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August 15, 2007
E-Portfolios: Next Steps
First it was Robert Biral from the Honors College who had questions about electronic portfolios during last week's WebCT workshops. Then along came Mary Cox who is part of a group in Engineering/Math looking for "an e-portfolio program." Then, of course, there is Education's current implementation of its e-portfolio system, TaskStream. A couple other mentions of the topic from various faculty this summer have me wondering if this is the year for e-portfolios, and, if so, what LRG's role might be in this.
One idea that seems to be consistent is that "we need a software program that will help us do e-portfolios." Now, as we know from experience, too often the process of finding a solution to a given problem starts with the question "what software?" instead of with the more important questions: what are you trying to do? how do you define or perceive what you are trying to do? how will it be implemented? who will implement it? what are the hoped for outcomes?
The topic of e-portfolios can be particularly murky. Is an e-portfolio a way for students to conceive of, coordinate, reflect on, and build upon their own learning? For example, would an e-portfolio allow them to gather all course materials together (syllabus, course notes, papers, projects, etc.) in a way that they could refer to them from course to course and begin to understand the connections. Is an e-portfolio seen as a place to store "best examples" for assessment purposes, both their own and their professor's or even their colleges for accreditation data? Or is it a place for students and even faculty to display their accomplishments to the rest of the world, the so-called "super resume" model?
In terms of use, would an e-portfolio project be adopted across department? across a college? or is it seen as an integral part of a student portal system? Would students be expected to use it on a course by course basis or across all courses?
As various constituents grapple with this topic, can the CTL/Acad Comp or LRG as a whole, assist in the process? Would a round-table work? I'm envisioning something slightly more formal than a tea, with invitations to those in Education who have already implemented an e-portfolio system.The purpose would be to give participants a chance to refine their ideas about what e-portfolios are, about what IT options exist, and to consider how they would actually implement an e-portfolio program. Our role would be as facilitators, not solution experts!
Posted by hag at 10:44 AM | Comments (0)
August 7, 2007
Google News
Google is offering three new services to educators:
1) The University Research Program for Google Search," is designed to give university researchers "high-volume programmatic access to Google Search, whose huge repository of data constitutes a valuable resource for understanding the structure and contents of the Web." More at Google Univ Research Program
2) Google Translate, will allow researchers "programmatic access to Google's translation service," including "detailed word alignment information" and "a list of the n-best translations with detailed scoring information."
3) One to definitely keep an eye on, is Google's leap into the fray of keeping CS students and interested others current with the 'how-tos' of new technologies. They have put together a website with tutorials, samples, and video lectures. Current topics include AJAX programming and Distributed Systems. Also included is the Google Curriculum Search that "will help you find teaching materials that have been published to the web by faculty from CS departments around the world. You can refine your search to display just lectures, assignments or reference materials for a set of courses."
Posted by hag at 9:03 AM | Comments (0)