E-Portfolios and the Problem of Learning in the Post-Course Era by Randy Bass, Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS), Georgetown University General Education 3.0 (AAC&U) March 4, 2011

2. “ You know. It was taught as a Gen Ed course and I took it as a Gen Ed course.” Georgetown student, end of first year, focus group: reflecting on a particular course in which, he claimed, he was not asked to engage with the material.

4. The Post-Course Era

6. The Post-Course Era End of the era of the self-contained course as the center of the curriculum “ The fragmentation of the curriculum into a collection of independently ‘owned’ courses is itself an impediment to student accomplishment, because the different courses students take, even on the same campus, are not expected to engage or build on one another.” (AAC&U, 2004)

12. So, if high impact practices are largely in the extra-curriculum (or co-curriculum), then where are the low-impact practices?

13. Low-impact practices: Formally known as ‘the curriculum’?

14. If the formal curriculum is not where the high impact experiences are then what are the options?

15. Making courses more like high-impact practices courses designed as inquiry-based & participatory Virtual Labs Leveraging “the crowd” as a way of teaching Constructivist social tools: wikis & blogs

17. What are the shared and salient features of participatory cultures in Web-based environments? Jenkins, et. al., Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture (MacArthur Foundation, 2006) wikipedia Video gaming communities grass roots organizations fan sites

19. The Formal Curriculum Informal Learning Participatory culture High impact practices Experiential Co-curriculum

20. The Formal Curriculum Informal Learning Participatory culture High impact practices Experiential Co-curriculum Can we continue to operate on the assumption that the formal curriculum is the center of the undergraduate experience?

21. The Formal Curriculum Informal Learning Participatory culture High impact practices Experiential Co-curriculum The Intermediate and the Integrative

22. John Seely Brown: Practice to Content content practice From John Seely Brown, “Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0”

23. The Formal Curriculum Informal Learning Participatory culture High impact practices Experiential Co-curriculum Where and how does one “learn-to-be,” inside and outside the formal curriculum?

24. NOVICE MIRACLE EXPERT product product Connecting Intermediate Processes to Practice

25. evidence of process Connecting Intermediate Processes to Practice LEARNING processes NOVICE processes EXPERT product practice LEARNING processes LEARNING processes

26. How can we better understand these intermediate processes? How might we design to foster and capture them? evidence of process Connecting Intermediate Processes to Practice LEARNING processes Our learning environments are rapidly expanding the ways we can make the intermediate visible… NOVICE processes EXPERT practice LEARNING processes LEARNING processes

27. Making Intermediate Thinking Visible

28. Making Intermediate Thinking Visible

29. Making Intermediate Thinking Visible

30. Derek Bruff, Vanderbilt University derekbruff.com

32. How can we better understand these intermediate processes? How do these processes serve as a bridge from novice processes to expert practice? Connecting Intermediate Processes to Practice Social media and intermediate thinking processes Note taking Sharing Resources Commenting Amplifying Asking Questions Helping One Another Offering Suggestions Building community Opening the Classroom NOVICE processes EXPERT practice

33. On the use of Twitter in the classroom (Mark Sample, GMU—after Rick Reo, GMU) “ Twitter is a Snark Valve” http://www.samplereality.com/

36. Michael Smith & Ali Erkan, Ithaca College

37. Michael Smith & Ali Erkan, Ithaca College

38. Michael Smith & Ali Erkan, Ithaca College “ How can students be engaged so that there is meaning in the structure of wikis they produce?” “ If there is meaning in the structure of student wikis, how can it be harvested and, subsequently, analyzed? “ Thin Slicing”?

39. How can we better understand these intermediate processes? How might we design to foster and capture them? Connecting Intermediate Processes to Expert Practice The places we can look for captures of learning are expanding rapidly… How do you capture the relationship between intermediate engagement and intellectual development? Evidence of gen ed goal? LEARNING processes NOVICE processes EXPERT practice

40. The Formal Curriculum Informal Learning Participatory culture High impact practices Experiential Co-curriculum Intermediate  --------------------------  Integrative

41. ePortfolio as Social Pedagogy Collaborative Integrative Interactive Recursive Embodied Adaptive

42. Connecting through ePortfolio Student Student Faculty & Staff External Audiences Across Disciplines Across Semesters Academic Curriculum Lived Curriculum

43. ePortfolios as tools and practices for integrating Connect to Learning (FIPSE)

45. Reflection at the heart of ePorfolio practice

48. Exp Exp Exp Exp

49. Exp Exp Exp Exp Reflection

50. Exp Exp Exp Exp Reflection Reflection

51. Exp Exp Exp Exp Reflection Reflection Reflection

52. Exp Exp Exp Exp Reflection Reflection Reflection Prior Learning (Experience & Theory)

53. Exp Exp Exp Exp Reflection Reflection Reflection Prior Learning (Experience & Theory) Making Meaning Integration

54. (2) Reflection as Systematic & Disciplined

55. (2) Reflection as systematic and disciplined inquiry Exp Exp Exp Exp Reflection Reflection Reflection Prior Learning (Experience & Theory) Making Meaning Integration

58. Three Rivers CC (Nursing)

60. Foundational Description of experience setting up comparison with other work “ Backward design” of reflective practice implies that faculty think forward and together: “All clinical faculty promote development of reflective skills.” Three Rivers CC (Nursing )

61. Three Rivers CC: Iterative design “ The assignment builds upon the semester previous with a focus in development of their professional voice .”

62. Three Rivers CC: Making reflection “social” and public

63. Three Rivers CC: Making reflection “social” from the beginning Reflection as social pedagogy begins with entry level courses “ Students write a letter to future students of the course”

64. Virginia Tech’s SERVE Living Community

65. Virginia Tech’s SERVE Living Community “ SERVE community members are encouraged to be active through both service and reflection . In their portfolios, you will find detailed experiences of their engagement as well as reflective pieces synthesizing their journeys ” (VT ePortfolio page) Co-curricular engagement portfolios

66. Comprehensive Reflection Assignment Comprehensive Reflection Assignment

69. Carol Rodgers on Reflection: Deepening Developmental Cycle

70. The Big Finish

71. Synthesis: the “problem of learning” in the post-course era the Intermediate & the Integrative Social Learning Deepening Cycles of Reflection

72. Making Thinking Visible and the Deepening Reflection Cycle Note taking Sharing Resources Commenting Amplifying Asking Questions Helping One Another Offering Suggestions Building community Opening the Classroom Intermediate  --------------------------  Integrative

73. The Formal Curriculum Informal Learning Participatory culture High impact practices Experiential Co-curriculum Intermediate  --------------------------  Integrative

74. [email_address] Thanks to: Ali Erkan and Michael Smith, Ithaca College John Seely Brown Mark Sample, GMU Derek Bruff, Vanderbilt Bret Eynon and Judit Torok and the Connect to Learning Team at LGCC Trent Batson (AAEEBEL, Connect to Learning) Three Rivers CC Virginia Tech ePortfolio and SERVE team The Teagle Foundation Heidi Elmendorf, Georgetown My colleagues at the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship cndls.georgetown.edu