The CSU ePortfolio Project is a community of members – CSU faculty, staff, administrators – that share a common interest in enhancing the quality of teaching and learning through the use of ePortfolios.
June 2009 Update
Mark your calendars!
ePortfolio Day of Planning 
, August 13, 2009
As a follow-up to the Day of Dialogue (February 2009) this day focuses on practical strategic planning for ePortfolios. The sessions will combine presentations from experts with experience in ePortfolios, small group discussions identifying issues and strategies for effective ePortfolio planning and implementation, and tools for participants to develop institutional and/or personal plans for ePortfolios. This event is in San Jose, CA, and precedes the MERLOT International Conference. Registration is now open.
In fall 2008 CSUMB implemented the open-source tool Mahara to support the need for student interactivity, formative student outcomes development, student ownership of learning, and assessment (http://mahara.org). See more in the latest newsletter(pdf).
Reference Materials:
AACU - The Benefits of E-portfolios for Students and Faculty in Their Own Words http://www.aacu.org/peerreview/pr-wi09/pr-wi09_benefits.cfm
NPR – Talk of the Nation : April 14th Show available online. "Sure, everyone takes Psych 101. But do you think we all actually know the same stuff? A new approach at some universities will require that your degree reflect a defined set of skills rather than another multiple choice test. In our first hour today, Phyllis Safman, assistant commissioner for academic affairs at the Utah System of Higher Education, and Gary Rhoades, General Secretary for the American Association of University Professors and a Professor of Higher Education at the University of Arizona, will examine whether or not education "tuning" is better, or just different." http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103095104
115 people attended the February 25, 2009 ePortfolio Day of Dialogue at the beautiful San Francisco State University's Downtown Center. Formal PowerPoint presentations are now available.
iNCEPR Cohort III
The CSU - specifically San Jose State University and San Francisco State University - was proud to be part of iNCEPR Cohort III.
"Cohort III (2006-2009), supported by NASPA Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, includes campuses at which academic affairs and student affairs educators are collaborating to support in-class and out-of-class learning through eportfolios."
Kathleen
kathleen@cdl.edu
About ePortfolios in the CSU
Why does one have a portfolio? To show off your stuff, right? Or to have a place where you can keep things - a storage chest of sorts - where you can store things and find them later. Sometimes students put together binders so they can turn them in for grades, but really one would want to encourage and to have an ePortfolio for the long term. ePortfolios are being used by a variety of CSU campuses within a variety of schools. ePortfolios are sometimes just a way to put selected information up on a website, and sometimes they are a digital repository, allowing the users to build web-pages (websites) with specific content. ePortfolio vendors usually allow secure and selective access to the websites, and some vendors provide report writing. Goals vary for each CSU case, but one common use is reporting for accreditation purposes, making the report writing a 'must have' for most.
See the Concept Map to get an idea of a broad system, and check out the Resources page for more support documentation.
Getting Started
The most important thing to do before you decide on an ePortfolio system is to figure out what your goal is. What do you want the stakeholders to get: Students? Faculty? School? Institutions? (See the Concept Map )
Investigation
If you know you/your school/your institution wants an ePortfolio system then it's time to figure out what the requirements are -- what you want IN an ePortfolios system. Know your user; know your user's needs. Review ePortflios the Getting Started section so you know the theories behind what an ePortfolio system can offer. (See the Concept Map )
Implementation
Once you've decided on the product, you need to make a plan like every other software installation or adoption. If you are hosting the servers yourself you can go right into the adoption planning.
Accreditation
Accreditation agencies have become more outcome driven, requiring examples of student learning as well as an aggregation of assessment data for internal program evaluation. Some vendor products are design to help with accreditation, so choose carefully.
top of pageHere's some direct links to the MERLOT ePortfolio Collection
- Assessment and Rubrics
- Career Oriented ePortfolios
- Institutional ePortfolios
- Learning-centered ePortfolios
- Pedagogies
- Resources
- Selecting and Using Tools
- Support and Training
- Teaching-centered ePortfolios
Contribute to the Collection 
Find out how to add materials to the ePortfolio collection!
Events/Professional Development
June 9 - 13, 2009 NMC Monterey, CA
June 22-24, 2009 Learning Forum London and ePortfolio 2009 . This year's event main theme is "Innovation, Creativity and Accountability."
June 22 - 26, 2009 ED-MEDIA , Hololulu, HI
June 28 - July 1, 2009 NECC - ISTE's National Educational Computing Conference , Washington DC
August 5 and 6, 2009 eFolio Summit in Minnesota. Visit the eFolio Summit site for more information.
August 13, 2009 ePortfolio Day of Planning, San Jose, CA More info TBA.
August 13 - 16, MERLOT International Conference 2009 in San Jose, California, with "Teaching and Learning in a Networked world."
PAST Event:
ePortfolios West Coast Summit - Day of Dialogue took place at San Francisco State University - Downtown Center Feb. 25, 2009 See the schedule and link to the presentations.
Important Links
The MERLOT ePortfolio Portal is an educational resource for teaching and learning. Check out events (in Beyond MERLOT) and a fine collection of examples and showcase ePortfolios.
The CSU ePortfolio Liaison Site is a password protected site with resources for the CSU ePortfolio community.
The Inter/National Coalition for Electronic Portfolio Research advances the body of knowledge about impacts of electronic portfolio use on student learning and educational outcomes. CSUs are in cohort III.