Archives For Voice

What if we gave students enough time to learn

Dwayne Harapnuik —  March 8, 2016 — Leave a comment

It is widely accepted that eportfolios can help learners “deepen the inquiry process” by enabling them to integrate metacognition or reflection into their learning experience (Catalyst for Learning, n.d.). Eportfolios have the potential to be inviting, reflective, and engaging learning tools that stimulate deeper learning and offer many other benefits and as a result many higher education institutions promote their creation and use. Unfortunately, many educators who have been exploring the use of eportfolios over the past several decades have noticed that despite their wonderful potential as life long learning tools many students stop using their eportfolio after the completion of their program of study.

Researchers, Cynthia Cummings, Thilisa Thibodeaux and Dwayne Harapnuik recognized the need to find out which factors contribute to the continued use, or lack thereof, of the eportfolio. More specifically, these researchers have started a study to identify the factors that contribute to the continued or dis-continued use of eportfolios beyond the student’s program of study. The literature review revealed that choice, ownership, voice and authenticity (COVA) are key factors in encouraging students to go much deeper into learning so Cummings, Thibodeaux and Harapnuik sought to confirm if these factors would also influence the continued or dis-contined use of the eportfolio (Buchem, et el., 2014; Campbell, 2009; Lindgren & McDaniel, 2012; Pink, 2011; Qauglia, (n.d.); Rikard, 2015; Waters, 2015).

The initial results of the study were presented at the AAEEBL Western Regional Conference at Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth, TX in February, 2016. The study utilized a convergent mixed methods research design and the participants of this study included students from the Educational Technology Leadership master’s program at Lamar University who developed eportfolios as part of their program requirement. The 526 survey participants where first asked if they continued or dis-continued using their eportfolio beyond their program of study and then were asked to a likert scale to rate a list of twenty factors to identify to what extent those factor contributed to their continued or dis-continued use of the eportfolio.

Participants were given three opportunities to complete the online survey over a period of three weeks and 141 participants responded giving the survey just over a 26% response rate.
Using or not using eportfolio numbers

The survey revealed that only 18% of the participants continued to use their eportfolios while 82% stopped using their eportfolios after the completion of their program of study. These results confirmed earlier anecdotal evidence that many students stop using their eportfolios when not required to do so for a course.

The survey also revealed that use of the eportfolio as a career tool, the use of authentic projects, control over assessment of their learning and the management of the eportfolio were the most significant factors that contributed to the continued use of the eportfolio.
Continued use of eportfolio

The primary factors for why students stopped using an eportfolio was the lack of time followed very closely by a lack of interest in eportfolios and lack of management over the eportfolio process.
Discontinued use of eportfolio

Several follow up focus groups were conducted to gain additional insight into the continued or dis-continued use of the eportfolio and see if any additional factors not listed in the survey had impact the students continued or dis-continued use. One focus group participant in the research project confirmed why time is such a significant factor by stating:
“All your time is spent just keeping your head above water; there is no time to think about the benefits of an eportfolio or how to build and structure your eportfolio for use for anything more than document storage”.

For many of the students in the new Masters of Digital Learning and Leading program (DLL) at Lamar University coming out of the first course in the program EDLD 5302 Concepts of Educational Technology this frustration with a lack of time is also a reality. We have often seen students struggle with just learning how to learn to use new technology and concepts so getting the weekly assignments completed and simply dropping an evidence of learning into their eportfolio container is often the most students have been able to accomplish with limited time.

Our initial research findings and original assumptions suggest that if we gave our DLL students enough time and the appropriate environment to experiment with their eportfolio then we should see continued use of the eportfolio. Since the DLL program is new we won’t have our first graduates for the next 18 months, we have some time to wait to officially confirm our assumptions.

The eportfolio is a fundamental component of the DLL program and each course has been designed to utilize authentic projects and the eportfolio to showcase student’s work. EDLD 5303 Applying Educational Technology: Eportfolio is the second course in the DLL which is structured specifically to give students the time to focus completely on and experiment with the eportfolio. The evidence of learning accumulated in EDLD 5302 or through Microsoft Teaching with Technology, Google Educator, or the Apple Distinguished Educator programs can now be shaped and moulded into a well organized and cohesive format to genuinely convey a message beyond basic technology skills competence. In EDLD 5303 students are given the opportunity to move beyond dropping assignments into a digital container and are encouraged to start to consider and show how they plan to use technology to enhance their own learning and their learning environments.

To help shape student’s thinking on eportfolios and to start them on the journey of continuous reflection and revision of their work in EDLD 5303 we ask students to explore the following:

Though this process of working through these ideas in their own eportfolios students will gain an appreciation for the value of the eportfolio as a deeper learning tool.

Next to a lack of time the lack of an appreciation of the value of the eportfolio was another major contributing factor for students who stopped using eportfolios beyond the course of study. Through the use of authentic assessment in all DLL courses and the ability to work on projects that will have a direct impact in the students own learning environment the DLL program gives students choice, ownership, voice and authenticity (COVA) that our research findings have initially confirmed are the key factors in encouraging students to continue using their eportfolios beyond their programs of study.

We are confident that this eportfolio experience started in EDLD 5303 and continued throughout all other DLL courses will provide a solid learning foundation for the DLL M.Ed and for the continued use of the eportfolio beyond this program. If you really want to students to learn deeply and build a foundation for learning how to learn then you need to give students:

  • The freedom to choose how they wish to organize, structure and present their experiences and evidences of learning
  • Ownership over the entire eportfolio process – including selection of projects and their portfolio tools
  • The opportunity to use their own voice to revise and restructure their work and ideas.
  • The opportunity to prepare their eportfolio platform for all the authentic learning assignments that they will experience in the remainder of the DLL program.

We are also confident that the DLL program will prepare students for the challenges of the future and shape them into the digital leaders that we need to move our educational systems forward.

Our research into this area is really just beginning while we are continuing to examine the data and will be publishing the full results shortly, we are also exploring relationships with other institutions who have used eportfolios in their programs to replicate our research in different settings to further confirm our findings.

References

Buchem, I., Tur, G., Hoelterhof, T., Rahimi, E., van den Berg, J., Veen, W., … & Aresta, M. (2014). Learner control in Personal Learning Environments: A cross-cultural study. Learning and Diversity in the Cities of the Future, 13.

Campbell, G. (2009). A Personal Cyberinfrastructure. EDUCAUSE Review, 44(5), 58–59.

Catalyst for Learning Eportfolio Resources and Research (n.d.). Pedagogy. Retrieved from http://c2l.mcnrc.org/pedagogy/

Lindgren, R., & McDaniel, R. (2012). Transforming Online Learning through Narrative and Student Agency. Educational Technology & Society, 15 (4), 344–355.

Pink, D. H. (2011). Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us. Penguin.
Chicago

Qauglia, R. (n.d.). Quaglia Institute Framework. Retrieved September 8, 2015, from http://www.qisa.org/framework/

Rikard, A. (2015). Do I Own My Domain If You Grade It? (EdSurge News). Retrieved September 8, 2015, from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2015-08-10-do-i-own-my-domain-if-you-grade-it

Watters, A. (2015, July 15). The Web We Need to Give Students. Retrieved September 10, 2015, from https://medium.com/bright/the-web-we-need-to-give-students-311d97713713

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Who Owns the Eportfolio?

Dwayne Harapnuik —  September 17, 2015 — Leave a comment

tug-1024An initial response to this question would be: the learner/student. It is their work so they would own it – wouldn’t they? However, if you look at current eportfolio practice and the research into learner engagement, agency, choice and voice you will find that even though the students are doing the work, more often than not they do not own the ideas and are not making meaningful connections, they are simply completing assignments and giving the instructor what they want (Barrett, 2005; Hopper & Standford, 2007; Lindren & McDaniel, 2012; Atwell, 2013; Buchem, Tur & Holterhof, 2014).

The following student statement collected as part of UBC’s ePortfolio Pilot Project confirms this unwritten instructional arrangement (Tosh, Penny Light, Flemming & Haywood, 2005):

The things we are supposed to do for it [the e-portfolio] are kind of like assignments and no offense but everybody knows, for assignments, you give them what they want – you give them what they want and they give you your mark, that’s basically the way it works.

Unfortunately, jumping through the hoops prevents deeper learning and is killing the meaningful connections that come from reflections on learning in an eportfolio (Barrett, 2005).

Gardner Campbell (2009) proposed that we move beyond the template-driven, plug-and-play, turnkey web applications where we point students to data buckets and conduits we’ve already made. In contrast, we must enable students to create personal cyberinfrastructures where students become effective architects, narrators, curators, and inhabitants of their own digital lives. This personal cyberinfrastructure has been realized in University of Mary Washington’s Domain of One’s Own and similar initiatives at other universities (Watters, 2015).

Even if we get the Domain of One’s Own piece right and give students the control over the selection of the eportfolio tools and environment we can still limit the effectiveness of the eportfolio experience if we fail listen to our students and address two additional key factors.

1. Ownership of ideas and learning

In the provocative student voice post Do I Own My Domain If You Grade It? Andrew Rikard points out:

Giving a student ownership over data means nothing if it doesn’t allow them to determine that data. At that point the student once again loses agency in relation to the institution. Promoting digital ownership is different than assigning work in publicly accessible spaces (2015).

Rikard displays wisdom beyond his years by challenging us to acknowledge that:

‘Domains’ is radical not because it is a technological shift, but because it encourages a pedagogical shift… The question bigger than data ownership is how to make ownership over ideas happen (2015).

It is this ownership of ideas that leads to deeper learning. In order to make meaningful connections one has to take ownership of those ideas and concepts in order to construct meaning. Eportfolio proponents all point to the power of reflection but unless the student is reflecting on ideas that they own rather than reflecting on artifacts and data the power of this reflection is lost. Making meaningful connections is what leads to learning.

Therefore, we have to not only give students a choice, ownership, voice and agency (COVA) over their digital domain we have to give them COVA (Thibodeaux, 2015) over their ideas. The best way to do this is through a learning environment and pedagogy that provides authentic assignments and gives the student the opportunity to solve real world problems in their own institutions or organizations.

Educators also have to create and model this type of learning environment if they wish to help bring out change in education.

2. Modeling – Walk the talk

Once again we need to look to what our students are saying about how well we model or walk the talk. The research into UBC’s ePortfolio Pilot Project Tosh et al (2005) revealed that students wanted to be shown good examples of eportfolios, be given evidence of how the eportfolio will benefit them in their studies and future work and, most importantly, have the instructors show them one of their own portfolios. The following statement from a disillusioned students in the UBC ePortfolio Pilot Project (2005) captures the essence of not being able to walk the talk:

In terms of promotion the problem is the people trying to explain it [the eportfolio] have probably never used it so in a way they have no clue what they are talking about, basically. To put it frankly – after listening to them you would be like, Okay so you as an outsider who never even used it is telling us we should do this because it is the best thing since sliced bread but you have never used it – you can’t find someone who did use it – you don’t have enough information to tell us how to use it – and now you’re telling us use it and we’ll grade you on it – this kind of makes it hard for students to accept or appreciate it.

Educators need to realize that we if expect to maintain any level of credibility and respect with our students we can only ask our students to do things we are willing to do ourselves. John Hattie points to feedback within a trusted relationship between and teacher and a student as one of the important factors in student achievement. If we effectively model what we expect our student to do with their eportfolios by showing them ours, then the feedback we can provide to our students will be much more valuable and more openly received.

Fortunately, there are instructors who are effectively modeling deeper learning in the Domain of One’s Own project at MWU (Groom & Lamb, 2014) and several other institutions who have adopted this model.
adoption-cycleImage Source: https://marcabraham.wordpress.com/2015/02/24/book-review-crossing-the-chasm/
Our challenge is to move this beyond the early adopters and encourage the early and later majority of instructors to utilize and model eportfolios. Perhaps we are closer to this becoming a reality than ever before.

References

Attwell, G. (2012, September). Who owns the e-Portfolio? Retrieved from http://www.pontydysgu.org/2012/09/who-owns-the-e-portfolio

Barrett, H. (2005) ePortfolios for learning(Blog). Retrieved September 21, 2005 from: http://electronicportfolios.org/blog/

Buchem, I., Tur, G., & Holterhof, T. (2014). Learner Control in Personal Learning Environments: A Cross-Cultural Study. Journal of Literacy and Technology Special Edition, 15(2), 14–53.

Domain of One’s Own. (2015). Retrieved from http://academics.umw.edu/dtlt/2014/06/23/domain-of-ones-own-video/

Groom, J., & Lamb, B. (2014). Reclaiming Innovation. EDUCAUSE Review. Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/visuals/shared/er/extras/2014/ReclaimingInnovation/default.html

Hattie, J. (2013). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. Routledge.

Hattie, J., & Yates, G. C. (2013). Visible learning and the science of how we learn. Routledge.

Hopper, T., & Sanford, K. (2007). E-portfolio in teacher education: Pre-service teacher ownership of their learning and the Standards to be certified as teachers. University of Victoria. Retrieved from http://web.uvic.ca/~thopper/Site%20articles/Report%20e-portfolio.pdf

Lindren, R., & McDaniel, R. (2012). Transforming Online Learning through Narrative and Student Agency. International Forum of Educational Technology & Society, 15(4), 344–355.

Rikard, A. (n.d.). Do I Own My Domain If You Grade It? (EdSurge News). Retrieved September 8, 2015, from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2015-08-10-do-i-own-my-domain-if-you-grade-it

Thibodeaux, T. (2015) The idea for abbreviating choice, ownership, voice and agency as COVA came out of a conversation with my Lamar University colleague.

Tosh, D., Light, T. P., Fleming, K., & Haywood, J. (2005). Engagement with electronic portfolios: Challenges from the student perspective. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology/La revue canadienne de l’apprentissage et de la technologie, 31(3).

Watters, A. (2014, April). Beneath the Cobblestones… A Domain of One’s Own [Blog]. Retrieved September 11, 2015, from http://hackeducation.com/2014/04/25/domain-of-ones-own-incubator-emory

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IBM Watson – Finally a Computer That Can Understand and Interact with Human Voice

Dwayne Harapnuik —  September 23, 2011 — Leave a comment
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/hiner/talking-computer-will-change-the-world-promises-not-to-kill-you/9250?tag=nl.e101

Talking computer will change the world; promises not to kill you | TechRepublic via kwout

This is much more than voice recognition that you would find in Dragaon Naturally Speaking. The IBM Watson can respond to human voice–on can essentially talk and interact with the computer. FINALLY!

Read the full article…

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