additional AAA faculty in the development and use of eportfolios. • Continue workshops and trainings for A&AA faculty and students in design and applications specific to eportfolios. 07/08: Year Three • Continue to expand numbers of A&AA faculty and students involved with eportfolio development.
- 3. • Increase visibility of eportfolios through conference presentations and workshops. We expect to offer project resources to other AAA departments to assist students to develop and post their ePortfolios on the project website through supplementing coursework; to continue to work with PODS to offer workshops and ePortfolio development outside of structured coursework; and disseminate the project website through conference presentations, publications, and peer review. I am in conversation with Nancy Cheng in Architecture to offer ePortfolios to students in Architecture in the fall. Additionally, we have begun conversations with the College of Education and School of Journalism on applications for ePortfolios in their programs, and with JQ Johnson on the applicability of ePortfolios to the campus environment. Problems we have encountered Our biggest problems in execution during the first term of the implementation (fall quarter) was website development and server administration. Re-State Education Outcomes/Goals of the project Our primary goal is to assist students to develop, maintain, and archive professional development and academic materials throughout their education for the purposes of professional and academic advancement. Though portfolios have long been used in Colleges of Education for teacher preparation and certification assessment, digital portfolio applications for students in design and performing arts have been very limited. This project was designed to meet a need to connect pre-professional students with arts organizations for internships and job placement, and to provide a communication hub for arts organizations to meet their needs for qualified interns and professional personnel. Very few universities are currently using ePortfolios in this way, and certainly in the Arts and Administration field, they are non-existent. Our project differs from other ePortfolio projects by its emphasis on tools development. Where ePortfolios are commonly used to provide a template for students to archive and disseminate their skills and abilities, we focus on training students in the skills to do so. Particularly in Arts Management, this provides our graduate students a huge competitive edge in the job market. We are now considering how we can merge our efforts with other colleges and programs on campus, so in this sense, our goals have shifted somewhat. I am very interested in working with other programs on campus and am very interested in how we can tailor our project to do so. I am hopeful that we can at least offer our tutors and website to other departments in the coming year. We are also in conversation with JQ and others about whether there may be open-source software that could be tailored to serve the needs of Education for assessment,
- 4. and for AAA in professional advancement. So, our goals have broadened somewhat since we began. We would also like to access the expertise of people who are involved in ePortfolio development in Portland and Seattle, and begin a peer review process for our ePortfolios and our project. We need to develop standards in content, procedures, and review for the process of developing and posting ePortfolios, and put into place a system for working across disciplines. I believe that after next year we will have a much clearer idea of how this will work. This year, I wanted to focus on procedures and processes for making it work in one department, and moving outward from a position of strength. Additionally, I am still committed to ePortfolio development for faculty. The relevance of this to tenure and promotion, for increasing the availability and applications of research and course materials, and for assessing pedagogy, are obvious. However, I think that this will require different strategies, and resources, and I would like to stay focused on the student benefits during this three-year pilot. Funding requirements We are increasing our budget request this year. I have been conducting a comprehensive program evaluation all year, and expect to add to it for the final report required by the Ed Tech Committee. I have provided the Committee with a copy of the mid-year report. Based on these findings, and after conversations with other Schools and Colleges, and with Media Services, it is clear that applications for ePortfolios across campus are apparent. In order to continue and build on these conversations, we need--primarily--human resource time. § We need to develop out project website from a Word Press site to a fully interactive digital website. So far, we have not been able to post on our dedicated server because of the limitations of Word Press, and staffing limitations. We are discussing with IMG the possibility of working with them. If they cannot take it on, we are going to need to contract with someone else to get it done. § We are going to need to add a webmaster/server administrator to the project so that as we continue to add more students, we have a dedicated staff person to administrate student permissions, standards, postings, and archiving. We will also need this person to administer the database, which will become the communication hub for students to connect with arts organizations. § I am asking for an additional course release, as director. This past year I had one buy-out for the project, and this was not enough time to properly manage and develop the project. § I am requesting additional money for Eric Schiff, as curriculum and IT advisor, and for PODS for their participation and support, and I am decreasing the additional AAA faculty budget. Because of faculty time limitations, it is more realistic to to work with AAA faculty as liaisons with their departments. § We will also be adding a travel request so that we can either travel to Portland or Seattle for consultations, or bring the experts to us here in Eugene. § I am adding a line for software and supplies. Copying and purchases (for books, paper, etc) came out of AAD this year, and we anticipate a need for additional software in the coming year. Implementation and Sustainability
- 5. We expect to have a fully functional and peer reviewed ePortfolio project by the end of the three-year pilot. This year we concentrated on implementing it in one department, with trial runs in PODS and in one other department. Next year we will add departments, and expect that by year three, will have included all AAA departments, and--hopefully--other colleges and programs on campus. During years two and three, and after we have a re-designed website, I expect to begin to ask for peer reviews, and will ask that each additional faculty ask for reviews within their professional and academic networks. I anticipate attending national ePortfolio conferences, and publishing reports on our project in peer reviewed journals. I also want out project to become the communication hub for arts organizations to communicate with pre-professionals, and expect to do this, in part, through working to link our site to professional associations. I will begin the process this summer when I will present the project at a national conference in Washington DC. By spring of next year, I expect to begin to look for external funding to sustain the project.