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Phone: (865) 974-9900
Fax: (865) 974-3960

Address:
109 Hoskins
1400 West Cumberland
Knoxville, TN 37996.0520








Project SET

Modules

Building Effective Electronic Portfolios: Part 2

launch module

Betsy DeGeorge

Publications Manager, University of Tennessee College of Social Work

An electronic portfolio is a digitized and "organized collection of complex, performance-based evidence that indicates one's growth, goals, and current knowledge and skills needed to be competent in a role or area of expertise." This kind of collection holds the potential for wide and diverse application within the academy including providing a strong methodology for tracking, evaluating, and assessing the performance of students through the professional practicum experience. This instructional module, entitled Building Effective Electronic Portfolios: Part 2, will build upon the basic ideas, techniques, and processes necessary to create and develop these digital collections that were studied in the 2005 Project Set Module entitled Building Effective Electronic Portfolios. Part 1 of the Module examined the elements common to all ePortfolios, allowing the user to study the how-to's of constructing an effective portfolio, including looking at the main categories of digital collections used by the academy: 1) The Instructional ePortfolio, 2) The Report ePortfolio, and 3)The Professional ePortfolio. Part 2 of this online study is designed to help the professor as he or she implements the ePortfolio concept in the classroom as a tool for instruction. Particularly it explores the use of ePortfolio for tracking the progress of a student through the stages and events of an ongoing and complex learning experience such as a practicum or field placement. Because an ePortfolio tool is specifically designed to be a "work in progress" that grows and matures throughout the experience, it is an excellent form to use for recording the dynamic educational experience that a student lives out through the duration of a field placement or practicum. The course will also identify and study some of the practical challenges to successfully using the ePortfolio concept within the classroom. Some of the particular issues to be addressed will be:
  • Creating a learning space by establishing a successful technical framework to ensure success
  • Setting clear and understandable standards
  • Celebrating quality and identifying exemplary work
  • Establishing the centrality of student work and progress
  • Encouraging self reflection
  • Incorporating feedback from the instructor and from the learning community
  • Managing instructional assessment
The instructional module will include appropriate discussion regarding several systems that can be used for the technical collection of ePortfolio data and will suggest what may be several supportable solutions within the University of Tennessee learning environment.