The document summarizes the experiences of teachers who have adopted e-portfolios in their teaching. It discusses how e-portfolios have changed pedagogical practices by encouraging more dialogic and collaborative learning. Teachers found that e-portfolios created a shared space for students to reflect together that deepened their learning. While challenging conventions of control, e-portfolios offered teachers new ways of understanding learning through student engagement outside of lessons.

1. Roots, (para)chutes and ladders: on growing and nurturing e-portfolio teachers and learners. Julie Hughes [email_address] The University of Wolverhampton HoD Post-Compulsory Education ESCalate Academic Consultant HEA National Teaching Fellow 2005 AAEEBL Annual Conference July 19-22, 2010 Boston

2. Starting with the teachers My teaching has completely and utterly changed, totally from how I was taught on the Cert Ed – paper based ...Sometimes I walk in and there’s just images on the screen (on the blog) and that is the teaching and learning of the day. Students don’t cope well now with other formats, “we were talked at for an hour and a half – we go off and do our own learning or you talk to us in a different way”. Annie (Foundation Degree Teacher for 2 years) Pebbler since September 2009 I needed the space to do it for myself really. Caroline (Foundation Degree Teacher for 2 .5 years) Pebbler since February 2008

3. It started with a secondment at the University. I was initially taken up with the idea of being able to access the students outside the lessons for their thoughts and ideas about the lessons. I was always interested in – how do we define that learning has take place? This is a big Ofsted question all of the time – and one of the ways was to see how they actually engage with the material from the lesson, how they collaborated on their e-portfolio, how they talked to each other about the learning, it seemed to me a much more conversational approach with a sense of dialogue. Maggie, Teacher for 19 years, Teacher Educator for 4 years Pebbler since September 2008 Staff and students have learned much, together, and have moved forward, together. Now if that’s not liberating and worthwhile, I don’t what is. David’s first year as an e-portfolio teacher in HE in 2008 (Hughes, Lacey and Wise 2008)

4. Moksha – Patamu, the 2nd Century BC Indian origin of the race game Snakes and Ladders , rewarded Nirvana to the player who successfully negotiated the vices and virtues of the board. Colonised by Victorian England, who approved of its moral punishment and rewards, it was adopted in the United States in the 20th century as the game of Chutes and Ladders. The morals of the game remained reward for good deeds (upwardly climbing ladders) and consequences (sliding down chutes) for mischievous behaviour.

6. E-portfolio teacher and teacher educator – FD, PGCE and M level with teaching mentors - 2004 to now. Started with 15 students (2004) now working across teams, partners, stakeholders and professional bodies. 2010 - 1200 students and 50 staff this year. E-portfolio mentor – supporting individuals and teams at local, regional and national levels - across disciplines. E-portfolio learner – used ep for appraisal and CPD – recently attained QTLS with an e-portfolio application. E-portfolio embedding. Curriculum development – revalidation and pedagogy shift. E-portfolio researcher – using e-portfolio to mentor and data-gather- using ep as a writing tool/companion with both students and colleagues. INCEPR III – 10 US and Canadian HEIs and 2 UK HEIs E-portfolio consultant JISC & ESCalate Intro to me Have we reached 99/nirvana yet?

7. Pedagogic bungee jumping – being a student/teacher in an age of uncertainty Learning (and teaching – my addition) in higher education calls for a courage on the part of the learner/ teacher and a will to leap into a kind of void. There is bound to be uncertainty. A pedagogy of air opens up spaces and calls for a will to learn on the part of the student/ teacher ; to learn even amid uncertainty. In the process, it is just possible that the student/ teacher may come into a new mode of being (Barnett 2007, p.1). Teachers and the taught teach each other. Their roles are interwoven, such that their boundaries become indistinct to some extent (Barnett 2007, p.132). Pedagogical bungee jumping may be catching (Barnett 2007, p.133).

8. So, was it all a blind alley? No. Was it worth it? Yes, yes, yes! From my own perspective, I have seen students become engaged with a reflective, dialogic process in a far more real and meaningful way than I have previously experienced. I have also seen deep learning take place both in relation to technological and pedagogical matters. And finally, this has happened in a truly democratic manner. Staff and students have learned much, together, and have moved forward, together. Now if that’s not liberating and worthwhile, I don’t what is. David 2008 (Hughes, Lacey and Wise 2008) Cathie – on letting go But, and this is a big but for me, I have felt some loss of control. Cathie Teacher Educator in 2008 in her 2 nd year as an e-portfolio teacher

10. Unpredictable rhizomatic growth Rhizome as model/map for unpredictability Lateral, multi-forked root system Connectivity Not Western tree-like (ladder) It’s ok (and sometimes very necessary) to grow and stretch below the surface to establish good roots – your roots. I think what I’ve noticed most is that they sort of carry on without us more if you know what I mean – whereas traditional teaching and learning is very much teacher at the centre, all information coming out through me but what often is seen to happen when using PP is that they can talk to each other, they answer each other’s questions, they take threads of each other’s arguments – really oblivious to the fact that I might be there or might not be there and this for Teacher Education is fantastic because what we see is reflection – it’s reflection in practice, reflection on action in action and it’s going on all the time – it’s crucial. (Maggie)

11. It’s not a race for nirvana – on playing the game and negotiating the risks Nov 2007 – on the road to nowhere? Then, around November, the students were introduced to the webfolio, shown a template and given some instructions for populating it. This was a low point. Having sensed that we had come to terms with a new teaching and learning tool, I think we all felt – staff and students on the generic route alike – that it was back to square one. In future, I think we all agree that it would be better to just start with the webfolio from the outset. Anyway, the skill and expertise of Julie, Paul and others – notably Cathie our knowledgeable and informed Skills specialist – helped us through this road block. David 2008 (Hughes, Lacey and Wise 2008)

12. What might a blended learning community look/feel like? What the FD students say – and not surprisingly what the teachers say too

13. Rollercoaster – the pedagogical being is fragile...it is brittle, liable to shatter suddenly’ (Barnett, 2007 p.29) – the ‘teacher’ being

15. The PGCE blog lifeboat – HMS Hardwork. Being an eportfolio learner gave me the opportunity not only to explore new ways of learning , but to become part of a community that has supported and encouraged each other throughout our journey to becoming new teachers. The blog ...allowed us the safe space to share thoughts, feelings, anxieties, laughter and tears and because it was a shared space we could see the value in the perception of thoughts and opinions of others in the group. (It)... provided a reassuring glow of a nightlight that was always there. (Hughes and Purnell 2008)

17. E-learning theory – nascent discipline We must acknowledge that pedagogy needs to be ‘ re-done’ at the same time as it needs to be ‘ re-thought.’ (Beetham and Sharpe, 2007) Learners cannot therefore be treated as bundle of disparate needs: they are actors not factors, in the learning situation. (Beetham, 2007) We need ‘a dialogue between theory and practice, as well as between learning and teaching’ (Beetham & Sharpe, 2007, p.3)

18. E-learning is often talked about as a ‘trojan mouse’, which teachers let into their practice without realizing that it will require them to rethink not just how they use the particular hardware or software, but all of what they do. (Sharpe and Oliver, 2007) We are witnessing ‘ a new model of education , rather than a new model of learning’ as ‘our understanding of e-learning matures, so our appreciation of the importance of theory deepens…we see how learning can be socially situated in a way never previously possible’. (Mayes and de Freitas, 2007, p.13) Give pedagogy back to the teachers . (Laurillard ,2008)

22. JISC 2008, p.11 A dialogue-based pedagogy and model of/for reflective learning. Talking not telling.