news

Inaugural UOW ePortfolio Symposium conducted (13/5/08)

ePortfolio and work-integrated learning are the latest buzz-words in the university teaching landscape.

With this in mind, UOW recently conducted its inaugural ePortfolio symposium held in the Design Lab of Creative Arts.

ePortfolio and work-integrated learning are beginning to receive significant funding nationally via the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher education.

The inaugural symposium highlighted local innovations in educational technology and assessment with ePortfolio.

The symposium involved a ‘round table’ to share ePortfolio activities by reference group members on behalf of their faculties and units.

Guest participants included the Dean of Science, Professor Rob Whelan, who spoke about his faculty’s 2007 ePortfolio project and plans for taking it forward via curriculum mapping in 2008; and Mr Marcus O’Donnell who spoke about his work with student journalists as reflective practitioners and, in particular, supporting those students to develop a "Philosophy of Journalism Statement".

Faculty of Education has liftoff (1/5/08 From Nicola Johnson)

The Faculty of Education e-portfolio has lift off! I am delighted to announce on behalf of the team that there is now a link for students to access the eportfolio directly from our Faculty's web page. This link is positioned under the 'Information for Current Students' menu.

I would like to especially thank the following people who have recently put in many hours to ensure that this project is successful.

From the emlab, Owen McKerrow and Andrew Gray have gone above and beyond the call of duty to ensure the eportfolio is up and running, and running well. There have been many technical issues relating to hosting and programming which these professionals have been able to effectively and quickly address. I have been impressed with their commitment to the project.

Dr Ian Olney has not only provided professional development to staff members about the eportfolio but has been committed to ensuring that the nitty gritty details of the system are exactly what we want and need in order for our students to meet any possible requirements from the NSW Institute of Teachers. Ian has been notably committed to ensuring that communication between all eportfolio stakeholders has been clear. He will announce a further staff development hands on workshop in the next few days.

This year's primary cohort have been successfully introduced to the eportfolio in EDPD101 Professional Development 1 and the students have already made multiple entries to show how they are meeting the aspects within the graduate teacher stage of the Professional Teaching Standards. I have been so pleased with the enthusiastic uptake of this innovative development. Ian has also been on deck to provide support the eportfolio introduction to the primary students in EDPD101.

So, what does this mean? Eportfolio is full steam ahead. Please use your normal UOW logon to access, become familiar with it, and refer to it. Students in the first and second year primary cohorts have been emailed about this link and its ongoing availability. The student expert is Madeleine Cairns who students should see first if students have queries. Madeleine's email is mrc290@uow.edu.au

Congratulations to all who helped ensure the success of the eportfolio. The team is committed to its continual development and improvement.

UoW ePortfolio Competition (19/11/07)

Deadline: Friday 19th November

Winners: 2 best ePortfolios get $250 voucher to spend at Student Travel or UniCentre bookshop, runners up get $50 voucher

Info: The Careers Service will be judging the best student ePortfolio based on how well your ePortfolio presents you and your skills to a potential employer. As well as the cash prizes, the best ePortfolio from each Faculty will be made into a 30 second "movie" to demonstrate all you good work to others (we'll put them on the web.)Fame! Fortune!

Any UoW student with an ePortfolio is eligible to apply, and with only limited classes having them - your chances are good, give it a go.

To enter just email slambert@uow.edu.au your intention to enter, and you will be emailed back with details on how to release your ePortfolio to the competition judges for review.

Carrick ePortfolio Forum (24/10/07)

The Carrick ePorfolio Forum was held at the University of Wollongong on the 24th October.

The aim of the Forum was to connect with representatives across sectors; to find out what is going on in different areas such as employers, professional bodies, schools, cultural organisations, commercial organisations. It formed an important part of the Carrick Project to scope ePortfolio use and potential use for Australian University students.

Carrick win! (Mid 2007)

Sarah Lambert & I have been successful in a joint tender with QUT, UNE & University of Melbourne for a project on: 'ePortfolio use by university students in Australia: Informing excellence in policy and practice'. $227,900

I´ve lost count but I think this means CEDIR is involved in 8 national projects for Carrick. That´s a lot but all projects, including this one, complement the work we are doing locally at UOW.

Well done Sarah for your work in winning this project.

Prof Sandra Wills
Director,
CEDIR

Blackboard tool launched (14/3/07)

Eighty students from the University of Wollongong’s new Graduate School of Medicine (GSM) are the first in Australia to be provided with an ePortfolio rated as “international best-practice” by industry experts.

UOW is the country’s first university to purchase and implement the Blackboard Portfolio for Vista tool, which works in conjunction with the University’s existing Learning Management System, Blackboard Vista.

A launch of the new tool took place today (14 March), with Professor John Bushnell from the Graduate School of Medicine addressing and demonstrating the GSM’s use of the ePortfolio.

The GSM students are the first cohort to use the tool as part of a suite of innovative IT products that form an online learning environment unique to UOW. Students across the other faculties including Arts and Health and Behavioural Sciences will begin using the ePortfolio tool in March and most other faculties are taking up ePortfolios during 2007.

“The Graduate School of Medicine is using the ePortfolio to enable students to collect evidence and reflections of their learning, and link these to specific learning outcomes in the curriculum,” said GSM Deputy Dean, Professor John Bushnell.

“They can also collect evidence from their clinical interactions with patients and record reflections on their learning needs as well as their plans to meet them. Students can then share their ePortfolio with peers, tutors, and even clinical supervisors for comments and evaluation. At the end of their course, graduates will be able to export their ePortfolio to help them demonstrate their learning to employers and medical associations.”

Project Manager, Sarah Lambert, said UOW had been developing and trialling the different ePortfolios since 2002.

“However, it is only recently that the technology has caught up to the potential of ePortfolios. Now we have a smart tool that is more than just a place to store files."

It helps students collect evidence of their developing skills and evidence of learning…allowing them to apply for jobs more quickly. The ePortfolio can also be released to external recruiters and will be used for work experience units of university courses.”In addition to the academic trials, the UOW Careers Service will be working with students across the faculties to explore the employability benefits of using ePortfolios.

“In a competitive graduate employment marketplace, ePortfolios provide a great potential for students to collect evidence of their learning and work experiences which can be easily accessed and customised to respond to employment opportunities,” said Linda Corrin from the Careers Service.

Industry reviewers for the IT in education peak-body, ascilite, rated the campus-wide implementation of the UOW ePortfolio as “international best-practice” and awarded Project Manager Sarah Lambert and co-author Linda Corrin the “Best Paper” award at the annual conference.

The paper outlined the implementation of the ePortfolio tool across the University as well as the roll out of various student and staff support options.

ePortfolios released to students (March 2007)

As a result of the ePortfolio Project, the University of Wollongong launched a campus-wide ePortfolio tool in March 2007. The project is funded from the Teaching and Learning Performance Fund, driven by Project Manager Ms Sarah Lambert, CEDIR.

By August 2007 around 1200 ePortfolios have been released to students, and around 150 have been released to staff. Currently ePortfolio has been incorporated into the curriculum for the entire cohort of students from the new Graduate School of Medicine, as well as cohorts in Arts, Nursing, Environmental Science, and Marketing. Other Faculties are currently developing customised ePortfolio templates in consultation with the Project Manager, for release to students in 2007 and 2008. In addition, the Careers Service has developed and released over 350 ePortfolios to students in their programs.