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Who Owns the ePortfolio

Dwayne Harapnuik — September 23, 2015

An 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 the 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 the environment we can still limit the effectiveness of the ePortfolio experience if we fail to 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 authentic learning (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 a change in education.

2. Modeling – Walk the talk

Once again we need to look at 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 ePortfolio, 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 student 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 students to do with their ePortfolio 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.
Image 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 ePortfolio. 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

ePortfolio
Why: Learning to learn
What: Doing the learning
How: Showing the learning
Who: Owning the learning
ePortfolio Examples

Revised Sept 2023

Who Owns the Eportfolio?

Dwayne Harapnuik — September 17, 2015 — Leave a comment

An 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.
Image 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.

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.

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

In Eportfolio agency, choice, learner, ownership, Voice

ePortfolio

Dwayne Harapnuik — August 17, 2015 — 4 Comments

ePortfolios can and should be simple to understand and, more importantly, simple to create and maintain. Especially if we keep the academic and scholarly jargon down to a minimum and focus on what we need to know and do to effectively use ePortfolios to enhance learning.

The minimalist fundamentals of ePortfolios:

Why: Learning to learn.
We believe that ePortfolios enable learners to take ownership of, and go much deeper into, their learning.

What: Doing the learning
To do this, learners use their ePortfolios to reflect on what they know, what they are learning or experiencing, what they don’t know, and to make meaningful connections.

How: Showing the learning
ePortfolios are a learner’s digital evidence of meaningful connections. See Examples of ePortfolios

Who: Owning the learning
We believe that ePortfolios is a “domain of one own”. The learner must not only choose the platform and tools for the ePortfolios but choose what evidence of learning is included and how this evidence and the ePortfolios themselves are presented. Often an ePortfolios isn’t called an ePortfolio but is referred to as one’s website, site, or blog.

Disruption Innovation: Disrupting the institution
Effective ePortfolios are disruptive because they don’t fit within our standards and summative assessment-focused educational culture.

My goal will be to continually refine and simplify these fundamentals to help promote ePortfolios and enhance learning.

ePortfolio
Why: Learning to learn
What: Doing the learning
How: Showing the learning
Who: Owning the learning
ePortfolio Examples

Revised Sept 2023

Experts connect dots not just collect dots

Dwayne Harapnuik — May 12, 2014 — 3 Comments

In a TED talk and more recently in his blog post Connecting dots (or collecting dots) Seth Godin argues:

Without a doubt, the ability to connect the dots is rare, prized and valuable. Connecting dots, solving the problem that hasn’t been solved before, seeing the pattern before it is made obvious, is more essential than ever before.

Godin also asks why then do we spend so much time collecting dots. We overwhelm our learners with so much data, ask them to regurgitate this content in tests, and simply focus on the delivery of content instead of helping our learners make meaningful connections. While Godin has coined the notion of connecting the dots rather than collecting the dots, the idea of developing connections within a conceptual framework was first intro ducted to me by my colleague Robert McKelvain, Ph.D. at Abilene Christian University in 2010. McKelvain suggested that the difference between an expert and a novice is that an expert has a fully developed conceptional framework.

In the diagram, the main concepts are represented by the larger blue dots and the dotted lines between the concepts represent the connections that the expert has developed as they have expanded their conceptual framework. The expert not only relies upon their full conceptual framework, they are able to enter into this framework from many different perspectives. They can see all the pieces and understand all the connections and when dealing with new information they have a much broader base in which to understand and encode that new information—which makes them a more adaptable, efficient, and effective learner and problem solver in their areas of expertise.

In contrast to the expert, the novice may not only have a minimally developed conceptional framework, they may even have some of the concepts wrong, miss the connections, and not fully understand all the connections that they do see. If we understand that learning is the making of meaningful connections then the role of the expert teacher is to:

Provide the context for learning which includes introducing the fundamental conceptual framework components.
Create the environment where the learner can start to make meaningful connections between those concepts.
Model the learning process needed to: make those connections, add new concepts, and see the patterns that lead to solving problems.
Mentor the novice in building and expanding their conceptual framework.

In a nutshell, the expert models what it takes to become an expert learner and take ownership in the development of one’s own expertise.

One of the biggest challenges in this process is the expert’s bias, which is the inability for an expert to see the challenges that a novice or beginner faces. This can have significant ramifications in areas where subject matter experts with limited teaching knowledge and experience are tasked with teaching. Subject matter experts have often forgotten more than a novice even knows and unless they are also expert teachers and have developed the conceptual framework of an expert teacher, they can have difficulty understanding the challenges that the novice is experiencing. Therefore, teacher training and professional development will be crucial if we hope to move from the notion of collecting dots to connecting dots.

In Learning, Meaningful Connections collecting, conceptual framework, connecting, connections, expert, Learning, meaning, novice

The Gift of Intrinsic Motivation

Dwayne Harapnuik — August 13, 2013 — 2 Comments

These past several weeks my two boys, Levi and Caleb, have spent most of their days riding Silver Star and Whistler Bike Park, Whistler Aerodome and other DownHill and DirtJump locations in British Columbia. This type of riding is not only extremely hard on the human body (i.e. Levi’s concussion and recent shoulder injury and Caleb’s ongoing aching hands, too many bruises, scrapes and scratches to mentions) it may even be harder on the bikes. As result there is extensive daily maintenance and the all too often broken component that needs to be replaced as a result of bad hit, wipe out our simply the harsh terrain.

Up until this summer I had been supervising and directing this daily maintenance. Taking on a new position at BCIT means that I am not going to be able to ride with my boys on a daily basis and help them with their bike maintenance and repairs. That is why a recent Saturday morning at Silver Star confirmed that the gift of intrinsic motivation that I have been giving my boys for several years has not only finally been fully received, it has blossomed into the wonderful sight displayed in these pictures.

Cluster Removal

Lockon Grip Fastening

Two typical teenage boys (17 and 15) are not only cleaning, lubing and adjusting their high end DH bikes, they are spending sometimes up to 2-3 hours a day doing full repairs and preventative maintenance which ranges from replacing spokes, truing and tensioning wheels to changing fork oil, brake bleeds, replacing suspension bearings and every other aspect of maintaining and repairing their very expensive bikes. Most importantly they are doing it on their own without having to be told or directed. The gift of intrinsic motivation has finally been received.

While the title and initial focus of this blog post suggests that you can give someone intrinsic motivation I must concede the fact that you cannot give anyone intrinsic motivation. This type of motivation comes from within. You can however create the environment and influence the circumstances in which intrinsic motivation will not only emerge but will grow into a driving force.

I believe that we can help foster the growth and establishment of intrinsic motivation if we consider and foster the following five key contributing factors.

Modelling
James Dobson has repeatedly stated that “Values are not taught to our children; they are caught by them.” I suggest that intrinsic motivation is similar to values in that is not taught to our children but has to be caught by them. Ever since my boys first started riding their bikes they have also learned how to repair and maintain them–it is just something that I/we have always done. In addition to maintaining bikes I maintain our vehicles, our home and just about anything that we own. The years of rotating tires, changing oil, fixing the dishwasher, renovating and updating our homes and everything else that the boys were involved in helping their mom and dad do on a daily basis contributed to showing the boys how they could “catch” the intrinsic motivation required to work through the mundane tasks that are part of everyday life.

Expectations
Effective modelling will also convey or demonstrate what expectations, standards and criteria need to be met. Knowing what is expected and fulfilling those expectations is extremely important for children and teenagers because it will help them to develop responsibility and accountability. As adults our work is judged and often connected to our income so developing the ability to meet or exceed expectations for our children is not only very important, their future careers may also depend on this ability.

One of the biggest challenges with expectations is being realistic. The performance standard for an 10-12 year old child will not be the same as a 15-17 year old teenager or an adult. The desired end quality should not be compromised but the path to getting to that quality will depend on the age and skill level of your children so be patient. Unrealistic expectations are the source of too many disappointed fathers and children so remember when your 12 year old son or daughter is striving to meet their father’s expectations remember that they are just a 12 year old boy or girl. Similarly there is a point when challenging your 17 year old son or daughter to step up and perform as adult is crucial to their development.

Trust
The key to trust is letting go and letting your children do the task, make their own mistakes and learn from the situation. All too often we want to swoop in and direct and correct and interfere with the learning process. Or worse we think that it would be more time effective and less stressful to do the task ourselves or worse still outsource the job. When we trust our children to make breakfast, repair the doorknob, fix the flat tire or, in the case of my boys, build their own bikes from scratch we are telling them that we believe in them and that we value their effort and contribution. A father’s and mother’s trust is a major contributor to your child’s identity and to their intrinsic motivation. Knowing that someone else trusts and believes in them helps them to trust and believe in themselves. This instills confidence which is a fundamental contributor to personal motivation.

Ownership
Little boys and girls want to be like their mom and dad and have their own tool belts, hammers, appliances, bikes, cars and so many other things. This is one principle that I wish I would have fully grasped and understood sooner. When Caleb and Levi searched out and selected all the necessary components and built their own DH bikes up from a raw frame it really changed the way they approached maintaining their equipment. They now have a vested interest. They understand the work involved in putting the bike together and what it would take to replace or repair those components. More importantly, my boys now not only want to maintain their bikes they do so on their own and even appreciate preventative maintenance because they know the work that went into building up their bikes.

Consequences
Broken spokes are like deer; if you see one you inevitably will see another. A bad landing, a rock or root can cause a broken spoke and cut into prime riding time. Unfortunately, a poorly tensioned wheel will be more susceptible to damage than a well maintained wheel. There is often nothing better than natural consequences to motivate a young man to take the extra time necessary to properly tension his wheels to limit the downtime that can ruin an otherwise wonderful riding day. The idiom “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is never fully appreciated until one is personally responsible for implementing that pound of cure. Letting your children suffer the consequences (as long as they aren’t life threatening) will be much more valuable to them in the long run than your intervening.

The lesson learned in the garage and on the mountain slopes, bike parks and dirt jump parks of BC have played a significant role in my sons’ acceptance of the gift of intrinsic motivation. As an intentional father it is my responsibility to create an environment at home, on the road and anywhere we are at where the above listed contributing factors will help my boys to grow into responsible men. Helping them with the gift of intrinsic motivation is just one part of this ongoing process.