Online Portfolios Research Articles

A Decade of Research: Assessing Change in the Technical Communication Classroom Using Online Portfolios

Over a period of 10 years, we have developed a sustainable process of online portfolio assessment that demonstrates both reliability and validity, using both qualitative and quantitative measures. The sustainable cycle is that, each semester, we assess a random sampling of the students' work that they have posted, as per our instructions, in an online portfolio. During the reading, the faculty score the documents for 11 variables, including writing, content, audience awareness, and document design. We achieved validity by a modified online Delphi that led to a redefinition of the construct of technical communication itself; we achieved reliability by adjudication resulting in adjacent scores. The results of our assessment meet the requirements of ABET and result in a continual cycle of improvement for our technical communication curriculum. Results from three semesters show an improving correlation between the course grade and the overall, holistic portfolio score.

The Analytic Assessment of Online Portfolios in Undergraduate Technical Communication: A Model

AbstractThis paper describes an innovative model for assessing the technical communication course by analytically scoring online portfolios, open to the internet, for ten separate (analytic) variables and one overall (holistic) score. The model is a statistically verifiable and sustainable method that strengthens the curriculum and fosters consensus within the teaching community. We achieved construct validity by redefining the elements of the course to incorporate communication in the digital age and then by creating new criteria for evaluation related to that construct. We achieved inter‐reader reliability by beginning each assessment with a calibrated reading and by adjudicating non‐adjacent scores. After using the model successfully for three semesters, we can see increased consistency in teaching among sections and semesters, more communication among instructors, and we are beginning a database with which we can test further change. The theory and method behind this model can be applied to other disciplines as well.

Symposium 2: Implementing e-Portfolios

Personal development planning (PDP) is a key issue in relation to professional and career development, and e-portfolios are a tool that can aid in this process. Many benefits of paper-based and online portfolios have been investigated but less has been reported on the technological and organisational issues which impact on user acceptance and uptake. This paper reports on experiences of the Enhancing Learner Progression Project in implementing two different e-portfolio systems in six different personal development contexts. Findings relate to access to the e-portfolio, the need for changes in pedagogy, time constraints for staff using e-portfolios and the future direction and questions raised from using e-portfolios.

Memoranda to myself: Maxims for the online portfolio

For a successful pedagogy of online portfolios, set up the computer network before the term begins; guide students to teach themselves how to use the system; legislate only one software for use in the class; briefly explain the portfolio system at the beginning of the term; give “unsatisfactory” grades on the first assignment; prompt revision even on “satisfactory” submissions; maintain an electronic storehouse of commonplace responses; accept revisions only from “clean” copy; wait until the term is well underway before beginning peer review; provide written guidelines for peer response; provide for off-line, small-group peer response; allow each student to determine when and how often to engage in peer response; provide detailed portfolio guidelines a few weeks before the portfolio is due; have a provisional, midsemester portfolio submission; and work toward a “composition” that would include interactive media.

Points: Urinary frequency and urgency

<b>Objective.</b> To evaluate pharmacy students9 self-assessment skills with an electronic portfolio program using mentor evaluators. <b>Design.</b> First-year (P1) and second-year (P2) pharmacy students used online portfolios that required self-assessments of specific graded class assignments. Using a rubric, faculty and alumni mentors evaluated students9 self-assessments and provided feedback. <b>Assessment.</b> Eighty-four P1 students, 74 P2 students, and 59 mentors participated in the portfolio program during 2010-2011. Both student groups performed well overall, with only a small number of resubmissions required. P1 students showed significant improvements across semesters for 2 of the self-assessment questions; P2 students9 scores did not differ significantly. The P1 scores were significantly higher than P2 scores for 3 questions during spring 2011. Mentors and students had similar levels of agreement with the extent to which students put forth their best effort on the self-assessments. <b>Conclusion.</b> An electronic portfolio using mentors based inside and outside the school provided students with many opportunities to practice their self-assessment skills. This system represents a useful method of incorporating self-assessments into the curriculum that allows for feedback to be provided to the students.