How Badges, Portfolios, and Alternative Credentials Redefine Evidence of Learning

1. November 13, 2015
Signaling Student Experience and Accomplishment:
How Badges, Portfolios, and Alternative Credentials
Redefine Evidence of Learning

2. Agenda
3
Welcome
Evidence of Learning: Definition & Overview
Panelist Introductions
Moderated Discussion: The Value of True Measures
Audience Q&A
Additional Resources
01
02
03
04
05
06

3. Adam Newman
Founder and Managing Partner, Tyton Partners
4
Adam is a founding partner of Tyton Partners, with
more than 15 years of experience in consulting and
market research, management, banking, and
teaching across all segments of the education
sector.
Prior to founding Tyton Partners, Adam was a
director at Berkery Noyes, where he originated the
firm’s strategic advisory practice for education
companies and investors. Previously, Adam served
as managing vice president at Eduventures, leading
the firm’s industry solutions division. Prior to
Eduventures, Adam served as a senior manager at
the Corporate Executive Board in the company’s
corporate strategy board practice.

4. 5
What Is “Evidence of Learning”?
Evidence of Learning:
“The body of knowledge, skills,
and experience achieved
through both formal and informal
activities, that individuals
accumulate and validate during
their lifetime.”

5. Dr. Bret Eynon
Associate Dean of Academic Affairs,
LaGuardia Community College (CUNY)
6
Dr. Bret Eynon is a historian and Dean at LaGuardia
Community College (CUNY). Founder of LaGuardia’s
Center for Teaching and Learning, Eynon is on the
national faculty of the Association of American Colleges
& Universities. With Georgetown’s Randy Bass, he led
the Visible Knowledge Project, producing The
Difference that Inquiry Makes: A Collaborative Case
Study on Technology and Learning.
With Laura Gambino, Eynon led the Connect to
Learning Project, a 24- campus community of practice
that advanced learning for more than 110,00 students
and produced Catalyst for Learning: ePortfolio
Resources & Research. http://c2l.mcnrc.org/
Eynon & Bass forthcoming essay, Open & Integrative:
Designing Liberal Education for the New Ecosystem,
will be released by AAC&U in January 2016.

6. 7
What Difference does ePortfolios Make?
Connect to Learning Findings
When done well, ePortfolio makes learning visible and
leads to these measureable outcomes:
1. Advance Student Learning & Success
2. Support Reflection, Social Pedagogy and Deep Learning
3. Catalyze Learning-Centered Institutional Change
Eynon, Gambino & Torok, “The Difference that ePortfolio Makes:
A Field Report from the Connect to Learning Project.”
International Journal of ePortfolio, Spring 2014
http://www.theijep.com/

7. 8
Alignment & Its Challenges
• LaGuardia uses ePortfolio &
artifacts of student learning to
assess outcomes for General
Education, disciplinary
majors, and co-curricular
learning.
• 15-20,000 artifacts per year.
• Sustained engagement of
stakeholders is crucial.
Faculty must take ownership.
• Highly challenging to do
across institutions & with
employers

8. Dr. Jeff King
Executive Director, Center for Excellence in Transformative
Teaching & Learning, University of Central Oklahoma
9
Jeff King, Ed.D., is Executive Director of UCO’s
Center for Excellence in Transformative Teaching
and Learning. His research and application interests
have long focused on what faculty can do to help
students learn, to be motivated toward deep learning
strategies, and to persist in their educations. A
decades-long study of educational beliefs held by
faculty and students and how to change limiting
beliefs has found its way into his work at UCO.
Over the years, whether as college faculty member
or in faculty professional development, he has
matched passion to position in helping students
learn. His Ed.D. in Higher Education with a cognate
in Adult and Continuing Education is from the
University of North Texas.

9. 10
UCO’s Student Transformative Learning Record

10. Matthew Pittinsky, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer, Parchment
11
Matthew brings to Parchment a unique background as
both an education technology entrepreneur and a
sociologist of education. In 1997 he co-founded
Blackboard Inc., serving first as Chief Executive Officer
and then Executive Chairman. Matthew is on the
faculty of Arizona State University, serves on the Board
of Trustees of The Woodrow Wilson National
Fellowship Foundation and is leading a national effort
to establish a national, standardized Postsecondary
Achievement Report (PAR).
In 2012 the Teachers College at Columbia University
awarded Matthew with The President’s Medal of
Excellence. He is a frequent speaker, and has recently
been invited to present at NewSchools Summit,
Association of American Universities meeting, National
Association for College Admission Counseling National
Conference and SXSWedu.

11. 12
Moderated Discussion:
The Value of True Measures
• Why now?
• Capturing learning for learning’s sake
• Implementation and outcomes

12. 13
Why Now?
• The landscape is rapidly evolving
• New ways of understanding, measuring evidence of learning
• Students demanding more, as the role of higher education changes

13. 14
Capturing Learning for Learning’s Sake
Institutions
• Better able to serve students
• Connecting learning with research
Students
• Taking ownership of their learning path
• Understanding core competencies
Employers
• Deeper understanding of full set of skills
• Alternative formats (e.g., portfolios, badges)
show more than historical models

14. 15
Implementation and Outcomes
• Making connections – Institutions sharing resources, best practices
• Showcasing experiences beyond the classroom
• Redeveloping an existing model
• Authentic assessment vs. proxy assessment

15. 05 Questions & Answers

16. 17
Additional Resources
For additional resources on evidence of learning, including
the recording of this webinar, please visit:
tytonpartners.com/library/webinar