This week over at Capilano University, we are wrapping up our Learning and Teaching Symposium, which began on May 8 with a keynote presentation from Dr. Linda Shadiow, author of What Our Stories Teach Us, on “Using Sightlines to Strengthen to the Learning Environment”. Her keynote presentation in combination an afternoon workshop encouraged us as educators to reflect on how our stories as learners in our respective disciplines in turn informs who we are as educators.
This invitation to explore the role of reflection and metacognition in learning was returned to this morning in a series of three linked presentations that I had the pleasure of hosting with my colleagues from the Spring 2017 ePortfolio Development Community.
The opening session – What We Talk About When We Talk About Portfolios – opened with an overview of past portfolio initiatives at the university before moving onto a summary of what was been taking place on campus this past academic, including the English 100 Portfolio Pilot and Liberal Studies Portfolio Project. In particular, this session pivoted on the ideas shared by Cyri Jones (Business), Maureen Bracewell (Anthropology and Women’s and Gender Studies), and Alison Hale (Education and Employment Access) who were invited to reflect on the promise of ePortfolios for students, faculties, and the university as a whole.
Our second session – Folio Thinking / Rethinking Teaching (.pdf) – focused on the process adopted by the Development Community in the redesign process with examples provided by Sheila Ross and Vicky Ross (ENGL 100), Jules Smith (HCA 102), Maureen Bracewell (WGST 222), and Sandra Seekins (AHIS 430).
The final presentation – Portfolios in Action (.pdf) – was my favourite of the three sessions. Here we were joined by four students who shared their portfolios with us and provided the room with insights into what they value about course- and program-based invitations to develop professional personal websites. Megan Amato (Liberal Studies), Faith Dawa (Early Childhood Care and Education), Livleen Pannu (Business) and Radovan Marek (Communications) were poised, thoughtful, and inspiring.
AAEEBL’s annual conference is being hosted by Portland State University from July 24-27. The conference theme is “Making the Case for Authentic, Experiential, and Evidence-Based Learning”. Early bird registration closes May 31. This should be an exciting gathering of the ePortfolio community in a fun city. See you there.
We are excited to announce that we have two peer mentors on deck in the Writing Centre (Fir 402) for the remainder of the Spring term.
Megan Amato is available on Mondays and Wednesdays from 1-2pm. Alex Strang is in the Centre on Wednesdays from 2-4pm.
Megan and Alex are here to assist CapU students looking for help with getting started on their portfolio and to provide peer-based feedback on in-progress sites.
SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE: Due to a planned maintenance, the ePortfolios websites will have intermittent interruptions on Tuesday, December 20 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Thank you for your understanding as we work to continually improve information technology services at Capilano University.
In Spring 2017, Capilano’s inaugural ePortfolio Development Community will begin a term-long curriculum redesign project to fold folio thinking and digital portfolios into CapU eight courses. The first offering the redesigned courses will take place in the 2017/18 academic year.
We look forward to reporting out on our design process in May 2017.
For now, we will begin with introductions.
Maureen Bracewell – Anthropology
Alison Hale – Education and Employment Access
Cyri Jones – Business
Aurelea Mahood – Capilano University ePortfolio Project Faculty Lead
Thank you to everyone who joined us at last week’s workshop with Tracy Penny Light (TRU).
If you are inspired to continue exploring all things folio, the two opportunities outlined below may be of interest so read on . . .
Join the FOLIO THINKING Campus Learning Community
As mentioned last week, the Folio Thinking CLC meets on the second Friday of each month from 2:30-4pm in the Writing Centre, 4th floor of Fir. In the Fall term, we will meeting as follows:
September 9, 2016
October 14, 2016
November 18, 2016 (1 week later due to Remembrance Day)
December 9, 2016
We will collectively formalize our focus for the Fall term at the September meeting based on areas of interest emerging people’s preliminary readings and Tracy’s workshop.
There are no formal requirements/commitments associated with participating in Folio Thinking CLC other than a desire to participate in a year-long cross-departmental and unit conversation about portfolios, folio thinking, and pedagogy.
SPRING 2017 ePORTFOLIO DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
If you left last week’s workshop interested in making a more “formal” commitment, then consider applying to participate the Spring 2017 ePortfolio Development Community, which involves redesigning an existing course or developing a new course for delivery in 2017/18 in which portfolios and folio thinking are a central tenet of your pedagogy, the learning outcomes, and course assessment activities. This opportunity involves dedicated section release.
See the Capilano University ePortfolio Project page, including the application form, on Frontlines. (CapU Employees/Faculty only)
Please submit a completed application form electronically by noon on Thursday, September 1st.
Let me know if you have any questions!
