Driving e-learning, e-assessment and e-portfolio innovations in the higher education and vocational education and training sectors: Challenges and Solutions
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Driving e-learning, e-assessment and e-portfolio innovations in the higher education and vocational education and training sectors: Challenges and Solutions
- 1. Driving e-learning, e-assessment and e-portfolio innovations in the higher education and vocational education and training sectors: Challenges and solutions a 3 November 2010 Professor Victor J Callan University of Queensland Business School
- 2. Overview 1. Innovation, Growth and Sustainability 2. Some Exemplars 3. E-portfolios - how they are being used as a place for purposeful aggregation of digital items, promoting a student's learning and abilities 4. Challenges in this “e” arena, and strategies to promote greater acceptance of these technological innovations
- 3. 1. Innovation, growth and sustainability • Innovation is the generation and execution of new ideas that have economic value – “good ideas put to work” • It is experimental and disruptive • It is associated with connectedness and collaboration • For each innovative success there will be multiple unsuccessful attempts
- 5. Growth • The Australian Flexible Learning Centre Framework’s 2009 E-learning Benchmarking Survey • 46% of registered training organisations (RTOs) were using e-learning for assessment • Among teachers and trainers delivering units using e-learning, 62% are using online assessment activities
- 6. Changing learning environment • Technological change impacting on teachers and learners: pedagogy, curriculum, policy, infrastructure, governance • Growth in the E-business model – enrolments, learning, assessment, business • Increasing convergence between curriculum materials and support materials such as library resources, via e-Journals, e-Books and websites
- 7. Digital Natives • “Digital Natives”, or the “Net Generation” are commonly said to: • Prefer receiving information quickly • Prefer multi-tasking • Have a low tolerance for lectures • Prefer active rather than passive learning • Rely heavily on communications technologies to access information and to carry out social and professional interactions
- 8. But Challenges • Progress hampered by examples of poor quality e-learning and e-assessment • Validity – does not validly assess the skills being tested and does not address intended learning outcomes • Authentication – unreliable infrastructure, assessment, accessibility, ease of use, poor security • Online quizzes – poorly constructed, limited validity and reliability, teachers have little understanding of how to design valid and fair quizzes • Professional development of teachers and others (e.g. auditors)
- 9. E-assessment currently in the VET sector Online Quizzes
- 10. VET practitioners would like to be more confident using E-Portfolios All Forms More on E-Portfolios later . . .
- 11. Australian e-Portfolio Project Report 2008 • Used mostly by Coursework University students • Subject-specific or program-based contexts • Faculty-wide or university-wide use is rare
- 12. Use by University research students • E-Portfolios not yet widely used by the research student context
- 13. 2. Examples of innovative “e” practices • My Profiling meets Hairdressing – Tasmanian Skills Institute • Smart Notes and Nuggets – Tasmanian Polytechnic
- 14. Examples • Forklifts getting mobile – SA Plant Operator Training • Indigenous writer's network – Adelaide College of the Arts • E-portfolios in nursing – Carer's Training Centre
- 15. Examples • Your Beach – Surf Life Saving Western Australia • The virtually safe workshop – Durack Institute of Technology
- 16. Bakery apprentices at Hunter Institute Issues: Block release, small enterprises, regional, casual employees Responses • Gary Sewell and his team - Bakers Delight and Tip Top • Video games, photostories, blogs for use with assessments, text to explain the processes behind bread making, accessed through computers, laptops, personal digital assistants or mobile phones • Strong use of regular forums and chat rooms to back up the learning Lessons to date • Value of incorporating high quality materials and detailed industry knowledge
- 17. Blue Dog Training Issues: 60% outside SE Qld, travel costs, recognise work based learning Responses • E learning tools allow more self-paced and self-directed learning, while each learner is assigned a course trainer for support • Use online bite-sized 'chunks of learning’ that require 10 to 30 min Lessons • Commitment to the apprentice and employer • Must continually develop and modify systems
- 18. E-learning VET business partnerships • One Steel Ltd Whyalla • Real Estate Institute WA • Royal Adelaide Hospital • Australian Stainless Steel Development Association • City of Boroondara Vic • Department of Health and Human Services Tas mania. • Federal Group Tasmania • HJ Heinz Australia Ltd • IMP Printed Circuits • NSW Department of Lands • The Good Guys • Tradelink • Australian Broadcasting Corporation • BHP Billiton • City of Mandurah WA • Connex Melbourne • John Holland Pty Ltd • Lifeline Australia • NSW Motor Traders Association • North Coast Area Health Service NSW • NSW Farmers' Association • Department of Defense
- 19. Innovative e-Portfolio practice • In 2003, Queensland University of Technology (QUT) commenced the development of an e-Portfolio system • Central to the design of the Student e-Portfolio was the development of the Employability Skill Set • Progressive take-up of E-Portfolio. Today more than 40,000 QUT students have developed their own e-Portfolio
- 20. Innovative e-Portfolio practice • University of Melbourne has an E-Portfolio project under development that aims to provide structured support for PhD candidates • It provides access to online transition programs for new research students, “Postgraduate Essentials” (currently being updated to “Graduate Research Essentials”) • The purpose of the E-Portfolio is to scaffold PhD student progress towards thesis completion, and to support them in the transition into employment, and also to assist in developing a public profile
- 21. Innovative e-Portfolio practice • The University of New England (UNE) uses an e- Portfolio (the UNE-Portfolio) to support its New England Award (NEA), which recognises student achievement through extracurricular activity • The primary objective of the award is the enhancement of the Graduate Attributes through involvement in local and university communities, voluntary work, leadership activities and extracurricular learning and training • Participating students gather evidence of their skill development through a variety of activities that fall into the categories of extracurricular learning or training, professional development and contribution to the university or wider community
- 22. Sustaining technological innovations 1. GippsTAFE, Victoria 2. Queensland Ambulance Service, Enterprise RTO 3. Tabor Adelaide, SA, Private RTO 4. NSW North Coast Institute of TAFE 5. Challenger TAFE, WA 6. Tasmanian Polytechnic 7. The Federal Group Tasmania, Enterprise RTO
- 23. Be strategic • An ambition to improve upon the student and employer experience in how training is being delivered • North Coast TAFE - seamless approach to e-learning, teaching and assessment • Challenger - aims to provide a wider range of delivery options for workforce skills development using its Industry Training Centres • GippsTAFE - an adaptive learning strategy where e-learning is a major component in its current and future plans • Collaboration Online at the Queensland Ambulance Service is their organisation-wide e-learning strategy that it progressively develops as e-learning capabilities grow • Tabor College - an effective e-learning strategy created rapid growth of its online and virtual learning capacity
- 24. Senior leadership support • GippsTAFE - senior leaders supported the establishment of the Innovation Department • Queensland Ambulance Service - the large investment required to introduce and to sustain its e- learning strategy • Challenger Institute leaders - support its Systems Steering Committee to explore quality and flexible training solutions • North Coast Institute of TAFE – leaders support the recent development and pushed for the acceptance of the e-learning strategy • Tabor College - leaders agreed to commit scarce funds to create a full time role dedicated to growing and developing their e-learning capacity
- 25. Make the business case • Federal Group - numerous cost efficiencies in managing complex issues around staff induction and training in remote and regional locations, and across a diversified business • GippsTAFE – provides numerous industry partners with the means to meet compliance requirements for staff in health, insurance, community services, and the energy and electrical sectors • NSW North Coast Institute of TAFE, and Challenger at Western Australia - the regional nature of their campuses, and savings in staff and learner time and greater cost effectiveness
- 26. 3. The next big thing: E-portfolios
- 28. Potential benefits to students Consistent findings across research: • More personal control • Increased learning effectiveness • Enabling an archive of one’s artefacts and reflections • Enhancing information technology skills • Enabling connections among formal and informal learning experience
- 29. The role in enabling “Connections” Between individual’s life, work or learning (Barrett, 2008)
- 30. For institutions
- 31. Potential benefits to institutions 1. Creating a system of tracking student work over time 2. Aggregating many students’ work in a particular course to see how the students as a whole are progressing 3. Assessing many courses in similar ways that are all part of one major and thus, by extension, assessing the entire program of study 4. Encouraging continuity of student work from semester to semester in linked courses 5. Having a more fully informed and constantly updated view of student progress in a program (Batson, 2002)
- 32. 4. Challenges and strategies
- 33. tra
- 34. Australian e-Portfolio Project Final Report • Considerable exploratory interest in e-Portfolios • For successful practice – need to embed or integrate e-Portfolio activities into curriculum • Get a clear commitment and buy-in from academic staff • Have sound ICT infrastructure • Adequate funding and overt support from high level champions • Have strong linkages with university strategies and policies • Express desire to draw on best practice to share ideas, knowledge and experiences across the institution and across the sector
- 35. The “RIPPLES” model Resources Continuing budget and other resources for e-learning so it lives on beyond special seed funding Infrastructure Hardware and software and reliable robust network facilities People Shared understanding and decision making about the why and how of e-learning Policies That support innovation Learning That the use of technology enhances the achievement of training goals Evaluation Continuous assessment of e-learning innovations to achieve improvements Support Committed management leadership with vision Teacher: time to experiment with e-learning & opportunities to share & collaborate Technical: access to competent, service oriented IT staff
- 36. Tools to promote “e” innovation • Strategy • Environmental scanning • Innovation roles • People and training • Resources • Innovation teams • Innovation values • Competitions and prizes • Innovation markets • Calling for ideas, ideas management systems, innovation tournaments • Engagement and collaboration • Experimental spaces
- 37. Have a plan and give it a go 1. Define – Which tools, systems or approaches should we adopt? 2. Understand – What kind of learning outcomes do we require from the e-portfolio initiative and what implications will this have for our practitioners, administrative and technical staff? 3. Prepare – Who will prepare the ground? 4. Engage – What are the most effective strategies for engaging and sustaining the commitment of learners, and those involved in supporting learners’ use of e- portfolios? 5. Implement – What are the lessons learnt from the pilots we have run? What are the factors, such as timing or involvement of e-portfolio champions, that might influence the outcomes? 6. Review – How will we evidence and evaluate the outcomes?
- 39. v.callan@business.uq.edu.au be the change you want to see
Notes de l'éditeur
- Today I will explore the growth in e-learning, e-assessment and e-portfolios in the higher education and VET sectors. In particular, I will discuss how good learner-centred e-assessments in the form of online tests, wikis and blogs are being used more and more, to aid self-assessment, reflective thinking, peer and collaborative assessment. I will then discuss examples of innovative e-learning and e-assessment practices being used in these sectors, and show you some examples of what is currently considered best practice. In particular, I will discuss e-portfolios and how they are being used as a place for purposeful aggregation of digital items, evincing a student's learning and abilities, which can then be viewed by students/teachers/employers alike. To conclude, I will discuss the challenges in this arena, and the strategies you can use to promote greater acceptance of these technological innovations especially among our learners, educators and institutions.
- Before I go on to talk about recent examples of innovative e-learning and e-assessment practices, I want to firstly discuss with you what exactly innovation is. A lot of people think innovation means inventing things, but this is not the case. Innovation is not invention. By contrast, innovation is those inventive ideas put to work – or the generation and execution of new ideas that have economic value. Innovation is experimental, involves change, can be risky, and also often quite disruptive. It is associated with connectedness and collaboration and therefore organisations that collaborate, are significantly more likely to achieve higher degrees of innovative success. Innovation is is also anti-hierarchical – a new idea can come from any level within an organisation or even from an external source. For each innovative success, there will be multiple unsuccessful attempts. Such failures have a value in demonstrating what does not work and why, and can contribute to later successful innovations. Therefore, I must stress that if you want to create an innovative culture in your institutions, you need to be failure tolerant. An institution that punishes failure, will never fully live up to its innovative potential.
- Innovation has a cycle with four phases: 1. idea generation and discovery 2. idea selection 3. idea implementation 4. idea diffusion
- The Australian Flexible Learning Centre Framework’s 2009 E-learning Benchmarking Survey highlighted the continued growth in e-learning and e-assessment practices. 46% of registered training organisations (RTOs) were using e-learning for assessment. Among teachers and trainers delivering units using e-learning, 62% are using online assessment activities. This represents a considerable increase on previous years.
- Current trends in education in Australia see technological change impacting on many different levels: pedagogy, curriculum, policy, infrastructure, organisation and governance at the local institution as well as at system levels. The learning environment for university students is changing: web-based technologies are used to deliver learning materials to students, there is an ever increasing convergence between curriculum materials and support materials such as library resources, via eJournals, eBooks and websites, and students are often required to submit their assessment online.
- Digital Natives, or the Net Generation, are commonly said ‛to prefer receiving information quickly; be adept at processing information rapidly; prefer multi-tasking and non-linear access to information; have a low tolerance for lectures; prefer active rather than passive learning, and rely heavily on communications technologies to access information and to carry out social and professional interactions’ (Kennedy, Judd, Churchward, Gray, & Krause, 2008).
- E-learning and e-assessment promise potential benefits ranging from lowered costs, higher productivity and faster feedback, through to assessments which are more accurate, detailed and robust under critical scrutiny and audit. However, there is concern that these potential benefits are relatively slow to emerge. Progress is hampered by examples of poor quality e-learning and e-assessment – especially poor quality e-assessment that fails to reliably provide acceptably valid measures of learner achievement and capability. With respect to e-assessment in particular, there are important issues around validity and authentication which need to be addressed. Sometimes e-assessment does not validly assess the skills being tested, and sometimes the assessment does not always address the intended learning outcomes either. With respect to authentication, sometimes unreliable infrastructure can impact upon a user in completing online assessment, accessibility, ease of use, and poor security are also issues. Currently online quizzes are the predominant type of e-assessment being used. Although the advantages of online quizzes are numerous – they are quick to prepare, mark and assess learner knowledge and provide more regular feedback, there are also disadvantages with this form of technology being used for assessment. Sometimes online quizzes are poorly constructed, with limited validity and reliability. Often teachers have little understanding of how to design valid and fair online quizzes and at worst, online quizzes can serve as a cheap and ill-thought out alternative for other forms of assessment, often motivated with the primary motives of ease and money saving.
- In a report I did recently for the Australian Flexible Learning Framework, our findings revealed that online quizzes are the form of e-assessment currently being used most often in the VET sector. The next most common forms are case studies and simulated situations, discussion boards and forums, email, wikis, and blogs or online reflective journals.
- However, our research revealed that an overwhelming majority of VET practitioners said they wanted to become more confident using ePortfolios. The second most common response cited was that practitioners wanted to become more confident using all forms of e-assessmenet. I will discuss ePortfolios in more depth later on.
- I want to now touch briefly on the current use of ePortfolios in Australian universities. The Australian ePortfolio Project Final Report, released in August 2008, highlighted that currently in Australian Universities, by far the greatest use of ePortfolios was by coursework students, principally in subject-specific or program-based contexts. The occurrence of faculty-wide or university-wide use was rare.
- The national audit findings also revealed that while ePortfolios were being introduced in many areas of academic coursework, they were not yet widely used in the research student context, with the majority of respondents reporting that they believed there was no use of ePortfolios by research students or that they did not know.
- Now I will discuss some examples of innovative e-learning and e-assessment in practice in Australia. All the following organisations I am about to mention, have received government grants for 2011, so that they may fully develop and realise their innovative e-learning programs. The first innovative program I will mention, is called the “My Profiling Meets Hairdressing” program, being run by the Tasmanian Skills Institute. The Tasmanian Skills Institute is working on developing a program that will enable apprentice hairdressers to record on-the-job tasks performed for two units of competencies from the Hairdressing Training Package in their routine employment. Learners will record their progress using mobile technologies such as the Android Tablet PC. Another innovative program is the “Smart Notes and Nuggets” program, currently being trialled by Tasmanian Polytechnic. They’re trialling the use of Smartpens in training for the Hospitality sector to address issues of retention, literacy, recall and repetition. It will include learners across three common units and involve both student and teacher use of the technology.
- Other examples of innovative e-learning, include the SA Plant Operator Training, who in in 2011 will trial the use of m-learning (also known as mobile learning) in the delivery and assessment of the Licence to operate a forklift truck module. The project will feature engaging and interactive content that supports learners with specific language, literacy and numeracy needs. Another innovative use of e-learning has been developed by the Adelaide College of the Arts, who are establishing an Indigenous writer's network using web 2.0 tools such as blogs. Participants will publish their works and develop networking skills with other Indigenous writers. A guide to publishing will also be developed. The Carer’s Training Centre is also using e-learning innovatively. In 2011, trainee nurses will pilot the use of e-portfolios to build resumes and gather evidence for both RPL and assessment of workplace activities. Participants will be enrolled nurses based in regional and remote locations.
- Further examples of innovative practice include “Your Beach”, an initiative of Surf Life Saving WA. The Your Beach program will build on and improve existing blended learning approaches to provide training not currently available but needed in geographically remote areas, to support Certificate III in Public Safety Aquatic Search and Rescue. They will use learning objects in a learning management system as the online theory and activity part of training. Tutorials will be delivered using Elluminate, video conferencing and webinars. Furthermore, next year, the automotive lecturers from Durack Institute of Technology will create “the virtually safe workshop” by using 360 degree photograph technology to develop a virtual replica of the automotive workshop environment. This will support employers by reducing the amount of time their apprentices spend away from the workplace. Apprentices will use learning objects that are developed with this technology to enable them to fast track through the core OH&S units within their qualification.
- I will now go on to discuss some innovative examples of ePortfolio practice. In 2003, the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) commenced the development of a proprietary ePortfolio system, as a building block within the university intranet. The initiative resulted from the collaborative work of the Division of Technology, Information and Learning Support and the Careers and Employment Office. Central to the design of the Student ePortfolio was the development of the Employability Skill Set, derived from both QUT and industry-identified graduate attributes, and developed in consultation with every QUT faculty. The schema includes lifewide perspectives of academic, work, community and personal achievements. Ongoing development has seen the graduate attributes mapped to a range of schema for professional standards, for example, education, nursing, business, law and engineering. Over the past five years, there has been progressive take-up of ePortfolio practice across the different faculties and schools at QUT. In June 2008, more than 40,000 QUT students had developed their own ePortfolio.
- The University of Melbourne has an ePortfolio project under development that aims to provide structured support for PhD candidates. It provides access to award-winning online transition programs for new research students, called “Postgraduate Essentials” at the same time as encouraging candidates to document and reflect upon the achievements and skill gains acquired throughout the course of their degree. The project involved the testing and development of ePortfolio functionality through the implementation and evaluation of various Web 2.0 technologies. Existing courseware was recently migrated into a Sakai environment so that the new platform will utilise a customised Open Source Portfolio. The Postgraduate Essentials program is currently being redeveloped into a more comprehensive program called “Graduate Research Essentials”, with 15 modules covering different aspects of being a successful research student. Each module combines information delivery with opportunities for facilitated discussion, and encourages candidates to complete ‛tasks’, which are stored in a personal workspace and can be returned to and edited at will. In addition to the personal workspace there will be areas for collaborative authoring and document storage. Finally, the ‛Doctoral Attributes Workshop’ will enable reflection on and documentation of the ongoing skills development associated with research. The purpose of the ePortfolio is to scaffold PhD student progress towards thesis completion, and to support them in the transition into employment. A secondary purpose is to assist in developing a public profile for new researchers and to support the development of peer and collegial support networks.
- Another example of innovative use of ePortfolios is the University of New England’ s “unE-Portfolio”, which it is using to support its New England Award (NEA). The NEA award recognises student achievement through extracurricular activity. The primary objective of the award is the enhancement of the UNE Graduate Attributes and other personal and professional skills through involvement in local and university communities, voluntary work, leadership activities and extracurricular learning and training. Participating students gather evidence of their skill development through a variety of activities that fall into the categories of extracurricular learning or training, professional development and contribution to the university or wider community. The different activities are weighted with a number of points, which are able to be aggregated within the ePortfolio. Students not engaged in the NEA are also able to use the unE-Portfolio. UNE students are encouraged to use the unE-Portfolio: • To record their experiences. • As a tool when preparing CVs and job applications. • To focus on the UNE Graduate Attributes (communication skills, global perspective, information literacy, lifelong learning, problem solving, social responsibility and teamwork). • To plan for the future.
- As you are already aware, there are many and varied definitions of an ePortfolio. However, in the educational context, I believe an ePortfolio can be simply explained as a learner-driven collection of digital artifacts articulating experiences, achievements and evidence of learning. ePortfolios can be used for a myriad of purposes too. However there are three main uses or types of ePortfolio . The first, is a developmental or working portfolio. A developmental e-portfolio is a record of things that the owner has done over a period of time, and may be directly tied to learner outcomes or rubrics. The second type of ePortfolio is a reflective or learning portfolio. A reflective e-portfolio includes personal reflection on the content and what it means for the owner's development. The third main type of ePortfolio is the representational or showcase portfolio. A representational e-portfolio shows the owner's achievements in relation to particular work or developmental goals and is, therefore, highly selective. When it is used for job application it is sometimes referred to as a career portfolio.
- ePortfolios have enormous potential, especially in the educational arena. An ePortfolio has the potential to demonstrate professional and personal growth, exemplify evidence based practice and provide a planning space for future professional development needs and experiences. They can also be used for planning, recording, evidencing, presenting and reflecting tasks.
- The potential benefits of ePortfolios in education are vast, and widely discussed in the literature. DiBiase (2002) highlights the role of ePortfolios in developing students’ information technology skills and reflective attitudes, but argues that the benefits extend beyond the learners themselves to impact positively on faculty members and academic institutions as well. A summary of the opportunities of ePortfolios offered by Danielson and Abrutyn (1997) include: • benefits to students (increased learning effectiveness; model professionalism; enhancing IT skills; gain academic created for extracurricular learning) • benefits to faculty (including to align objectives and evaluation strategies to more efficiently manage student deliverables) • benefits to the institution (including opportunities to respond to calls for greater accountability and outcomes-based accreditation). However, the ePortfolio world is one where an immature approach can limit the effective exploitation of the advantages ePortfolio offers. The following elements also help to contribute to a dense and multi-layered ePortfolio environment: the diversity of learners; the range of learning and teaching contexts and the distinctiveness of academic institutions; and the role played by extra-institutional bodies such as industry partners and government policy makers.(Cooper & Love, 2007, p. 297; Beetham, 2006).
- In other ePortfolio contexts, the final step in the process is seen as the opportunity to connect the different aspects of an individual’s life — personal, learning, work, and community (Siemens, 2004). In this way, the ePortfolio has the potential to establish connections between the different phases of the individual’s life, work or learning: • What? (The Past) What have I collected about my life/work/learning? (my artefacts) • So What? (The Present) What do those artifacts show about what I have learned? (my current reflections on my knowledge, skills and abilities) • Now What? (The Future) What direction do I want to take in the future? (my future learning goals) (Barrett, 2008) This stage provides an opportunity for interaction and feedback on the work posted in the portfolio. This is where the power of Web 2.0 interactive tools becomes apparent. Teachers and Peers cab use the feedback features of Google Sites or GoogleDocs, such as comments, to provide feedback on the work posted in the ePortfolio/blog entries. Guidelines should be provided to support more effective feedback. Teachers often provide exemplars for different levels of achievement, and provide a rubric for evaluation. Students should be given the option of updating the work, based on the feedback and the rubric.
- The benefits to learners and institutions from using ePortfolios are many and diverse. As this cartoon highlights, ePortfolios can be used to present students’ work online, it can be used as a structured assessment system, and it can also be used as a reflection tool to aid in personal development. So why aren’t we all rushing out to implement them in our educational institutions?
- In the Australian context, the primary issues associated with ePortfolios focus on the student learning, whereas there is a growing body of literature in the USA which looks specifically at institutional issues. American academic administrators have acknowledged the value of ePortfolios through their potential for: • Creating a system of tracking student work over time, in a single course, with students and faculty reflecting on it. • Aggregating many students’ work in a particular course to see how the students as a whole are progressing toward learning goals. • Assessing many courses in similar ways that are all part of one major and thus, by extension, assessing the entire program of study. • Integrating courses with new methods, orienting syllabi and curricula around learning goals. • Encourage continuity of student work from semester to semester in linked courses (History 101-102, English 101-102, or prerequisites in a major, etc.). • Have a more fully informed and dynamic, constantly updated view of student progress in a program, which is very helpful in formative assessment. (Batson, 2002) Batson and Chen stress, however, that “administratively, ePortfolio activities on campus should be coordinated by offices that place equal emphasis on accreditation/assessment and on teaching/learning” (2008) to ensure that the intrinsic value of ePortfolios to student learning, and to the students themselves, is not misappropriated.
- We’re not all rushing out to implement them because there are issues with the implementation that are just as varied and diverse as the potential benefits ePortfolios hold. There are training and support issues, such as giving teachers the appropriate IT skills training, and legal training on confidentiality and copyright; there are technical issues, such as working out how to manage the student work submitted, how to assess it, and how to give everyone access; there are instructional issues, such as teaching students how to select their best work, and issues around standardisation and plagiarism. There is also a big issue around making sure that the instructional objectives and reasons for using the technology align and correlate with the fundamental objectives of teaching students the course work and helping them become better learners.
- Other findings from the Australian ePortfolio Project Final Report included: • Staff use of ePortfolios tended to be sporadic, but more common amongst academic staff than professional staff. • There was considerable exploratory interest in ePortfolios in tertiary education, with respondents reporting investigations into, plans for and imminent implementation of ePortfolios for learners. • There was often an element of choice of tool to use, which underscored the climate of experimentation • The main uses for the ePortfolio by learners were for the two dimensions of collecting evidence of learning and reflecting on their learning activities, generally in combination. • There was an even balance between formative and summative assessment of the ePortfolio, with assessment focusing on different aspects: the ePortfolio as final product, the artefacts in the ePortfolio and student reflection on the process of developing their ePortfolio. • Responsibility for implementation frequently rested with the individual teaching unit, although a centralised model of coordination by ICT services, careers and employment, or teaching and learning support was occurring.
- The seven factors to embed and sustain e-learning are encompassed by the “Ripples” model. Resources – Continuing budget and other resources for e-learning so it lives on beyond special seed funding Infrastructure – Hardware and software and reliable robust network facilities People – Shared understanding and decision making about the why and how of e-learning Policies – That support innovation Learning – That the use of technology enhances the achievement of training goals Evaluation – Continuous assessment of e-learning innovations to achieve improvements Support – Committed management leadership with vision Teacher: time to experiment with e-learning & opportunities to share & collaborate Technical: access to competent, service oriented IT staff
- Some of the tools to promote “e” innovation in your university or VET institution include: - Having a well-defined Strategy around e technology - Environmental scanning - Creating Innovation roles - Investing in People and training - Having adequate Resources - Setting up Innovation teams - Creating Innovation values - Instituting Competitions and prizes for innovation - Having regular “Innovation markets” - Calling for ideas, ideas management systems, and innovation tournaments - Engaging and collaboration with those around you - Creating Experimental spaces with which innovation can occur
- Six steps to successfully implementing ePortfolio-based learning Step 1 – Define – e-Portfolios can mean different things in different contexts. Establish the purpose and objectives of your e-portfolio initiative. Define the issues it aims to address, the likely support needs of the learners and the nature of the learning environment before asking: ‘Which tools, systems or approaches should we adopt?’ Step 2 – Understand – e-Portfolio-based learning offers real potential for autonomous and personalised learning. However, a vision for e portfolios as the hub of student learning will have an impact on pedagogic and other institutional practices. Ask: ‘What kind of learning outcomes do we require from the e-portfolio initiative and what implications will this have for our practitioners, administrative and technical staff?’ Step 3 – Prepare – e-Portfolios raise a number of fundamental issues around ownership of data and identity and access management. The embedding of any e-learning tool requires assessment of risks as well as benefits, plus investment in staff training and support. Accessibility, IPR, copyright and other potential legal issues also need to be raised. Ask: ‘Who will prepare the ground?’ Step 4– Engage – e-Portfolio use is a far-reaching initiative that may involve practitioners, personal tutors, administrative, technical and learning support staff, and, potentially, workplace mentors outside the institution. Ask: ‘What are the most effective strategies for engaging and sustaining the commitment of learners, and those involved in supporting learners’ use of e-portfolios?’ Step 5 – Implement – Effective e-portfolio use does not occur on any scale without leadership from curriculum managers and practitioner teams. Ask: ‘What are the lessons learnt from the pilots we have run? What are the factors, such as timing or involvement of e-portfolio champions, that might influence the outcomes?’ Step 6– Review – Use a range of methodologies to explore the viewpoints both of learners and practitioners – guidance and reusable templates for learner evaluation of e-learning initiatives have been developed under the JISC Learner Experiences of e-Learning programme. Ask: ‘How will we evidence and evaluate the outcomes?’
- Brainstorm strategies you can use to share and create buy-in for your vision for implementing “e” in your organisation. Explore other university and VET institutions’ websites to see what others are doing. Then develop a prototype and conduct a pilot project. Be willing to change your vision if the pilot doesn’t work out. Next, you must brainstorm the strategies you can use to develop the skills necessary for implementing “e” in your organisation. You need to also brainstorm strategies you can use to develop incentives for implementing “e” in your organisation. For instance, can you give teachers release time to develop the technology? Or can you run an innovation awards program, where teachers who use e-technology innovatively receive a cash bonus or some other prize? Perhaps early adopters of the technology could be given free equipment & software, with the costs covered by the institution itself, rather than by the individual department? Then you must brainstorm strategies you can use to find resources for implementing “e” in your organisation. Perhaps some of the resources you need are already being used by other departments? Finally you need to develop an action plan for implementing “e” in your organisation. The elements that you will need to include in your action plan are: Infrastructure (hardware and software), Curriculum Issues, Training Issues (Skills), Incentives, Resources, and possibly Other. Other things you will need to do include: identifying standards/themes to be addressed, identifying curriculum areas to be “tweaked”, creating a timeline and milestones, assigning responsibility for various tasks, developing an e-learning/e-portfolio handbook, identifying success indicators, developing rubrics, developing best practice examples, focusing on what you can do with current resources (technological & skills), designating an e-learning/ePortfolio champion, bolstering teacher and administrator support, identifying opportunities in the curriculum to develop digital artifacts, and tying your e initiative to existing standards. Then, and only then, can true change take place and embed itself.