Slides for a webinar on educating the whole student sponsored by NERCOMP, presented in collaboration with Kim Eby.

1. Supporting and Assessing
Lifewide Learning:
Rethinking Evidence for Integration
Darren Cambridge, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, New Century College
Faculty Affiliate: Higher Education Program
Kimberly K. Eby, Ph.D.
Associate Provost for Faculty Development
Director, Center for Teaching Excellence

2. Session Overview
Expanding what we value in student

learning
 Eportfolios models for this expanded
understanding
 Eportfolio research on evidence at
George Mason University
 Implications of social network site use

3. Expanding What We Value in
Student Learning
Integrative

 Holistic – educating the whole student
 Student Affairs – Academic Affairs
Partnerships
◦ Learning Reconsidered
◦ Leadership Reconsidered
Stakeholder analysis

◦ Greater Expectations
◦ AAC&U Project LEAP
◦ AAC&U VALUE project

4. Interconnectedness of Student
Learning (from Learning Reconsidered, 2004)
Social
Context
STUDENT
Integrated Outcomes
Identity Formation
Cognition/Emotion
Academic Construction of knowledge
Behavior Construction of meaning
Context Meaning Making Construction of self in society
Institutional
Context

5. Learning Reconsidered:
Student Learning Outcomes
Student Outcomes Dimensions of Outcomes Sample Learning Experiences
Critical thinking, reflective thinking, effective Classroom teaching; campus speakers; problem-
Cognitive complexity
reasoning, intellectual flexibility, based learning; living-learning communities;
emotion/cognition/identity integration judicial boards; diversity programs; study abroad
Understanding knowledge in a range of disciplines; Majors, minors, general education; certificate
Knowledge acquisition,
connecting knowledge to other knowledge, ideas, programs; research teams; group projects; service
integration & application
and experiences; relating it to daily life; pursuit of learning; internships; jobs (on- and off-campus);
lifelong learning; career decidedness; technological living-learning communities; career development
competence courses; drama/arts/music groups
Understanding and appreciation of human Diverse membership of student organizations;
Humanitarianism
differences; cultural competency; social inter-group dialogue programs; service learning;
responsibility cultural festivals; identity group programming
Sense of civic responsibility; commitment to public Involvement in student and community orgs;
Civic engagement
life through communities of practice; engage in service learning; student governance; sports
principled dissent; effective in leadership teams; leadership courses; open forums
Realistic self-appraisal and self understanding; Identity based affinity groups; academic/life
Interpersonal and
attributes such as identity, self esteem, confidence, planning; peer mentor programs; religious life
intrapersonalcompetenc
ethics/integrity, spiritual awareness, personal goal programs and youth groups; classroom project
e setting; meaningful relationships; interdependence; groups; classroom discussions; student
collaboration; ability to work with people different employment; paraprofessional roles (e.g., RAs,
from self peer tutors/mentors, sexual assault advisors)
Effective communication; capacity to manage Health center programs; campus and community
Practical competence
one‘s affairs; economic self-sufficiency and recreation programs; financial planning courses
vocational competence; maintain health and and programs; club sports; academic and personal
wellness; prioritize leisure pursuits; living a advising; career development courses; senior
purposeful and satisfying life capstone courses
Manage college experience to achieve academic Learning skills; bridge programs; peer mentoring;
Persistence and
and personal success; academic goal success faculty and staff mentoring; tutoring; orientation
academic achievement
including degree attainment programs; academic advising; disability support

6. Liberal Education for
America‘s Promise (LEAP)
Knowledge of Human Personal and Social
 
Cultures and the Physical Responsibility
and Natural World ◦ Civic knowledge and
◦ Through study in the engagement—local and
global
sciences and
◦ Intercultural knowledge and
mathematics, social
sciences, humanities, historie competence
s, languages, and the arts
◦ Ethical reasoning and action
Intellectual and Practical
 ◦ Foundations and skills for
Skills lifelong learning
◦ Inquiry and analysis Integrative Learning

◦ Critical and creative thinking ◦ Synthesis and advanced
◦ Written and oral accomplishment across
communication general and specialized
studies
◦ Quantitative literacy
◦ Information literacy
◦ Teamwork and problem
solving

7. VALUE Lifelong Learning
Rubric

8. Networks of Educators: I/NCEPR
Institutional research teams examining the impact of

electronic portfolio practice on learning
50 institutions in five cohorts

Third cohort focuses on student affairs -academic

affairs collaboration
US, Canada, England, Scotland, Netherlands

Book out from Stylus

More information on website: ncepr.org.

Links with other networks of educators

◦ AAC&U / Carnegie Integrative Learning Project
◦ Visible Knowledge Project
◦ Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and
Learning

9. What outcomes do you
value?

10. Eportfolios Models for
Integrative Learning and
Whole Student Development
Learning Record Online (Texas)

 Stanford Learning Careers Project
 LaGuardia ePortfolio
 Seton Hall First Year Eportfolio
 Virginia Tech English Education
Eportfolio

11. Three Curricula
Kathleen Yancey, Reflection in the Writing Classroom

12. Learning Record Online
Five dimensions of learning and course goals

 Observations and samples of work throughout
semester
 Interpretation and grade recommendations at middle
and end
 Midterm moderations

13. Stanford Learning Careers

14. LaGuardia ePortfolio
Recent immigrants and

first-generation college
students
 Bridging home and
disciplinary culture
 Impact on
retention, student
engagement, grades
 Portfolio studios
 Visual design and
iteration

15. LaGuardia CCSSE Results
How much has your coursework emphasized synthesizing &
organizing ideas, information, or experiences in new ways?
1 = Very Little, 2 = Some, 3= Quite a Bit, 4 = Very Much

16. LaGuardia ePortfolio & Retention

17. Seton Hall First Year
First-year portfolio focused on

four non-cognitive factors
related to retention
Research demonstrates all four

factors predict persistence and
success (GPA) beyond
otherwise available data
Social integration and quality of

effort most significant  new
curricular emphasis

18. VA Tech English Education Portfolio
Pre-professional

ePortfolio
 Organized around
INTASC principles
 Reflection focused on
linking evidence to
outcomes
 Includes course, field,
and life experiences
 Designed using generic
tools

19. The Same Model with Student Topic
―Overlay‖ on Principles

20. What intrigues you about these
models?

21. Our ePortfolio Team
Juliet Blank-

Godlove, Director of
Leadership Education and
Development
Darren Cambridge, Asst.

Professor, New Century
College
Kara Danner, Director, Portal

Communications
Kimberly Eby, Assc. Provost

for Faculty Development;
Director, CTE
Heather Hare, Asst.

Director, Center for
Leadership & Community
Engagement
Julie Owen, Asst.

Professor, New Century
College
Lesley Smith, Assc.

Professor, New Century
College

22. Our Project
Central question: What are the implications of

evidence selection and use for
integration, learning, and student
engagement?
Portfolio contexts: Integrative approach to

learning with specific attention to classroom-
based, experiential, and co-curricular learning
NCC and portfolio-based assessment

Intentional collaboration with University Life

Part of the Inter/National Coalition for

Electronic Portfolio Research (INCEPR)
Small data sets over two cohorts (spring ‘07;

spring ‘08); additional cohort beginning in fall
‗08

23. Reflection and Evidence
Research at Alverno College suggests that as

students become more skilled at
reflection, they
◦ Draw on analysis of their own experiences rather
than appealing to external authorities
◦ Reference a wider range of activities and
artifacts
Research deals only with the content of the

reflections, not the evidence itself
Types of evidence in science portfolios

(Collins, 1992):
◦ Artifacts, Attestations, and Reproductions
Mixes analytically distinct dimensions, such

as characteristics of evidence and purpose

24. Methodology
Design research

◦ Intervention design informed by theory
◦ Evaluated for effectiveness and
contributes to further development of
theory
Grounded theory

◦ Collaborative coding of portfolio content
◦ Informed by observations of course
meetings and conversations with portfolio
authors

25. Characteristics Agency
• Self-authored
of item used as
• Collaboratively authored (portfolio author and associates)
evidence
• Other-authored
Media
•Media and modality of evidence (e.g., text, audio, image,
streaming video, multimedia, etc.)
Purpose of Rhetorical Function
• Intended (or deduced) function of the evidence (e.g.,
incorporating
demonstrates or symbolizes)
evidence
Object
• Evidence reflects author‘s knowledge, skills, character traits,
beliefs, goals, or identifications
Characteristics Sponsorship
• Institutionally sponsored (curricular, co-curricular, community
of associated
organizations, etc.)
learning activity
• Self-sponsored
• Unsponsored
Participation
• Individual participation
• Group activity
• Larger community/associational activity

26. Matches and Mismatches
Reflective description of evidence

 Content of evidence
 Local – site of specific evidence use
 Global – the whole portfolio
 Matches and mismatches yield more
sophisticated understanding and
resources for supporting portfolio
authors

31. Applications & Implications
The typology can be used

◦ To help portfolio authors think about their learning
experiences more broadly to promote integration.
◦ To help portfolio authors, teachers, and evaluators
think more deliberately about the hows and whys
of evidence inclusion in ePortfolios.
If we want students to become integrative

thinkers and learners, then we need to invite
them to do this both within and outside of the
classroom.

32. Blogs and SNS are Popular
39% of Internet users read blogs

8% write blogs

54% of those authors have never

published their writing anywhere else
35% of adults have a social network

profile
65% of teens do

94% of college students are on

Facebook
175 million users spending 3 billion

minutes a month on Facebook

33. Being popular matters because
It suggests intrinsic motivation, which

we‘d like to understand and tap.
There are social practices related to

use beyond academic settings we
need to take into account.

34. Public Displays of Connection
Blogroll and friends lists as messages

(Donath and Boyd, 2004)
Intentional performance of identity

rather than a transparent
representation of a social network
beyond the system
 Network as implicit validation of profile
information

36. danahboyd as
suicide girl
―impression management is an
inescapably collective process‖ (2008)

38. Participation
Copy and paste as a key literacy practice

(Perkle 2008)
◦ Embedded code
◦ Reuse of other-created media and
functionality
Neither fully production or consumption

 ―Materially connected‖: meaning and
functionality dependent on connections
 Compare to ―authorship‖ and
―ownership‖ and ―control‖

40. Some Questions
How do we mediate between the

brevity, frequency, loosely-structured conventions of blog
and SNS genres and the more intensive and complex
conventions of symphonic portfolios in a way that
embraces connection?
 How do we help students craft public displays of
connection as intentional self-representations through their
eportfolios? How do we determine when they‘re
successful?
 If we embrace participation as a meaningful means of self-
representation and reflection, how does that change how
we think about evidence and ownership in eportfolios?
 What is the appropriate balance between coherence and
control and malleability and interconnection?

41. Electronic Portfolios 2.0: Emergent
Findings and Shared Questions
Collection of 24

chapters detailing
research from
cohorts I, II, and III
of the Coalition
 Published by Stylus
in 2009