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E-Portfolio: Wave of the Future
by Clifford E. Moore, Oracle Staff Writer
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What makes ORU's initiative so unique? First, it's instituting e-portfolios campus-wide, a factor that makes the initiative cutting-edge. Traditionally, portfolios have been confined for use with select majors; however, all incoming freshman in the fall of 2004 will be required to build their electronic portfolios before being granted permission to graduate.
According to John Brown, Director of the ORU College & Career Guidance Center, "E-portfolios provide a place to document and track academic success. They also provide tools, beside exams, that might help the University to more accurately assess student growth."
Brown continues to say that e-portfolios will additionally help to fight against "academic creep"—a gradual rise in student GPA's. With a portfolio, the University can compare data and check whether GPA's are rising due to improved performance or relaxed standards.
ORU has teamed up with Canadian education and research-based giant Chalk and Wire, utilizing its e-portfolio and Rubric Marker programs for the project. This is not to say that e-portfolio's are standardized campus-wide. There are some general requirements, but there is much room for flexibility and customization from major to major. For instance, there is an assessment that each student must complete, measuring strengths, motivations, and values; however, the artifacts required of students vary.
The second factor that sets ORU's program apart is its purpose. The University seeks to graduate integrated people: spiritually alive, intellectually alert, physically disciplined and socially adept. Because of this, the e-portfolio project is not just designed to measure academic success. During its development, faculty selected 16 specific proficiencies, believed to reflect the purpose of ORU, to serve as evidence that students have grown in these particular areas.
"This is very important," said Brown, "because if a student simply graduates with a 4.0 GPA, but is lacking in these other areas, reaching his/her destiny becomes a difficult task."
Ultimately, the e-portfolio will be of major benefit for the University because the University can see if it is indeed, transmitting its purpose to the students of ORU.
So what, if any, are the benefits to the students? The first benefit is that goals are less vague. When goals are clear, it is easier to reach them. Artifacts within the e-portfolio will provide direct evidence for the students to measure their growth, thus allowing them to discuss with their faculty advisors areas of strength as well as areas for improvement. Students will be able to see their work and how it reflects the purpose of the University.
Then there are professional benefits. Students will be required to upload artifacts (i.e. projects, writing samples, extracurricular materials, etc.) into their e-portfolios, submitting a short rationale statement with each artifact. Faculty members will then evaluate those artifacts using the Rubric Marker program, to judge how they meet the criteria. Additionally, all e-portfolios will be accessible via the web for future employers, and because each student has access to the electronic portfolio account for at least eight years, it can be customized to serve as a personal or professional portfolio. ORU will also have access to the e-portfolio long after the student graduates, allowing the University to collect information from alumni.
The new initiative to institute e-portfolios campus-wide and to measure more than just academic performance places ORU on the cutting edge. In the words of President and CEO, Dr. Richard Roberts, "What we're doing is measuring a transformed life."
E-portfolios are the craze in higher education, but no one else has initiated a similar project on so grand a scale. The academic team believes this initiative of administering and ensuring a whole-person education could very well serve as a national model, not just for other Christian colleges and universities but for American higher education as a whole.
ORU truly seeks to graduate integrated people—spiritually, intellectually, physically and socially. It appears this initiative just might be the tool it needs to make sure ORU is fulfilling its purpose.
Technology is rapidly changing, and will continue to evolve. While the methods may change, the purpose remains the same—to equip people to go into every person's world.
