ePortfolio
Although portfolios are used throughout courses in the School of Education, we began to evaluate online portfolios or “electronic” ePortfolios as an educational tool for students to document academic and professional development, organize and showcase their work and reflect on learning artifacts in alignment with programmatic goals, objectives and national standards. Through ePortfolios students will see how various courses in a program connect to help them become effective practitioners. In addition, students can showcase their work using text, pictures, audio, or video, thereby increasing their use of and engagement with technology.
Dr. Janet DeSimone, Assistant Professor & Educational Leadership Program Coordinator, in collaboration with Leslie Lieman, Educational Technology Coordinator, piloted the Division’s first ePortfolio project with a cohort of graduate students in a capstone course (graduating May, 2009). Students were introduced to the online ePortfolio system, Digication. An ePortfolio template was created for students to both collect and showcase artifacts that aligned to the ELCC standards, to demonstrate evidence of learning through written reflections, as well as to identify beginning and end of program philosophy and reflect on growth over time, and to understand/reflect upon the value of alternative forms of assessment. ePortfolios are now introduced to all incoming Educational Leadership Program students and is a capstone requirement.
In Fall 2010, Dr. Wesley Pitts, Assistant Professor & Science Education Graduate Coordinator in the Department of Middle and High School Education, began piloting the use of ePortfolio as part of a two-semester capstone project and has also incorporated the use of ePortfolios in student teaching/internship (clinical practice). A central requirement for students developing ePortfolio entries in the science education graduate program is to incorporate baseline and post-baseline data to help illustrate growth in a variety of areas.
Expanding the reach of our ePortfolio projects in Fall 2010, in addition to individual support, Ms. Lieman developed a 6-session/2-hours each workshop series for 9 additional School of Education faculty members to discuss and evaluate the pedagogical implications and foundations for developing ePortfolios. Several faculty members will be establishing ePortfolio pilot projects in upcoming semesters.
ePortfolio Mini Grant History
In 2008, the School of Education at Lehman College was selected to participate in Year Two of Making Connections: An ePortfolio Mini-Grant & Seminar Program supported by LaGuardia Community College and The Fund for Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE), an agency of the US Department of Education. The proposal was selected for "its vision, thoughtful planning, and potential benefit both for students and faculty."
In Fall 2010, the School of Education was awarded a mini-grant and coveted spot in Connect to Learning: ePortfolio and Student Success, a three-year, FIPSE-funded collaboration designed to strengthen reflective ePortfolio practice on multiple campuses and generate a national developmental model of best practice in the field. The project links campuses active in two networks: member campuses of the Association for Authentic, Experiential, and Evidence-Based Learning (AAEEBL); and campuses, like the School of Education at Lehman College, that are active with LaGuardia’s Making Connections National Resource Center.
The School of Education’s ePortfolio Leadership Team includes, Dr. Wesley Pitts, Dr. Aliex Ross, Associate Professor and Graduate Advisor & Coordinator, Childhood Graduate Program, Early Childhood and Childhood Education and Leslie Lieman.
Last modified: Aug 22, 2012
