Leveraging the ePortfolio for Integrative Learning - Hardcover

Reynolds, Candyce; Patton, Judith

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1579228992 ISBN 13: 9781579228996

Publisher: Routledge, 2014

Synopsis

The fruit of the authors’ more than 15 years of using and writing about ePortfolios in general education and disciplinary programs and courses, this book is a comprehensive and practical guide to the use of the ePortfolio as a pedagogy that facilitates the integrative learning that is a central goal of higher education.

Faculty and administrators of programs using ePortfolios can use this guide to help their students work individually on an ePortfolio or as part of a class or program requirement. Readers will discover through examples of student portfolios and targeted exercises how to assist students in making their learning visible to themselves, their peers, their instructors and their future employers

While interest in ePortfolios has exploded―because they provide an easier and more comprehensive ways to assess student learning than traditional portfolios, and because they have the potential to transformatively develop students’ ability to connect and apply their knowledge―faculty and administrators all too often are disappointed by the lackluster ePortfolios that students submit. Reynolds and Patton demonstrate how systematically embedding practices in the classroom that engage students in integrative learning practices dramatically improves outcomes. The authors describe easy to use and practical strategies for faculty to incorporate integrative ePortfolios in their courses and curricula, and create the scaffolding to develop students’ skills and metacognition.

The book opens by outlining the underlying learning theory and the key concepts of integrative learning and by describing the purpose, structure and implementation of ePortfolios. Subsequent sections cover classroom practices and assignments to help students understand themselves as learners; make connections between course content, their personal lives, and to the curriculum; bridge theory to practice; and consider issues of audience and communication and presentation in developing their portfolios. The book goes on to cover technological issues and assessment, with a particular emphasis on the use of rubrics; and concludes with explicated examples of ePortfolios created in a first-year program, ePortfolios created by graduating students, career-oriented ePortfolios, and lifelong ePortfolios.

For both experienced faculty and administrators, and readers just beginning to use ePortfolios, this book provides a framework and guidance to implement them to their fullest potential.

About this title

About the Author:

Candyce Reynolds is Associate Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy, at Portland State University.

Review:

"Integrative learning is often seen as the Holy Grail for various learning contexts, such as general education and lifelong learning. It’s believed to exist, but it’s often unclear how to foster such learning in meaningful ways. Destined to be a seminal text, what Reynolds and Patton provide here is a map to integrative learning through ePortfolios with practical advice leading to real outcomes. I will be providing this book as a manual for those who teach using ePortfolios." (C. Edward Watson, Director, Center for Teaching & Learning, University of Georgia; and Executive Editor)

"Interspersed with thoughtful anecdotes and tested examples of activities and implementation strategies, Leveraging the ePortfolio for Integrative Learning is a useful resource for those in the early stages of exploring ePortfolios as well as for more experienced practitioners. Reynolds and Patton highlight the affordances of ePortfolio pedagogy and practice that make ePortfolios uniquely suited to facilitate reflection on and document evidence of integrative learning for a wide range of audiences including, most importantly, the learners themselves." (Helen L. Chen, PhD, Research Scientist and Director of ePortfolio Initiatives, Office of the Registrar, Stanford University; and Co-Founder)

"Candyce Reynolds and Judith Patton’s Leveraging the ePortfolio for Integrative Learning is the most accessible book I have seen about using ePortfolios in higher education. They write this book as if it is their own ePortfolio, providing personal stories and many examples of faculty uses of ePortfolios. The book keeps you reading as if you are listening to the authors tell you all you want to hear about every aspect of defining your ePortfolio’s campus purpose to choosing a platform to the structure of a showcase ePortfolio to tips and cautions. I was impressed with their thoroughness and lucidity. Thanks to Reynolds and Patton for this significant contribution to the field of ePortfolio studies." (Trent Batson, Ph.D., President)

"When a piece of writing’s tone fits its message, that’s rhetorical savvy. Leveraging the ePortfolio for Integrative Learning’s conversational style embodies a main message of the book: an ePortfolio is a “living document,” “an active agent in one’s life.” ePortfolios described in this book are vital, continually evolving, progressively more illustrative of the ways in which we can integrate all aspects of our lives. Integrative learning can characterize ePortfolio learners and readers of this helpful book." (Barbara Cambridge, Codirector, Inter/National Coalition for Electronic Portfolio Research; Professor of English, Emerita)

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1579228992
• ISBN 13: 9781579228996
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 184