I am finally getting the hang of this portfolio development process. Judy, Gail, and I had a substantive conversation about how we will proceed. The first step is for Judy to ask the Deans what kind of data they want us to look at.
Their answer will give us a “context” for the “research question” we want to ask: a) What are the characteristics of each of the e-portfolio platforms we look at? and b) Which platform is most suitable for what we want to do @ UVa? There is a third question implied in the methodology we want to use: QWS (H&B). Is it a good tool for making such decisions?
Possible Contexts: focus on student needs, focus on instructional needs, focus on institutional needs (or some combination…)
Our Preference: focus on individual students and on the instructional space
Individual Student: career, advising, and tutorial type of services
Instructional management = non-credit/credit
Non-Credit: technical experts, trained support staff, “folio thinking”, micro-credentials
Credit: “folio thinking” general culture/awareness, re-designed courses, new courses, transcripts
(See AAEEBL proposal for rationale behind using QWS — iterative process ideal for developing portfolio thinking.)
What are the platforms we will be looking at?
Digication
Chalk & Wire
Pebble+
WordPress
*reference model:
About Yitna Firdyiwek
Yitna Firdyiwek is an Instructional Designer in the Office of Technology Strategies in the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Virginia. Until recently, he was with the University's Information Technology Services where he worked as Instructional Technology Advisor in the Scholarly Technology Group.
Yitna has a PhD in Instructional Technology from the Curry School and two Masters, one in Linguistics (George Mason University) and one in Creative Writing (Brown University).
From 1997-2009 he was actively involved in the University of Virginia's Teaching + Technology Initiative. He also worked with UVaCollab, the University's Learning Management System, where he developed the "interactive syllabus" project. He also focused on integrating external applications into the University's LMS. He is currently involved with learning technology initiatives and works with instructors in the College of Arts and Sciences on the design, development, and implementation of innovative approaches to technology integration in undergraduate courses.
Yitna is interested in the use of ePortfolios for reflective learning and authentic assessment, and has published collaboratively on these topics. He is also interested in practical designs for efficient teaching and learning management systems, as well as improvements of technology enhanced classroom environments.
When he is able to, Yitna keeps one foot in the undergraduate classroom developing and teaching a reading and writing course in the history and philosophy of technology.
Yitna is a naturalized US citizen (native of Ethiopia), and lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.
