All posts by Lucas (he, his) Wright

About Lucas (he, his) Wright

I work as a learning technology specialist in the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology at the University of British Columbia

Reflections on the PebblePad Demo

Events

Thanks to Ranvir Bahl for setting up a demo of the PebblePad Personal Learning System on Thursday, July 12th. The webinar was hosted by Shane Sutherland (one of the founders and Development Director of Pebble Pad).

Shane provided an overview of the PebblePad system and we discussed how it might support goals and instructional needs for select professional programs at UBC. Overall PebblePad is a robust Personal Learning System that has four main functions in relation to teaching and learning.

1. Assets
A system where students can store artifacts (assets) and repurpose them to present in different blogs, webfolios and portfolio pages. These assets can be drawn from learning management systems, social media and cloud storage applications (Google Drive). Templates allow the learners to create guided reflections and link each assett to particular competencies and/or skills levels.

2. Webfolios, Blogs
Learners can share these assetts in different ways by linking them to blogs, webfolios and other PebblePad tools.

3. Atlas
PebblePad includes an assessment/sharing management tool, Atlas. This allows faculty, staff and students to access portfolios, blogs, that have been shared with them. Atlas provides robust assessment functionality such as the ability to lock files while assessing and provide anonymous assessment.

Opportunities

  • Robust system that meets many of the e-Portfolio instructional needs required by some professional programs
  • Provides a way to link learning across courses and personal learning networks
  • Assessment tool (Atlas) provides a means of making the assessment process valid and efficient
  • The asset repository allows learners to link and share artifacts in multiple places
  • Mobile integration allows for assets to be created from a mobile device

Challenges

  • PebblePad is only beginning to access the North America market
  • This robust system is expensive and complex compared with Portfolio tools and implementation would be an intensive process
  • Currently, there is a limited functionality to establish learning communities in PebblePad

Link to PebblePad resources

Portfolio CoP Meeting: Faculty and Student Engagement

Events

Thanks for attending the Portfolio CoP meeting on Wed, March 7th and thanks to Karen, Michelle and Dianne for facilitating presentations about faculty and student engagement in e-Portfolio projects. These presentations lead to some engaging discussion about some of the challenges and opportunities that we all face in our practices supporting and promoting these projects with faculty and students.

Resources

Cyberpsychology An Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction.  Kent Norman, Cambridge University Press 2008.

Webspace for eportfolio competition in Computer Science at UBC https://www.cs.ubc.ca/students/undergrad/careers/career-planning/helpful-career-resources

 

Exploring ePortfolio Technologies: Reviewing Platforms and Approaches for Teaching, Learning and Beyond

Events

A new series of webinars reviewing e-Portfolio platforms in teaching and learning  has been planned in collaboration between EPAC, ePortfolio California and AAEBL. The series of webinars Exploring ePortfolio Technologies: Reviewing Platforms and Approaches for Teaching, Learning and Beyond is an ongoing series of webinars where leading eportfolio developers describe how their selected tool meets their teaching and learning needs.  This series is a good opportunity to see what tools different institutions have implemented and how they might be use in the context of your program.

The webinars will be presented every Wed beginning September 14th at 10:00am, PST.

Upcoming sessions

November 9 – FolioTek

November 23 – Epsilen

December 7 – Mahara

Registration


 

AAEEBL ePortfolio Research Study

Events, Resources,

The The Association for Authentic, Experiential and Evidence Based Learning (AAEEBL) is in the process of administering a world-wide survey of ePortfolio implementations in higher education. The survey results will be compiled and shared at the The AAEEBL International ePortfolio Summit 2011 in Boston, July 25 – 28 .  In addition, the results will be discussed in a number of follow-up webinars and online chats.  This survey is part of a larger research initiative that is trying to determine ” how eportfolios are being promoted in higher education globally and identifying the conditions conducive to successful implementation of eportfolios and associated pedagogies and assessment strategies. ”

If you are interested in completing this survey I have pasted the instructions and the survey link below. I will be posting webinars and chats discussing this survey as they become available.

We invite you to respond to these survey questions from your own individual, personal and professional perspective, focusing on a single eportfolio project or program with which you are involved.  You are not expected to feel responsible for speaking for your program or for what may be several eportfolio initiatives at your institution.  However, you are encouraged to forward information about this survey to colleagues who may also be working with eportfolios so that we may include a diverse range of eportfolio-related initiatives. This survey will take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete.

Please find this survey at:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SGBJX5J

ePortfolios and Copyright Resources

Resources,

Privacy and copyright are important considerations in developing an ePortfolio or implementing an ePortfolio program. The following resources put together by EPAC offer some insight into issues around copyright and ownership.

EPAC Copyright Resources
http://epac.pbworks.com/w/page/35679449/Copyright-Free-Resources

It would be worth adding to their list of Resources for finding copyright free images and audio

1. Flikr Creative Commons
http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

2. Internet Archive
http://www.archive.org/index.php

PebblePad ePortfolio Platform

Resources,

I have been exploring PebblePad as an ePortfolio tool. It has some interesting functionality including hosting services for individuals and self-hosting options for institutions. This platform allows end users to upload assets (evidence) into the system, reflect on it and share it with other users or assessors as individual artifacts, webfolios, or blogs. I found the following features valuable in the context of learning ePortfolios in higher education:

  • The ability for the user to display evidence in multiple views
  • Wizards to guide users through the process of asset (artifact) development
  • Users can reflect on individual assets (artifacts)
  • Comprehensive assessment management including a gradebook, ability to set time release on feedback, options for calibrated assessment, links to learning outcomes

PebblePad resources

Introductory and advanced webinars
Documentation
ePortfolio examples

**According to vendor currently only offering licenses for the UK and Australia but would assess on a case-by-case basis

If you have used PebblePad as an instructor, student or administrator I would love to hear your impressions. Please either write a comment below or email me directly at lucas.wright@ubc.ca

March Portfolio CoP Meeting Summary

Events

The March Portfolio CoP meeting provided a great opportunity to share information and experiences developing and implementing learning ePortfolios. During the meeting Karen Gardner presented an engaging session describing her experience developing and implementing learning ePortfolios as an assessment and interactive learning tool in the Faculty of Dentistry.

Dr Gardner, described the development of Diastemas.net, a web platform designed for dental students that provides a space where they can participate in online learning communities and peer review with international colleagues. Dr. Gardner emphasized aspects of this project including the value of reflection and peer feedback in enhancing learning, the role of vertical integration in learning communities, and approaches taken to supporting the development of and interaction within these communities. I have linked the resources mentioned during the presentation below and attached the presentation slides to this email.

Presentation Resources

Palloff, R, and Pratt, K. (2007) Building Online Learning Communities. 2nd ed
Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.

West, R.(2010) A student’s guide to strengthening an online community.
Tech Trends Sept/Oct 54(5) 69-75.

Garrison, D., Anderson, T., and Archer, W. (2000) Critical inquiry in a text-based
Environment: computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and
Higher Education 2(2-3) 87-105.

Hawkes, M. (2006) Linguistic discourse variables as indicators of reflective
online interaction. The American Journal of Distance Education 20(4) 231-244.

Watkins, C. (2005) Classrooms as learning communities. London Review of Education 3(1) 47-64.

Upcoming EPAC Webchat about implimenting the Mahara ePortfolio Tool

Events, Resources,

Upcoming EPAC Webchat about customizing the Mahara ePortfolio Tool:

EPAC April Webchat with Pace University: Customizing Mahara as an Open Source Solution to Create a University-wide “Educational Passport” for Learning

When: Thursday, April 7, 2011
10 a.m. PT/11 p.m. MT/12 p.m. CT/1 p.m. ET

This event is free to all interested individuals although pre-registration is required:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dEVjVVgtNGxyOG9KN2lBRlRlLTVlR0E6MA#gid=0

If you cannot attend but would like to be notified when the archived recording of the session is available, please go ahead and register as well.

Description:
This webinar/chat will describe the Pace solution for implementing a university-wide ePortfolio program, with our Open Source software, Mahara. Within one year, we have customized our platform, and gone from a small pilot program to a multi-faceted integrated ePortfolio, working with undergraduate and graduate students and faculty from across the disciplines, as well as partnering with Career Services, and Student Life.

Presenters:
Beth Gordon Klingner is the Executive Director for Academic Technology at Pace University and is also an adjunct instructor in English, Communications and Psychology. Beth has been an ePortfolio enthusiast for the past ten years. This year, Beth is participating in the LaGuardia Community College’s Making Connections program on ePortfolios. In addition, Beth is also interested in blended learning, distance education and emerging technologies. Beth recently co-authored a chapter in Teaching Inclusively in Higher Education, titled “The Technological Age of Teaching.” Beth earned her BA in Literature from Binghamton University, her MA in English Education from SUNY–Albany, and her PhD in Educational Technology from Walden University.

Linda Anstendig is a Professor of English, Co-Director of the Pace ePortfolio Program, and Executive Assistant to the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Pace University. This year Linda is a member of the leadership team for the LaGuardia Community College Connect 2 Learning Grant, and is leading faculty development Teaching Circle seminars for developing ePortfolios. Her publications include a text, Writing Through Literature, co-authored with David Hicks, a chapter in Peter Seldin’s Teaching Portfolios, a book chapter in It Really Works: Ideas from Award Winning English Teachers, and numerous aritcles on writing across the curriculum, service learning, and writing with technology. Linda earned her BA from Connecticut College, her MAT from Harvard University, and her Ed.D from Columbia University Teachers College.