The University of Oregon ePortfolio Research Summary discusses a coalition across professional schools at the University of Oregon that is researching the use of eportfolios. The coalition has been sharing resources for two years to build understanding of eportfolios on campus. Several schools have implemented eportfolio prototypes to integrate learning and assess students. The goals for 2008-2009 are to research platforms for a system that supports public portfolios, integrated student work, and assessment. The research will examine how to effectively scaffold and measure qualitative skills across disciplines through eportfolios.

1. University of Oregon ePortfolio Research Summary
Description: Our group is a coalition from University of Oregon professional schools[1] that has been sharing
resources and knowledge for two years in order to build understanding of eportfolios on campus. In the School
of Architecture and Allied Arts (AAA) we have had a prototype for eportfolios for 3 years, which focuses on
integrating IT coursework with professional preparation curriculum through eportfolios as authentic assessment.
At the institutional level, the project is expanding in scope to integrate student learning assessment strategies,
and the utility of eportfolio as a measure for institutional accountability and student-centered learning outcomes.
Broad goals include:
• For students: encourages deeper learning, more significant connections across learning
experiences, and professional career development.
• For faculty: encourages new approaches to teaching and evaluating learning.
• For administrators: supports assessment goals.
2008-2009 Goals: Research and assess existing platforms for one that satisfies the need for a fully public
professional portfolio, linked to academic storage space where students house artifacts created throughout
academic career, and which can be accessed by faculty and academic advisors across units, and which is
flexible enough to include course galleries spaces for course-related collaborative projects, and for showcasing
best work. Each area includes standards and assessment components related to the academic area, allowing
students to integrate and demonstrate learning outcomes across courses and experiences.
This year we will expand AAA eportfolios to include assessments and standards, adding courses and faculty. In
the Lundquist College of Business (LCB), students will utilize eportfolios across group learning experiences, as
we pilot assessment-driven eportfolio learning. In Arts and Administration (AAD), entering students will create
and manage academic and professional eportfolios, and faculty will utilize eportfolios for group collaboration and
for student capstone experiences. In Architecture (ARCH), students will record design work towards course
objectives based on accreditation performance criteria. Using these efforts as the basis for our research, we will
by year-end, make a proposal to the university for an effective eportfolio delivery system that can be prototyped
across additional academic units.
• Pilot a new platform in LCB driven by student-centered assessment framework, building on the
process foundation built in AAD
• Continue to work with PLONE-based system in AAD & ARCH, adding new faculty, students, and
courses
• Expand AAD career eportfolios and ARCH studio portfolios to include student-centered
assessments
Research Question: In creating an eportfolio process/system that suits diverse disciplinary needs regarding
student-centered assessments, curriculum development, and career eportfolios, we will examine how to
effectively scaffold and measure qualitative abilities.
Our research goals include: to discover how effectively we can use electronic media to support learning of
complex, human skills such as teamwork, verbal communication and visual design; to explore how different
disciplines can convey objectives and performance criteria, coach students online or face-to-face and assess
progress, and increase quality and consistency in team-taught courses; to investigate flexibility vs.
standardization in the eportfolio process; and, to explore how specific academic disciplinary needs can be
addressed by a system that allows administrative data aggregation.
Methodology: We will use an Integrative Learning Design Framework (Bannan-Ritland, 2003) as the over-
arching framework for exploring an effective design and implementation of an ePortfolio system for students and
faculty, and to engage the campus community in an iterative process of inquiry, feedback, prototype, and
redesign.
We will:
• Engage Faculty and Staff to gain awareness, professional development and support
opportunities through various existing campus mechanisms.
• Collaboratively develop a UO ePortfolio Design Specifications document based on input
and feedback from students, faculty, administration, and other stakeholders.

2. • Continue the practice of an open, monthly face-to-face forum relative to specific
successes and challenges, of the ePortfolio at UO.
• Report results and gathering of feedback from relevant campus stakeholder groups,
programs, and administration.
• Distribute results through campus listserv, project website, publications and
presentations, and other formal and informal communication strategies.
Project Goals: Research and assess existing platforms for one that satisfies the need for a fully public
professional portfolio, linked to academic storage space where students house artifacts created throughout
academic career, and which can be accessed by faculty and academic advisors across units, and which is
flexible enough to include course gallery spaces for course-related collaborative projects, and for showcasing
best work. Each area includes standards and assessment components related to the academic area, allowing
students to integrate and demonstrate learning outcomes across courses and experiences.
EPortfolio Project Team: Lori Hager, Nancy Cheng, Ron Bramhall, Jonathon Richter, Andre Chinn.
Rev. N. Cheng, L. Hager
8/03/08
[1] These include: Lundquist College of Business (Honors College), College of Education/Center for Advanced
Technology in Education, School of Journalism and Communication, School of Architecture and Allied Arts