Aggregating ePortfolio Discourse in Virtual Communities of Practice

Merlot 2006 Ottawa Canada 11/8/2006

Kathleen Willbanks and Gayle Burns

CSU The California State University

23 Campuses involved in the project 400000 students and some 20,000 staff but you could just about calculate it. These numbers are indicative of the size of this project.

CSU identified the need for ePortfolios as essential when the teacher accreditation requirements TPA & TPE, similar to TAA, were implemented. Typically there were some staff who resisted the move.

Development was an evolutionary process in collaboration with vendors. This provided a better outcome than just taking an off the shelf ePortfolio system.

The qualification requirements included education, technology and business training making it essential that the ePortfolio system served these needs as well. The ePortfolio requirement is driven by 3 accreditation agencies which are responsible for teaching staff having been accredited to teach.

Initially they built a website that facilitated a community of practice. The model used was quite different to other communities of practice. The new model will now be used by CSU to change the model of past communities of practice. The community of practice hold numerous resources, forums, etc. The goal is to do away with the bulky hard print portfolios traditionally used. At face to face meetings the staff are provided wireless access that permits people at distance and or disparate locations to attend. This access also allows access to chat and forums. Initially CSU commenced without forum moderators but soon learned that moderators or facilitators were required.

I am not sure what the differences were and could not find out due to the need to get to the CLOE session.

There was a hybrid model for using the ePortfolio, that is it included face to face meetings mixed with a lot of online sessions.

See hand out; it is interesting to note that they are using the Australian Flexible Learning’s Flexways to assist staff identify their skills and skill gaps.

“Work Force Learning” a new requirement by USA and Canadian Federal Governments is demanding the evidence to be produced through Portfolios and ePortfolios for the accreditation process. Work Force Learning is also demanding that the Colleges and Universities design and develop resources and courses that will assist industry and enterprise training requirements.