CLIPP Board

Assessing e-portfolios – product.

Attribution : FlickrCC image

I had a meeting today discussing Patchwork Text as a method of assessing the overall process of learning using an e-portfolio. But before I go into that topic (a future blog post) I thought we should begin with assessing the product of an e-portfolio.

During our initial e-portfolio interest group (ae-pig) meetings here at Aston I have been asked on many occasions “what methods exist to assess e-portfolios effectively?”   This issue is so important to lecturers here that we’ve made it one of our top priorities for the group.  With this in mind I’ve been researching various methods to assess both the process and product of an e-portfolio.  Of course we could pick the above question apart and analyse it from both a student and (busy) academic perspective. Yes, we want to ensure whatever methods we instigate does promote deeper and more critically reflective learning, BUT does not also place a higher marking burden upon time poor academic staff!  Attaining this balance is critical.  I have some ideas to share which may help the learning together with time-poor staff.
First off, I am going to concentrate upon the product. That is the end product of a series of assessed activities which could be presented in a number of ways (action plan, CV, web folio, blog, etc).  In my naivety I tackled this one first as I believed it to be the easiest to assess. Using templates to scaffold the reflective process is recognised as effective practice. Sed templates are given to the students as a framework to begin recording and collating reflective evidence. Sometimes reflective frameworks are also included to help move prose from purely descriptive to much deeper reflective statements. Reflective frameworks by Kolb, Driscoll, and Gibbs are recognised as most suitable to cover a wide range of disciplines.
Our careers advisor Steve Thompson recommended that we try and utilise assessment criteria from traditional poster presentations to assess the product. This is sound advice, and I’ve included the two most appropriate below. This should help us to move away from the more complicated method of over assessing an e-Portfolio as if it were a website
•    Organisation and Structure; Positive indicators; clear, coherent, easy to follow (Score : 1-5)
•    Visual Impact; Positive indicators; effective and attractive layout, accuracy, attention to detail    (Score : 1-5)

This set of rubrics by RCampus also provides a light touch when assessing layout and design.

Read more

JISC Live

Conference presentations and resources, including all the Elluminate recordings, from Innovating e-Learning 2010, are now available on the JISC website for general viewing.

The JISC Online Conference, Innovating e-Learning 2010 ran from 23rd -26^th November and attracted  483 delegates numbers from around the world. The conference theme was ‘Bringing Innovation to Life: from adversity comes opportunity’ to reflect the challenges facing colleges and universities in sustaining innovation in the current climate. The presentations and Elluminate recordings of all the sessions are now available and include presentations from:

• Keri Facer, Professor of Education at Manchester Metropolitan University and Director of the CREATE centre – Learning to live in interesting times – what are educational institutions for?
• Graham Galbraith, Deputy Vice Chancellor and Jon Alltree, Director of Learning, University of Hertfordshire – Developing a culture of blended learning innovation
• David Boud, University of Technology, Sydney – Transforming assessment for learning in a digital age
• Aaron Porter (President) and Usman Ali (Vice President (HE)),  National Union of Students – What do students really want?
• Anne Miller, inventor, author and co-founder of The Technology Partnership – How to get your innovations adopted (and change the world.)
• Elliott Masie, internationally recognised futurist, analyst and researcher on workforce learning, business collaboration and emerging technologies and Head of the MASIE Centre – Shaping our learning futures

In addition, recordings of the Elluminate conference sessions covering  mobile learning;  Sustaining OER innovation through collaboration and partnership; sustaining innovation in curriculum delivery are also available

Going the distance

Durham

This is my second post inspired by proceedings from the recent Durham Blackboard Users conference.
There were a number of presentations covering aspects of HEIs attempting to get to grips with effective online course design, support and delivery.
First up was a very encouraging presentation by Nicola Hayes from the University of Leicester. She discussed their relatively new Distance Education Centre and their new approach to marketing and supporting students when thinking and then applying for an online course. In her presentation entitled “Three Steps to Success: Building the Right Foundation – A taster, induction and first module reconfiguration course design for students studying at a distance” Nicola described a very supportive model of creating carbon copies of the live courses to give prospective students a real a taste of the real thing.  If students did sign up, they were then given access to a second module, with more authentic tasks to complete.  This method essentially provides a pre- course authentic student experience, which extends the idea of the Gilly Salmon 5 stage model to pre course activities.  Chatting to Nicola after her presentation, confirmed my previous experience and research of the importance of high quality student support, before, during and after online learning.  Nicola’s previous  experiences as an online tutor at Liverpool Hope University will certainly add weight to their ongoing plans for distance learning courses.

Read more

University of Strasbourg

Professor Stephane Vuilleimier

Anne Wheeler and Marika Jones visited Professor Stephane Vuilleumier at the University of Strasbourg from 16th – 18th June. Discussions took place on research to complement the Tempus curriculum design programme with the Russian Federation on the development of a professional qualifications framework for environmental management and ecology students.

Elluminating!

Last week I attended the PebblePad-bash 2010 conference.  It was a very inspiring event filled with some thought provoking keynotes + a wide range of really interesting case studies.  And they’ve collated them all into a snacky web resource  for easy navigation. We were even given a book of these, which you can also order from the site.

I’ll  post more about these case studies another time.   As well as a preview of PPAD 3 (sworn to secrecy – but it’s looking very good) – which will be a serious revamp & will embody the principle of web 2.0 (sharing & collaborating), we were reminded about their recent award – in parternship with Wolverhampton University. The IMS Global Awards are given out every year to innovative “e-learning” products from across the globe. Well done PPAD & Wolverhampton University people, a dedicated PPAD team, with the vision & drive of people like Julie Hughes & Emma Purnell.

Along with PebblePad - Xerte also quite deservedly won an award.   – see also a wiki page I authored  on rapid e-learning tools .

Last year JISC RSC Scotland NE won an award for their portable Edu Apps . Nb. take a look at their new project – MyStudyBar, the latest addition to the EduApps family; a dynamic floating toolbar that offers a range of carefully chosen applications to support literacy skills.

Finally talking of JISC, they’ve recently published a very useful Elluminate Live good practice guide,   [designed] to support teaching, learning and assessment, co-operative working and conferences.  Again see also a wiki page I authored on this topic for a list of tips and tricks using webinar tools :

Text matching = Turnitin

CLIPP are pleased to announce two workshops aimed at raising awareness of the popular text matching tool Turnitin.
The first workshop aimed at training support staff (sub administrators) – is already full, but we can still accept bookings if you are involved in that role, or soon to be? Monday 28th June morning session. Book here :

http://staffdev.aston.ac.uk/bookings/fullCourse.aspx?courseID=312

The second workshop is aimed at anyone interested in this text matching software (subsequently used to help checking for plagiarism and collusion).  The second workshop is being held on Monday 28th June from 1 > 3:30 pm.  Please find more details and book onto this workshop here:
http://staffdev.aston.ac.uk/bookings/fullCourse.aspx?courseID=313

Note:  we are covering the online marking features and peer assessment features of Turnitin during this workshop.
For those of you who are unsure of exactly what Turnitin can offer to improve teaching and learning, please go to : http://www.submit.ac.uk or http://www.plagiarismadvice.org
For an extensive list of effective practice across the UK on the use of such software please read the links/case studies/research papers, etc in my wiki page (three years in the making!):

• http://wiki.rscwmsystems.org.uk/index.php/Plagiarism ,
  …and also please browse my shard bookmarks on the topic :
• http://delicious.com/deliboy/plagiarism

Fifth European First Year Experience Conference

Anne Wheeler, Baljit Gill, Ellen Pope and Matt Daley attended the 5th EFYE conference at Plantijn University College in Antwerp, Belgium from 26 – 28 May 2010. The conference presentations covered a range of topics that influence the student first year experience, including: transition issues, inclusive L&T, student support, appreciative inquiry, retention, effective assessment, etc. Ellen, Matt and Anne also presented their poster at the Open Space session on ‘Appreciating and Enhancing Student Skills: 1st Year student perceptions’ which focuses on the work of the Learning Development Centre.

The conference provided the team with an opportunity to hear about, and take part in workshops, on facilitating students transition to HE, and in supporting and enhancing their learning on arrival at University. The conference also provided the team with time to reflect and discuss ways in which we can incorporate some of the initiatives, in a coordinated manner, into our working practice at Aston.

EU Curriculum Development Grant

Aston University has been successful in a joint bid to the EU Tempus Programme to develop a professional standards framework for HE courses in Environmental Management in the Russian Federation. The EU grant for €1,024,137 over 3 years has been awarded and will faciliate Dr Anne Wheeler and other Aston staff to participate in the curriculum development project with a number of other partner institutions. The other partner institutions involved in the project are the Universities of Tyumen, Freiburg, Strasbourg and Koblenz-Landau and 4 other Russian Universities. The project will be coordinated by Freiburg and Tyumen and, subject to the completion of the relevant paperwork and contracts, will begin on 15th January 2010.