The Impact of ePortfolios on Student Achievement: An Action Research Plan
Jacob Montag
EDLD 5315
Lamar University
The Impact of ePortfolios on Student Achievement : An Action Research Plan
It is a common complaint that the current American educational system lacks the quality of challenge and assessment needed to equip scholars for the 21st century. Modern education has responded, inconsistently, by mixing lecture teaching styles followed by arts and crafts. The outcome of this problem is that scholars graduate lacking job skills and are academically delayed. Recent and resurgent studies have proven that the best method for documenting and ongoing learning is ePortfolios, especially when one holds the core values of learning by experience and assessment as a form of education. The Purpose of this literature review will discover how they can effectively assess learning using ePortfolios.
Fundamental Research Question
A common symptom of the more significant problem and a clue as to the solution is the question of assignments being isolated and discarded. EPortfolios allow students to collect evidence of learning in a class and carry that evidence on to other courses. This could be a minor assignment or a larger-scale project aligned to state standards. Students will write reflection pieces to show personal, academic, and skilled growth across contents and curriculums. The reason, as mentioned earlier, is why researching the impact of ePortfolios for cumulative assessment, and its correlation to the benefits of a Project-Based Curriculum is the fundamental inquiry.
Summary of the Literature Review
Fundamentally, this literature review signals the need for a shift in the mindset of educational leaders, ending the long-running antagonism between the administrative offices and the classroom (Thibodeaux, 2021). The texts reviewed acknowledge that learning by experience is the best for developing scholars' skills, and ePortfolios best allow for ongoing assessment. This body of literature achieved the strength of being diverse in its types. All of the sources support the viability of ePortfolios for learning and demonstrate how effective they can be within a control group. The chief weakness of this body of research includes the lack of real-life testimony from which to learn as laboratory experiments tell an incomplete story.
Study Information
Advantages of the ePortfolio System
Conceptually, the ePortfolio has emerged as a leading solution for students to digitally collect evidence of their knowledge, bringing past learning to connect to current learning experiences. EPortfolios also offers schools an alternative to traditional standardized tests, allowing disadvantaged students to make their voices heard in the education community. This system also allows students to develop what Heymann, Bastiaens, Jansen, van Rosmalen, and Beausaert term “employable competencies,” such as disciplinary knowledge, generic and transferable skills, social skills, lifelong learning skills, adaptability, and Meta-cognitive skills for self-reflecting (2014). Western Governors University conducted a study to evaluate the impact of ePortfolios regarding its effectively assessing student learning (2021). A beneficial result of the portfolio study was that “the ePortfolio development process led to an increase in their overall technical skills and confidence in using technology” (Wickham & Chambers, 2022). It also increased their general knowledge of the skills needed within the education profession. Overall, the conclusion was that ePortfolios are vital in improving learning.
Authentic Assessment: Complementing ePortfolios with Project-Based Learning.
Teachers have found that project and problem-based learning (PBL) is often the most compatible learning method that complements ePortfolios because of the focus on long-term learning goals. Various studies demonstrated the cognitive strategies assessed by self-report questionnaires, tests, rubrics, artifacts, and more. A similar study by Syakur, Musyarofah, Sulistiyaningsih, Wike, conducted that same year, specifically defined learning outcomes as “the level of mastery attained by students when they learn by the objectives established” (Syakur, Musyarofah, Sulistiyaningsih, Wike, 2020, p. 626). At the end of the study, students recorded positive results:
83.1% of students found communication easier.
72.3% of students felt the learning outcomes were effective.
66.2% of students found that the projects supported the learning outcomes and were influential in helping facilitate knowledge acquisition.
Barriers to Overcome
Self-perception is a barrier to implementation as scholars do not see themselves as professionals; therefore, they do not see the need for ePortfolios. EPortfolios are still primarily seen as something people of more artistic professions utilize to showcase their talents (Ring & Ramirez, 2012). School faculty demonstrated a need for more familiarity with the concept, which prevented them from fully embracing and implementing the ePortfolio concept. Effective implementation of this requires coordination, training, and support on a large scale.
Another barrier to implementation was having students participate in the ePortfolio in isolation. It never connected to other subjects or involved other students. Paulson and Campbell’s study highlighted the failure of isolationism and the inherent success of connecting ePortfolios across students, classes, and contents (Pellicone & Dixon, 2008).
Summary
The education community agrees that standardized testing is not the answer to closing the achievement gap. It has also become increasingly evident that students cannot be isolated by class and content. This could signal that ePortfolios may begin a paradigm shift in the educational system.
Research Design
This research plan will use a mixed-method design, which allows for a holistic, well-rounded view of the experiment and its results. When investigating how students demonstrate long-term learning, the most practical method to gather quantitative data is through projects using the COVA frameworks and qualitative data through feedback and subsequent response. The mixed methodology allows both data types to provide results demonstrating learning, developing skills, and recording student growth.
Data Collection and Analysis
Data will be collected from student submitted work and teacher feedback on student steps on the projects. Teachers will then confer with instructional and project leaders. Professional Learning Communities will plan with the goal of closing gaps. All feedback and plans are based on this document.
The research data cycle will take place according to a monthly schedule.
Sharing and Communicating Results
Sharing results with teachers and instructional leaders is the most logical control group. I am not only trying new methods but empowering the teachers to further the concept after the initial experiment ends. The grassroots nature of this innovation plan calls for authentic experts from the field. The mode of presenting the data will take place at a weekly PLC and monthly faculty meetings. Teachers will then take time to plan for personal and student growth.
Final Reflection
Examining the strengths of an initial launch is paramount to determining the trajectory of the project and planning to keep the initiative moving in the correct direction. With each stage, it is also crucial to look for areas of growth and implement those corrective actions. The project will reach its conclusion and the data as well as artifacts will comparatively show growth or decline in the student achievement. Leader and teachers will set goals for the upcoming school year to further close the student achievement gap. This cycle will be repeated each year as the long-term success depends on improvement and evolution.
References
Paulson, E. N., & Campbell, N. (2018). Collective Approaches to ePortfolio Adoption: Barriers and Opportunities in a Large Canadian University. The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 9 (3). Retrieved from https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/ cjsotl_rcacea/vol9/iss3/4
Pelliccione, L. & Dixon, K. (2008). ePortfolios: Beyond assessment to empowerment in the learning landscape. In Hello! Where are you in the landscape of educational technology? Proceedings ascilite Melbourne 2008. http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/melbourne08/procs/pelliccione.pdf
Ring, G., & Ramirez, B. (2012). Implementing ePortfolios for the Assessment of General Education Competencies. International Journal of EPortfolio, 2(1), 87–97.
Singer-Freeman, K., Bastone, L., & Skrivanek, J. (2014). ePortfolios Reveal an Emerging Community of Underrepresented Minority Scholars. International Journal of EPortfolio 2014, Volume 4, Number 1, 85-94, 4(1), 85–94. Retrieved 2022, from https://www.theijep.com/pdf/IJEP131.pdf
Syakur, A., Musyarofah, L., Sulistiyaningsih, S., & Wike, W. (2020). The effect of Project Based Learning (PJBL) continuing learning innovation on learning outcomes of English in higher education. Budapest International Research and Critics in Linguistics and Education (BirLE) Journal, 3(1), 625–630. https://doi.org/10.33258/birle.v3i1.860
Thibodeaux, T. (2021). Learner's mindset..... Learners Mindset. Retrieved February 27, 2022, from http://tilisathibodeaux.com/wordpress/?page_id=1539
Western Governors University. (2021, March 23). What is the behavioral learning theory? Western Governors University. Retrieved February 27, 2022, from https://www.wgu.edu/blog/what-behavioral-learning-theory2005.html#close
Yancey, K. B., & Rhodes, T. (2019). EPortfolio as curriculum: Models and practices for developing students' eportfolio literacy. Stylus.