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Members of Cohort I in discussionThe second cohort of the Coalition (2004-2009) built on the success of Cohort I, extending its analysis of reflection as well as taking on individual research projects of considerable range. With Cohort II, the variety of portfolios models and technologies represented in the Coalition's work was considerably expanded, while the group continued to reflect a diversity of institutional types and disciplinary backgrounds.

 

Clemson University

Our project focuses on the role electronic portfolios play in fostering disciplinary knowledge and identity in undergraduate interns who create eportfolios in our 10-week summer program in applied psychology. How, we asked, might these intern eportfolios serve a central professional function: to project one or more facets of self to valued audiences? How might this social function increase intern attention to and awareness of the value of scientific skills, training, and careers? And what will the connections interns make show about how they construct knowledge?
Contact: Ben Stephens, [email protected]

Kapi’olani Community College

A Values-Driven ePortfolio Journey: N? Wa?a. This College ePortfolio uses voyaging as a metaphor for students to connect Hawaiian values to their works. The research team hypothesized that this model would develop students’ abilities to pursue learning in college and stimulate a sense of empowerment. The central research question is whether this approach is, indeed, learning-centered.
Final report: Report
Contact: Judi Kirkpatrick,

George Mason University

The study examined thinking processes of graduate students of education during creation and explanation of electronic portfolios. Through use of thinking sheets, interviews and demonstrations, researchers found insights about what happens during creation of the portfolios. Findings include technology struggles, attention to directions, and progression from Bloom’s knowledge level to higher order thinking skills. The study indicates there may be a common progression, with an identifiable moment when students see the possibilities and connections e-portfolios can afford.
Final report: Report - Presentation
Contact: Mary Zamon, [email protected] or Debra Sprague,

Thomas College

Thomas College is developing an eportfolio in the context of college mission statement, student learning, and institutional assessment. Because the traditional tools for assessment can often be inadequate for measuring student learning outcomes at the institutional level, specifically those related to experiences outside the classroom, Thomas College is implementing an eportfolio process whose efficacy at this task is being studied. The central question: how can an e-portfolio process measure student learning outcomes that cut across traditional disciplinary boundaries, bridging the gap between learning inside and outside the classroom?
Final report: Report - Presentation
Contact: Thomas Edwards,

The Ohio State University

This project focused on identifying the kinds of data and environmental characteristics that support institutional adoption of electronic portfolios. To take up this issue, we focused on three projects: the use of eportfolios in high school and college writing classes; the development of an eportfolio program on a community college campus with a technical focus; and the development of a system-wide e-Learning environment especially sensitive to increasing demands for accountability.
Final Report: Report
Contact: Steve Acker,

University of Georgia

The University of Georgia’s composition program invites students to use an open source electronic portfolio system <emma> to collect, select, and reflect upon their writing, and it is embedded in a curriculum emphasizing revision. The team investigated three questions. First, does revision improve the quality of written products in FYC ePortfolios? And second, how does what very successful and unsuccessful revisers say about their own revision processes help us understand revision as a practice? What role is played by the "e" in ePortfolios?
Final report: Report
Contact: Christy Desmet,

University of Illinois

The Ethnography of the University Initiative (EUI) endeavors to make evidence of student learning legible and accessible to a variety of audiences, with special emphasis on what students come to know as they engage in inquiry about the very university that sponsors that learning. The EUI archive is essentially a collection of interlinked electronic portfolios that stand at the center of an intellectual community whose ongoing research agenda is driven by students as they endeavor to make sense of the institution around them.
Website: www.eotu.uiuc.edu
Final report: Report - Presentation
Contact: Peter Mortensen,

University of Nebraska Omaha

Our research study focuses on teacher education, with two purposes. The first purpose is to determine if there were differences in teacher candidates’ perceptions of (1) the contributions of assessments--both traditional assessments and ePortfolio assessments--to the candidates’ development of their understanding of education core content areas and (2) contributions of the use of reflections in both types of assessment. The secondary purpose of this study is to determine teacher candidates’ knowledge of INTASC (1992) principles given the time students spent completing ePortfolio classroom assessments.
Final report: Report
Contact: Neil Topp,

Washington State University

Our research examines eportfolio implementation, focusing on the role of faculty. Through a survey we sought to identify and understand: (1) faculty perceptions of and values associated with the use of electronic portfolio, and (2) how faculty’s teaching beliefs relate to their perceptions of, values associated with, and attitudes towards ePortfolio use. The overall intent of the study is both scholarly and pragmatic: to learn about faculty perception as well as to identify ways to provide faculty with appropriate support in the implementation of ePortfolios.
Contact: Yoon Jung Cho,

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Cohort II

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