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Plumbing the depths: stories, e-portfolios; pedagogy, ownership

Plumbing the depths: stories, e-portfolios; pedagogy, ownership

Patterson, Jennifer ORCID: 0000-0002-8254-7602 (2009) Plumbing the depths: stories, e-portfolios; pedagogy, ownership. In: Remenyi, Dan, (ed.) Proceedings of ECEL 2009: the 8th European Conference on e-Learning. Academic Publishing Limited, Reading, UK, pp. 37-38. ISBN 978-1-906638-52-8 (CD)

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

Over the course of this academic year, a colleague and I implemented an eportfolio
pilot with 82 students aged 17 to 50 on a team-taught 30-credit Level 1 core
course on behalf of the University of Greenwich. The students are studying for a degree in
Education Studies and come from a wide range of backgrounds. The module comprises
elements of PDP interwoven with lectures on contemporary education issues and was
originally designed as a paper-based course. The pilot navigated the PebblePad system
as part of a wider trial of a number of different systems by the university. This paper
presents the results of research combining mixed methodologies mainly allied to the
interpretive paradigm but incorporating elements of critical theory. The research evaluates
the differing experiences of students and lecturers using this e-portfolio system for
learning, teaching, reflection and assessment. Methods used include initial and final
student reflections, surveys, interviews and critical analysis including the narrative
‘soundings’ of sample experiences from student blogs and visual analysis of some student
portfolios. We used the PebblePad as a mini VLE, uploading course documents and
lecture presentations and sending messages as well as creating online gateways for
formative and summative assessment submission. It was accessed externally to the
university systems. In a scaffolded process, students constructed and submitted blogs and
e-portfolios composed of a number of assets. The process of interactions with an eportfolio
system has raised substantial and complex challenges for course design and
learning outcomes relating to pedagogy and assessment as well as challenges of
implementation, resistance to change and around concepts of ownership. As a
commentary on academic practice, an element of personal reflection on the project and
the research is included in the form of a dialogic interlocution with these narratives, raising
questions about the way in which we might use e-portfolios in Higher Education and
considering how we evaluate online learning. As a process of evaluation, the research
does not offer hypotheses or answers as such but aims to create space for different views
by raising complex questions and challenges for consideration in the process of
contextualising and making sense of the users’ different experiences, of plumbing the depths. Drawing on diverse genres and media the paper presents the results of the
research and samples some of the work produced.

Item Type: Book Section
Additional Information: Abstract of paper presented at the 8th European Conference on e-Learning (ECEL 2009),29-30 October 2010, University of Bari, Italy.
Uncontrolled Keywords: e-Portfolios, digital identities, check
Subjects: L Education > L Education (General)
Pre-2014 Departments: School of Education
School of Education > Department of Education & Community Studies
Related URLs:
Last Modified: 08 Oct 2019 09:24
URI: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/5637

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