1. Electronic Portfolios in STEM
What is an Electronic Portfolio?
How can e-portfolios be used in STEM?
Dr. Helen Barrett
http://electronicportfolios.org
STEMTech Conference
November 1-2, 2010

2. Handout
Side 1
Links to Resources
referenced on this page:
National Educational
Technology Plan (USDOE)
http://www.ed.gov/sites/de
fault/files/NETP-2010-final-
report.pdf
Effective Practice with
e-Portfolios (JISC in U.K.)
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/effecti
vepracticeeportfolios
This handout:
http://www.scribd.com/doc
/40206175/Eport-Definition

3. Portfolio
One Word,
Many Meanings

4. DEFINITIONS
Who was the first
famous “folio”
keeper?

5. Definitions - World English Dictionary
1. flat case, esp of leather, used for carrying maps, drawings,
etc
2. the contents of such a case, such as drawings, paintings,
or photographs, that demonstrate recent work: an art
student's portfolio
3. such a case used for carrying ministerial or state papers
4. the responsibilities or role of the head of a government
department: the portfolio for foreign affairs
5. Minister without portfolio a cabinet minister who is not
responsible for any government department
6. the complete investments held by an individual investor
or by a financial a organization

6. What is a Portfolio?
• Dictionary definition:
a flat, portable case
for carrying loose
papers, drawings, etc.
• Financial portfolio: document
accumulation of fiscal capital
• Educational portfolio: document
development of human capital

7. Portfolio
A purposeful collection of
artifacts (learning/work
products with reflection)
demonstrating efforts,
progress, goals, and
achievement over time

8. Electronic
• digital artifacts organized online
combining various media
(audio/video/text/images)

9. 9
Processes
Portfolio
Collection
Selection
Reflection
Direction/Goals
Presentation
Feedback
Evaluation
Technology
Digitizing/Archivin
g
Linking/Thinking
Digital Storytelling
Collaborating
Publishing
Social
Networking
Connect
(“Friending”)
Listen
(Reading)
Respond
(Commenting)
Share
(linking/tagging)

10. Boundaries Blurring
(between e-portfolios & social networks)
• Structured
Accountability
Systems? or…
• Lifelong interactive portfolios
Mash-ups Flickr
YouTubeblogs
wikis Twitter
Picasa
Facebook
Ning

11. QUOTE
 The e-portfolio is the central
and common point for the student
learning experience… It is a reflection of
the student as a person undergoing
continuous personal development,
not just a store of evidence.
-Geoff Rebbeck, e-Learning Coordinator, Thanet College, quoted in JISC,
2008, Effective Practice with e-Portfolios

12. Purpose
• The overarching purpose of
portfolios is to create a sense of
personal ownership over one’s
accomplishments, because
ownership engenders feelings of
pride, responsibility, and
dedication. (p.10)
• Paris, S & Ayres, L. (1994) Becoming Reflective Students and Teachers.
American Psychological Association

13. E-Portfolio Components
< Multiple Portfolios for
Multiple Purposes
-Celebrating Learning
-Personal Planning
-Transition/entry to courses
-Employment applications
-Accountability/Assessment
< Multiple Tools to Support
Processes
-Capturing & storing evidence
-Reflecting
-Giving & receiving feedback
-Planning & setting goals
-Collaborating
-Presenting to an audience
< Digital Repository
(Becta, 2007; JISC, 2008)

14. National Educational
Technology Plan (2010)
Learning Purpose
• Technology also gives students opportunities for
taking ownership of their learning. Student-
managed electronic learning portfolios can be
part of a persistent learning record and help
students develop the self-awareness required
to set their own learning goals, express their
own views of their strengths, weaknesses, and
achievements, and take responsibility for
them. Educators can use them to gauge
students’ development, and they also can be
shared with peers, parents, and others who are
part of students’ extended network. (p.12)

15. National Educational
Technology Plan (2010)
Assessment Purpose
• Many schools are using electronic portfolios and other
digital records of students’ work as a way to demonstrate
what they have learned. Although students’ digital products
are often impressive on their face, a portfolio of student
work should be linked to an analytic framework if it is to
serve assessment purposes. The portfolio reviewer needs to
know what competencies the work is intended to
demonstrate, what the standard or criteria for competence
are in each area, and what aspects of the work provide
evidence of meeting those criteria. Definitions of desired
outcomes and criteria for levels of accomplishment can be
expressed in the form of rubrics. (p.34)

16. Handout
Side 2
Links to Resources referenced on this
page
Managing Oneself (Drucker)
http://www.public.navy.mil/usff/Doc
uments/managing_oneself.pdf
Balancing the Two Faces of
ePortfolios (Barrett)
http://eft.educom.pt/index.php/eft/
article/viewFile/161/102
Online Personal Learning
Environments: Structuring
Electronic Portfolios for Lifelong and
Life Wide Learning (Barrett)
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dd7
6m5s2_39fsmjdk

17. Managing Oneself
 “Success in the
knowledge economy
comes to those who
know themselves –
their strengths, their
values, and how best
they perform.”
 New Purpose: Use
ePortfolios for managing
knowledge workers'
career development
 What are my strengths?
 How do I perform?
 What are my values?
 Where do I belong?
 What should I contribute?
 Responsibility for
Relationships
 The Second Half of your Life
(a suggested framework for
organizing reflection in
learning portfolio?)
Peter Drucker, (2005) Harvard Business Review

18. Portfolio Careers
• Video: http://vimeo.com/15236162
• Use e-portfolios to help students:
– explore their life purpose and goals
– explore their personal & professional identity
– build their professional online brand
– prepare for portfolio career/life

19. Some Basic Concepts
 “ePortfolio is both process and
product”
Process: A series of events (time and
effort) to produce a result
- From Old French proces (“‘journey’”)
Product: the outcome/results or
“thinginess” of an activity/process
- Destination
 Wiktionary

20. Balancing the 2 Faces of
E-Portfolios

22. Types of E-Portfolio Implementation
• Working Portfolio
– The Collection
– The Digital Archive
– Repository of Artifacts
– Reflective Journal
(eDOL)
– Collaboration Space
Portfolio as Process
-- Workspace (PLE)
“shoebox”
• Presentation Portfolio(s)
– The “Story” or Narrative
– Multiple Views
(public/private)
– Varied Audiences
(varied permissions)
– Varied Purposes
Portfolio as Product
-- Showcase

23. Creating e-portfolios with “free” GoogleApps
(Education Edition) or WordPress/EduBlogs
1. Storage = Google Docs
2. Reflective Journal = Blogger or
WordPress
3. Presentation =
Google Sites or
WordPress pages

24. Level 1 – Collection in the Cloud

25. Level 2: Primary Purpose: Learning/Reflection

26. Level 3: Primary Purpose: Showcase/Accountability

27. “Know Thyself”
Temple at Delphi

28. Assessment
/Evaluation
Self
Others
(i.e., Educators)
Self
Others
(i.e., Employer/Clients)
Self
Progeny/
History?

29. Portfolio Learning
Figure 2 A model of e-portfolio-based learning, adapted from Kolb (1984)
JISC, 2008, Effective Practice with e-Portfolios, p. 9
Experience
Understanding
FeelingReviewing
Reflecting
Publishing &
Receiving Feedback
Sharing &
Collaborating
Dialogue
Selecting
Synthesizing
Recording
Organizing
Planning
Conceptualizing
& Constructing
Meaning

30. Lifelong Context for ePortfolios

31. PORTFOLIOS CAN HELP
LEARNERS FIND THEIR VOICE…
and explore their Purpose
and Passions through Choice!

32. DR. HELEN BARRETT
Researcher & Consultant
Electronic Portfolios & Digital Storytelling for
Lifelong and Life Wide Learning
eportfolios@gmail.com
http://electronicportfolios.org/
http://www.slideshare.net/eportfo
lios

33. Four key pillars of Lifelong Learning
(Barbara Stäuble, Curtin University of Technology, Australia)
http://lsn.curtin.edu.au/tlf/tlf2005/refereed/stauble.html

34. Knowing the learner
(Self-awareness)
• Understanding prior knowledge
• Motivation for and attitudes toward
learning
• Help learners understand themselves
• See their growth over time

35. Planning for learning
(Self management)
• Setting goals
• Develop a plan to
achieve these
goals

36. Understanding how to learn (Meta-
learning)
• Awareness of learners to
different approaches to
learning
• Deep vs. Surface Learning,
Rote vs. Meaningful Learning
• Different Learning Styles
• Help learners recognize success
• Accommodate approaches that are not
successful

37. Evaluating learning
(Self monitoring)
• Systematic analysis of learners’ performance
• Responsibility to construct meaning
• Be reflective & think critically
• Learners construct meaning,
monitor learning, evaluate own
outcomes

38. Portfolios in the Cloud
Lifelong Portfolios maintained online

39. Why Web 2.0?
Access from Anywhere!
Interactivity!
Engagement!
Lifelong Skills!
Mostly FREE!
All you need is an <EMBED> Code

40. Institutional Portfolios
• What happens when a learner leaves or
transfers?
Learners’
Digital Archives
and presentation
portfolios
Class
portfolios
Guidance
portfoliosEmployment
portfolios
Institution’s
server or
online service
Limited
Time
Frame
Institutional
data
Blogs
Faculty-generated
evaluation data
Academic
focus
Social
networks

41. Separate Systems
Learner-Centered
• Learners maintain collection across the lifespan,
institutions maintain evaluation data & links
Learners’
Digital Archive & Blog
Learner-owned
Lifelong Web Space
Class
portfolio
Guidance
portfolio
Employment
portfolio
Institution’s
Server or
Service &
Purposes
Limited
Time Frame
hyperlinks
Institutional
data
Meta-tags
Faculty-generated
evaluation data
Life-wide
focus
Social
networks

42. ePortfolio “Mash-up”
ePortfolio “Mash-up”
Small pieces, loosely joined
Lifetime Personal
Web Space

43. Electronic Portfolios
• almost two decades (since 1991)
• used primarily in education to
–store documents
–reflect on learning
–feedback for improvement
–showcase achievements for
accountability or employment

44. Social networks
• last five years
–store documents and share
experiences,
–showcase accomplishments,
–communicate and collaborate
– facilitate employment searches

45. Think!
Engagement
Factors?
Social
networks?
ePortfolios?

46. ePortfolios should be more
Conversation
than Presentation
(or Checklist)
Because Conversation transforms!

47. WHAT ABOUT MOTIVATION?
Why would a student want to put all
that work into developing an ePortfolio?

48. Do Your e-Portfolios have
CHOICE and VOICE?
• Individual
Identity
• Reflection
• Meaning Making
• 21st Century Literacy

49. Life Portfolio – planning for an extended
midlife transition (50-90)
• Passions and
pursuits
• New possibilities
• Visualize a new life
• Not “retirement”
but “rewirement”

50. Portfolio Way of Thinking
 Portfolios can be timeless
 What really matters in life?
 Discover or rediscover passion…
 Create a legacy…
 Turn careers into callings,
success into significance…
 To make a difference…
 An ongoing, ageless framework
for self-renewal

51. Strategies for a Portfolio Life
• Tell the Story of Your Life
• Accomplishments Leave Clues
… + self-esteem
• Connect with Others -- Network
• Develop Your Goals… Change…
Goals -- Purpose
• Revise, Reflect, Rebalance
Story
Goals
Share

52. 52
My Final Wish…
•dynamic celebrations
•stories of deep learning
•across the lifespan