Grant recipients: Katherine Lithgow, Kyle Scholz, and Crystal Tse, Centre for Teaching Excellence
(Project timeline: September 2014-August 2015)
Description
After a decade of ePortfolio usage at the University of Waterloo, we aimed to begin to better align and understand the experiences of instructors and students when utilizing ePortfolios. To what extent are students and instructors agreeing on the goals and the rationale behind using ePortfolios? What might be done to ensure a better alignment between instructor and student expectations and leverage the power of ePortfolios?
To explore this, we analyzed changes in both student and instructor approach and reaction to ePortfolio activities over the course of a semester. This was documented and explored in detail to determine whether the experiences of both groups are aligned, and to determine whether the ePortfolio is meeting the intended learning outcomes set by the instructor. We were particularly interested in the steps the instructor takes to introduce and support the ePortfolio activity throughout the course, and how this impacts student learning.
Questions Investigated
- How do student and instructor orientations to ePortfolios change over the course of a semester?
- Are the expectations of students and intended learning outcomes of instructors aligned?
- What steps can be taken to better ensure alignment of student and instructor expectations?
Findings/Insights
At the end of this study, we had administered our survey to over 800 students over two terms, and had conducted focus groups with three courses in different disciplines and their respective instructors at various career stages (seasoned, novice, etc.). We came to the following conclusions upon analyzing this data. First, we recognize that some students, even after participating in courses with ePortfolio assessments, do not understand the role or function of ePortfolios. As a result, we need to help instructors understand that they need to emphasize the importance of the assignment at multiple stages throughout the course of the term – not just at the very beginning when discussing the course outline. The connection between the ePortfolio assignment and the course content must be made explicit to students; if students perceive these as being entirely separate, they likely will not be motivated to invest the requisite effort to complete the assignment. Finally, technology is indeed an impediment that needs to be at the very least discussed with instructors, if not actively considered in future educational technology implementations at the University of Waterloo.
Another finding relates to the alignment between instructor and student goals and expectations. Our findings suggest that when these are aligned, the ePortfolio experience will be better received and have greater learning gains for the students. If misalignment occurs, these learning gains are diminished and the assignment is largely ineffective, as can be expected. Interestingly, however, we did encounter multiple cases of misalignment where the ePortfolio assignment was still very effective, leading us to hypothesize the role of the instructor as a crucial element of what makes ePortfolios successful.
We conceptualized the instructor role within a deep, strategic, and surface paradigm, through which we can better predict how effective the instructor will likely be with his or her ePortfolio implementation. An instructor taking a deep approach is actively engaged and knowledgeable about the ePortfolio, is enthusiastic about its use, and meaningfully implements it. Instructors taking a surface approach are less engaged, less knowledgeable, and less enthusiastic about its use, and therefore the implementation tends to be less successful. We hypothesize the instructor role as being integral to its success, which current ePortfolio research does not consider.
Finally, we consider these findings to be relevant to other innovative pedagogical approaches outside the realm of educational technology, which still require instructor investment and enthusiasm about the process in order to be effective. We will use these findings to determine best ways to support instructors who are engaging in innovative pedagogical strategies.
Dissemination and Impact
- At the individual level: Our findings suggest that many students benefit from the reflective component of the ePortfolio process and the opportunity to make connections to learning beyond the classroom. Instructors benefit from seeing the connections their students are making beyond the course. The reflections help make the learning process visible to students and instructors
- At the Department/School and/or Faculty/Unit levels: Our findings have encouraged other departments to consider program wide implementation, e.g., BASE is implementing ePs at a program level.
- At the institutional (uWaterloo) level: Our findings suggest that our current ePortfolio platform is not meeting expectations for many students and instructors, and in some instances may contribute to student dissatisfaction with course activities. The findings indicate that integrating ePortfolios requires an understanding of the folio thinking process, and is more than just a technology. Our work has also been presented at the annual University of Waterloo Teaching and Learning conference: please see our presentation slides (PDF).
- At the national and/or international levels: Our findings are of interest to the larger ePortfolio community, and have shown that we are leaders in the ePortfolio field. We also presented our findings at the Association of Authentic Experiential Evidence-Based Learning (AAEEBL) conference in Boston, MA, and have had many excellent conversations with some of the leading ePortfolio researchers in this field as a result of our research. Please see our presentation slides (PDF).
Impact of the Project
- Teaching: We have discovered that best practices alone may not predict the success of the activity; the instructor’s attitudes and investment in the ePortfolio process is critical. This has implications for instructors who are asked to teach pre-authored courses with ePortfolio components and are given little support to develop their understanding of, and competence with, the ePortfolio.
- Involvement in other activities or projects: We have solidified connections with the ePortfolio Connect to Learning Research group have been encouraged by them to contribute the International Journal of ePortfolio http://theijep.com/ as well as the Association for Authentic Experiential and Evidence Based Learning ePortfolio Field Guide. We will be using some of the survey used in the project in a future ePortfolio project.
- Connections with people from different departments, faculties, and/or disciplines about teaching and learning: Instructors involved in the study are now more aware of the importance of making explicit to their students the outcomes they have planned for the ePortfolio use, and the importance of reinforcing this throughout the term. Through external conference presentations, we have made connections with others interested in our findings and with them continue to refine strategies concerning ePortfolio implementation.
References and Resources
Project reference list (PDF)