General Description

Any student seeking a master’s degree in Instructional Technology has an option of developing an Electronic Portfolio in place of traditional master Thesis.  The purpose of the E-portfolio requirement is to provide students with a "capstone" experience, one that synthesizes much of what they have learned into an integrated whole that demonstrates the abilities they are taking with them into the job market. The e-portfolio requirement helps students prepare for professional job-hunting, and provides an opportunity for them to define their professional goals more clearly than they did at the time they entered the program.

Electronic Portfolio uses electronic technologies, allowing the e-portfolio developer to collect and organize portfolio artifacts in many media types (e.g., audio, video, graphics, text). The Web-based, objective-based portfolio uses a database or hypertext links to clearly show the relationship between the competencies or goals, artifacts and reflections. It is important to note that the Electronic Web-based Portfolio aims to promote student creativity in design and development by offering organizational and display flexibility and giving students ability to connect content to various schemas for representation in multiple ways. In addition, electronic portfolio is dynamic and allows students to continue using it as a tool for professional development. The benefits of developing electronic or Web-based portfolios for instructional technology master’s students are numerous. Some of these benefits are as follow

• Full inclusion of sample evidence of multimedia products without losing quality of the product
• Minimal storage space
• Easy to create back-up files
• Portability
• Long shelf life
• Better means for demonstrating required technological knowledge and skills
• Easier to make argument that certain competencies are met due to use of hypertext links
• An excellent means to apply accessibility

E-Portfolio Goals

The e-portfolio provides the student the opportunity to document his/her growth in the knowledge and abilities expected of all Instructional Technology master’s students, including

A demonstrated understanding of instructional systems design concepts and processes, their relationship to each other, and their relationships to existing and emerging technology.

A demonstrated understanding of research and theories in the field of instructional technology

The confidence and skills to independently learn and apply existing and emerging technologies and processes.

The confidence and skills to solve an instructional problem and to efficiently analyze, design, develop, and evaluate an instructional intervention/material/software/program

The confidence and skills to effectively communicate through reading, listening, writing and speaking.

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What is a E-Portfolio?

The Electronic Web-based Portfolio aims to promote student creativity in design and development by offering organizational and display flexibility and giving students ability to connect content to various schemas for representation in multiple ways. It is a sample of a student’s best products that demonstrates familiarities with current research in the field of instructional technology and developmental growth, achievements, and progress over time. The included items in a e-portfolio are to demonstrate and support the student’s professional goals. Developing an e-portfolio is different from a “developmental project”. A developmental project is a single project, which spans at least three of the five major ISD components: analysis, design, development, production, implementation and evaluation. Even if the student’s development project is often very large and very successful, it should NOT be the only thing in the e-portfolio. The e-portfolio is not simply a vehicle for displaying the development project, although students may elect to use their development project as one of the e-portfolio items.

Electronic portfolio development brings together two different processes (Barret, 2000): multimedia project development and portfolio development. When developing electronic portfolio, the student should pay equal attention to these complimentary processes, as both are essential for effective electronic portfolio development.

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What is NOT a E-Portfolio?

The E-portfolio is NOT a record of the student’s work in the MIT program. Students are not expected to assemble their E-portfolio simply to document their course work or project work in the MIT program.

The e-portfolio is NOT a document produced to a standard specification.  It must be unique to the student and his/her professional goals -- one of the primary measures of success for the e-portfolio is the degree to which it supports student’s statement of professional goals.

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What Should be Included in a E-Portfolio?

Portfolio Contents

E-Portfolio development begins in early MIT courses and continues until the student graduates from the MIT program. Responsibility for the development of the e-portfolio is solely that of the student. Faculty may advise and consult, but the final product is the result of the student's efforts.

The following is a list of the major contents of an e-portfolio. The contents may take many forms, with the exact nature of these contents being determined by the student. These materials may be generated as part of the student’s courses and experiences, or they may be created specially for the e-portfolio.  Most MIT courses identify in the syllabus specific products/artifacts that are developed in the courses and could be included in the e-portfolio. However, contents are not and should not be limited to those items. Anything that the student feels somehow documents their growth and development in the knowledge and abilities expected of an Instructional Technology student could be included.

Major Contents

Artifacts/Products

Annotations

Rationale for including the artifacts/products

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Artifacts/Products

Artifacts are authentic products or by-products of the student’s activities that serve as indicators of his/her skills and abilities presented in a manner that is attractive and easy to understand. These activities may have been conducted with a team or alone, inside or outside school. They do not necessarily have to be class projects, IST projects, or anything you have done connected to your degree program -- as long as they are activities that demonstrate skills relevant to professional goals.

When students are selecting artifacts, they should remember that artifacts should fulfill several functions:

Provide objective evidence of their skills

Actual samples of the student work/products are the best evidence they can provide of their skills. Students may decide to include awards, reviews or endorsements in their e-portfolio, but these should only be done if they relate to the included work. Students should concentrate on using samples of their work to convince the review committee or potential employer of their skills.

Demonstrate skills appropriate for their professional goals

If the student wants to work primarily in performance improvement, but his/her e-portfolio samples are primarily examples from his/her Web site – he/she is probably not demonstrating the skills most appropriate for his/her professional goals. What can he/she show instead of screen shots? Just about anything, including:

Executive summaries from various types of reports or studies

Key tables or charts that summarize the data from analysis or evaluation

Project management documents like PERT or GANTT charts

Code samples from programs the student has written

Script and/or storyboard samples

Present their work efficiently and effectively

Student e-portfolios need to work in at least two different situations:

When people have time to look carefully at each page

When people do not have time to look carefully at each page

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Annotation

An annotation is concise, accurate prose presented in a consistent format and serving to explain the significance of an artifact/product. When the annotation is well done, the viewer of the e-portfolio gets a complete picture of where this artifact came from, and what it signifies regarding student’s capabilities. Annotations for each artifact should contain the following categories of information:

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Present the annotations consistently
Annotations should appear in a consistent format throughout the e-portfolio so they are easy to find and scan through. Placing the annotations on colored paper (light blue, beige, gray, or some other unobtrusive color) helps distinguish them from the rest of the e-portfolio's contents, and establish a baseline "look" for the e-portfolio.

Rationale for Including the Artifacts/Products

The student is advised to select work that is relevant to his/her professional goals. No matter how great a project was, it shouldn't be represented in the student’s e-portfolio unless it is relevant to his/her professional goals. The student should not assume that the relationship between the included work and his/her professional goals are clear to the reader. He/she should explain these relationships under rationale for including the artifact.

The student is also advised to include his/her best work and explain why the selected work is his/her best work. It is tempting to put samples in the e-portfolio to fill gaps that one perceives in his/her skills or experience, even when that work is not good quality. Students are better off leaving such work out of their e-portfolio and looking for opportunities to do better work as soon as possible..

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Required Supporting Materials

In addition to the above contents, the student must add the following items to his/her e-portfolio:

Signature Page: Please see Graduate Thesis Format for the signature page. This page must be created in Word Processing and be printed for the E-Portfolio chair and committee members to sign after the e-portfolio defense. The Signature page then must be scanned and be linked to the final draft of the e-portfolio home page before final submission or be programmed so that it would pop up before the viewer can open the e-portfolio home page.
Title page: May be similar to the signature page. However, this page should not need the signature of your e-portfolio committee. You may insert or link your own picture and your committee members’ names and pictures and/or attach video or audio clips for such introduction.
Acknowledgment: This page is optional. But if you wish to thank particular individuals for their contributions and support during your completion of your e-portfolio you may want to create this page and link it to the e-portfolio home page or arrange it so that the page would pop up before the viewer can open the e-portfolio home page.
Table of Contents/Site Map: This page should show the viewer the content of the e-portfolio at a glance. Buttons can be added to this page to link the viewer to the desired information. The viewer must have an option of choosing the information he/she wants to see and in what order.
Home page and related pages: See the “Step 3” for information about the e-portfolio site map and its organization and sequence.
Resume & Professional References
Bibliographical ReferencProof that the student is in the last regular semester before graduation -- acceptable proof is the completed Masters Planning Sheet
List of professional references (3 minimum)
A brief statement indicating roles of the references, and why the student has selected these people as reference

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Oral Presentation

Upon receiving the final words from the review committee regarding the general approval of the e-portfolio, the student should schedule an oral meeting in which he/she will presenthis/her e-portfolio and answer the questions. The oral portion of the exam should be scheduled approximately two weeks following the final approval of the e-portfolio. The student is responsible for providing a final draft of the e-portfolio and its supporting materials to the review committee two week before the defense is scheduled.

Suggested Organization

The student can organize his/her work a number of ways:

Categorized by type of included projects

Categorized by the skills demonstrated

Ordered by the estimation of the work's quality

Ordered by the relevance of the work to the individual’s goals

Whatever organization plan the student uses, he/she should pick one and be consistent. The review committee will be looking to see if the e-portfolio is organized consistently and clearly. The student should consider including a Table of Contents, and make sure the organization of the e-portfolio is reflected in it.

The student may decide to order his/her work by relevance or by quality, and provide an indicator on the annotation pages of the specific skills the work demonstrates. This method allows the student to organize the e-portfolio on two levels, without adding so much complexity that viewers are confused or distracted by the organization scheme itself

Suggested Developmental Process of an E-Portfolio

Step 1: Getting Started

• Review the E-Portfolio standards for MIT 598 (see the attached sheet) that must be used as the organizing framework for your e-portfolio
• Check to make sure that you have access to the following hardware and software
  • A scanner (or camera) to digitize images and proper software to edit the images (software: Photoshop, Illustration, Astound Webmotion, etc.)
  • Microphone and sound digitizing program to digitize audio artifacts
  • Video camera, digitizing hardware and software to digitize video artifacts (Software: Movie Player Pro (for editing), Apple Video Player (for digitizing), iMovie; Adobe Premiere)
  • A web authoring program (e.g., Dreamweaver, Microsoft Front Page
• Use the attached suggested template to set up folders and organize the content of your e-portfolio

Step 2: Planning

• Identify your desired jobs and develop a common list of required competencies and/or job qualifications (conduct a search to develop such a list).
• Review MIT program’s competencies and identify the competencies that you have mastered throughout your program of study. List the competencies that you have mastered using the following five domains as an organizer: (1) Instructional Design (Analysis & Design), (2) Instructional Development, (3) Implementation/Utilization, (4) Management, and (5) Evaluation. Examine the relationships between your desired jobs’ qualifications and the competencies that you have mastered in the program. Mark the competencies that match your desired jobs’ qualifications to make sure that you have enough qualifications for the jobs you have identified. Rethink your future plans if you do not see a strong connection between your qualifications and your desired job.
• Identify the artifacts (examples of your work, hopefully in an electronic form) or experiences that demonstrate you have met those competencies. You may have artifacts that demonstrate more than one competency. Make sure to develop an overview page or matrix if individual artifacts substantiate achievement of more than one competency. The matrix should link the artifacts to the accomplished competencies.
• Consult with your e-portfolio advisor to approve your list of competencies and artifacts.

Step 3: Collecting, Selecting, & Designing

Collect and store the identified artifacts in appropriate folders on your disk or server. Organize the materials into a sequence for the best presentation of the materials with a link to the goals/objectives/competencies.

• Create a site map or the general design (storyboard or flowchart on paper) for your e-portfolio homepage and develop appropriate content and presentation sequence for the related pages that will present your competencies and the artifacts (check the MIT 598 standards for E-portfolio and the suggested template and consult with your faculty advisor to get his/her approval).
• Think about the appearance of your background and buttons (use graphics to add your personality to the design.
  • Determine how viewer will navigate through the site (make sure the viewer is able to choose which page to view in any order (non-linear).
• Write annotation: context, conditions, scope, and role (see MIT 598 guidelines) for each artifact. Write reflective statements about the competency/goal and the correspondence artifact elaborating on why it was selected, its meaning and value in the e-portfolio, and what you would change if you would have an opportunity to redo the task.
• Use your reflective notes and the feedback that you had received for the artifact to set goals for future development or what you still need to learn in the area (set some reasonable goals while identifying your areas of weaknesses and strengths).
• Create or convert the artifact and its important components (evidence) into proper digital format.

Step 4: Developing

Now, it is time to actually develop your e-portfolio in a connected form.

Use a Web Authoring program such as Deamweaver to create the e-portfolio home page and its related pages. Organize the buttons on the home page based on how you want to present your goals, objectives, and competencies and related artifacts. The following are examples of two different organizations for the buttons.

Format 1

• My Philosophy as Instructional Technologist (links to pages that will explain who you are, what is your philosophy, as IT professional, your future goals and objectives, and the descriptions of your desired jobs)
• The Field of Instructional Technology and My Role (links to another organizer page which provides links to pages that define the field, identify and describe its domains and required knowledge and skills given existing and updated literature.)
• My Future Goals and Objectives (links to another organizer page which provides links to pages that identify your future goals and objectives and lists competencies required for your desired jobs)
• My Skills and Knowledge (Competencies) (links to another organizer page that provides links to comparison among your desired job qualifications, MIT program goals and competencies, your mastered competencies categorized by the domains
• Competencies and Related Artifacts (links to another organizer page that provides links to pages that identify competencies and links them to a list of artifacts that demonstrate those competencies)
• Annotations (links to another organizer page that links each competency to its related artifacts and provides annotation (context, conditions, scope, role, reflection, future goals) for each artifact)
• Reflections and Future Goals (links to another page that sums up your reflections and future plans
• Resume (links to your professional resume and a list of professional references)
• References & Appendices (links to bibliographical references and appendices, if any)

  Format 2

• Introduction (divides into the following subcategories:
  • About me;
  • My philosophy as an Instructional Technologist;
  • My Future Goals and Plan;
  • Example Job Descriptions and Qualifications
• Field of Instructional Technology & Its Domains (divides into the following subcategories:
  • Definition of the Field
  • Instructional Technology & Its Domains;
  • Domain of Instructional Design (Analysis, Design);
  • Domain of Instructional Development;
  • Domain of Utilization/Implementation;
  • Domain of Management; Domain of Evaluation
• Goals and Competencies (divides into the following subcategories):
  • My Desired Job Qualifications/Competencies;
  • MIT Program Goals and Competencies;
  • Links between My Competencies & My Desired Job Qualifications
• Artifacts and Annotations (divides into the following subcategories):
  • Context;
  • Conditions;
  • Scope;
  • Role;
  • Reflection;
  • Future Goals)
• Resum
• Professional references
• References & Appendices (bibliographical references

Follow your site map to develop related pages for each link on the site home page. Consult with your faculty advisor in every step and get his/her approval.

Step 5: Assessing/Evaluating

• Self check your e-portfolio using the following questions:
• Have I explained the field of instructional technology clearly (using updated references) and identified my role and philosophy as an instructional technologist?
• Have I documented enough information about my future jobs?
• Have I identified required competencies for my desired job(s)?
• Have I developed a list of competencies that I have mastered throughout the MIT program and linked them to my future job qualifications?
• Have I created proper links among my desired job qualifications, MIT program competencies, my mastered competencies and my artifacts?
• Have I provided multiple and proper (strong) pieces of evidence/artifacts to demonstrate mastery of each of the identified competencies in certain domains?
• Have I developed appropriate annotation for each piece of evidence/artifact?
• Have I properly reflected on each competency and related artifacts and explained my future goals and plans?
• Have I converted or created all of my documents and evidence into a format that allows hypertext links (viewer can navigate around the documents using those hyperlinks?
• Have I included my resume and a list of professional references?
• Have I included a list of updated references that were cited in the body of my e-portfolio?
• Have I used proper APA Style for developing my references?
• Have I checked to make sure that all my pages and links are functioning properly, and I don’t have any broken links or missing pages?

Step: 6: Presenting

• Update your e-portfolio on the network server and burn a CD (or a series of CDs) copy for your record.
• Present your finished e-portfolio to your committee. The format will be a simulation conference where you share your e-portfolio with your potential employer.

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Hardware & Software

Check to make sure that you have access to the following hardware and software

• A scanner (or camera) to digitize images and proper software to edit the images (software: Photoshop, Illustration, Astound Webmotion, etc.)
• Microphone and sound digitizing program to digitize audio artifacts
• Video camera, digitizing hardware and software to digitize video artifacts (Software: Movie Player Pro (for editing), Apple Video Player (for digitizing), iMovie; Adobe Premiere)
• A web authoring program (e.g., Dreamweaver, Microsoft Front Page

Alternative Software

• Dreamweaver (html authoring and site management)
• Claris Homepage (html authoring and site management)
• CyberStudio (html authoring and site management)
• Microsoft Front Page (html authoring and site management)
• Adobe Acrobat (packaging word file, spreadsheets, presentations and brochures, photographs, and audio and video files)
• Photoshop (graphic creation, manipulation and conversion)
• Astound Webmotion (animated graphics and Jova based animations)
• Flash (Jova based animations)
• HyperStudio (interactive hyper displays embedded in web pages)
• Real Audio (delivering audio files)
• FileMaker Pro (integrated data base functions via web pages)
• Window Media (Video and Audio content)
• Quicktime (Video and Audio content)
  

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Roles & Responsibilities of Faculty Supervising E-Portfolio

The faculty member supervising the e-portfolio development has the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that the student has produced a high quality work and that the student has fulfilled the procedure and deadlines. The faculty supervisor is specifically responsible for:

Selecting the E-Portfolio Review Committee: In consultation with the student and the MIT program coordinator the faculty supervisor is responsible for selecting the e-portfolio review committee. Faculty/staff members who are selected to serve in the review committee must be asked and agree to serve in the committee and must be informed of the e-portfolio development process. 

Approving the Student's Identified Artifacts/Products, Annotation, Design and Organization. The faculty member is integral to the appropriate match between student career goals and  the selected artifacts/products, annotation, design and organization of the e-portfolio. Often a series of discussions are necessary during the selection process.

Approving the Development Plan. Upon the informal approval of student's development plan, the faculty supervisor must ask the student to submit a tentative development plan with a brief explanation of her/his career goals and list of artifacts. The faculty supervisor must then share this plan with the review committee and seek their initial approval.  When the faculty supervisor received the approval of the review committee he/she must inform the student to begin the development process.

Reviewing Student Work: It is the responsibility of the faculty supervisor to review the draft of the material as it is being developed and provide constructive feedback as many time as needed.  If necessary the faculty supervisor may ask the review committee to read portions of student work while it is being developed. However, the faculty supervisor is responsible for keeping the review committee informed about the progress of student work and consulting them if needed. Four weeks before the deadline for the e-portfolio defense the faculty supervisor must ask the student to submit the final draft of the e-portfolio to her/her review committee and ask for their feedback. Upon approval of the first draft and two weeks before the e-portfolio defense the faculty supervisor must ask student to submit the final draft of the e-portfolio to the review committee.

Scheduling & Conducting E-Portfolio Defense: The faculty supervisor is responsible for informing the student of the e-portfolio defense deadline and procedure. She/he is also responsible for making sure that all members of the review committee are consulted and agreed to attend the e-portfolio defense. The faculty supervisor is also responsible for reserving a room and conducting the defense session. Upon the successful completion of the defense the faculty supervisor may seek formal approval of the review committee's until final revisions are completed and the signature page is ready to be signed.

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Review Process & Evaluation Criteria

Review of the physical e-portfolio by the review committee and presentation (defense) of the e-portfolio by the student are both required for the completion of the MS capstone experience. The student must submit the final draft version of the e-portfolio to his/her e-portfolio committee for review at least two weeks before the scheduled defense. During the review process the chair of the review committee and the two faculty members on the review team will evaluate the e-portfolio according to the e-portfolio evaluation checklist and give feedback to the student. The student then should revise the materials if needed and resubmit the final version to the review committee a minimum of 7 days before the scheduled defense.

In order to merit a positive evaluation, the physical e-portfolio must meet or exceed minimum standards in all areas (I-VI) described on E-Portfolio Evaluation Checklist. Minimum standards are met if the e-portfolio conforms to the Guidelines in consensus judgment of the review committee.
During the review each faculty evaluator (committee member) will examine the e-portfolio independently, and make individual judgments. Each faculty evaluator is to make a judgment indicating whether the e-portfolio meets or exceeds minimum standards. The chair of the e-portfolio committee must ask the committee members to write positive or negative comments on a separate sheet of paper and make recommendations for changes and revisions required to bring the e-portfolio up to the minimum standards.

If standards are met the chair and members of the review committee will initial the E-Portfolio Evaluation Checklist in the e-portfolio to indicate fulfillment of areas I-VI and a positive judgment on the physical e-portfolio. Disagreements in judgment between/among faculty evaluators must be discussed and consensus judgment must be reached before the approval of the e-portfolio. If there are strong disagreements between/among the committee members the consultation of an addition review member must be sought.

If the physical e-portfolio does not meet minimum standards in each of the areas (I-VI), the E-Portfolio Evaluation Checklist will so indicate. A list of required additional changes will be complied by the chair of e-portfolio review committee and due date for completion will be inserted into the e-portfolio. The review committee may decide to allow the student defend (present) his/her incomplete e-portfolio at the scheduled e-portfolio defense session. However, the completion of the MS degree will be pending until all the required changes and revisions are completely satisfied.

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E-Portfolio Defense (Presentation)

The review committee will give back the physical e-portfolio to the student at least five days before the scheduled presentation (defense). The e-portfolio presentation should be prepared as a summary of the product and the process rather than a page-by-page description of the e-portfolio. When presenting the e-portfolio the student must assume that he/she is in a job interview and is presenting his/her e-portfolio to a panel of interviewers. The student is encouraged to support the presentation with handouts and visuals if necessary.

During the e-portfolio presentation session (defense) the student will briefly (15-20 minutes) present his/her e-portfolio to the review committee and the assembled group of peers and other guests. Following the student presentation the floor will be opened for questions from the review committee (who will play the role of job interviewers), peers or guests. This questioning process will take about 20 minutes. The chair of the review committee will then ask the audience (peers and other guests) to leave the room while the review committee makes its decision. The review committee will then discuss briefly to judge the student's fulfillment of the criteria. It is expected that the student meet or exceed the criteria. The review committee will initial the E-Portfolio Evaluation checklist in the student e-portfolio to indicate fulfillment of the standards/criteria. A for mal signature page will be signed by the review committee once the student is ready to bound the final copy of his/her e-portfolio to be used as a documentary record.

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Evaluation Criteria

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Student Self Evaluation Checklist
Check yourself for Success
Your e-portfolio should be a unique document, one, which represents you as well as your skills, knowledge, and experience. The following checklist includes some general characteristics of good e-portfolio, which may help you to plan and evaluate your document.
Look at the section in which you have explained who you want to be and what you want to do….
Defined a list of professional goals and objectives
Searched and examined at least 10 jobs in the setting that you desire to work
Identified the common job responsibilities required of the type of job you would like to apply for once graduated
Converted job responsibilities to a list of competencies that you must demonstrate in order to be hired in your desired job
Defined and explained each competency clearly, related it to your professional goals and objectives and indicated the evidence and data that would support it
Look at your artifacts, captions, and rationale….
Represented your knowledge of theory, research and practice
Demonstrated competence in design, development, utilization, management and evaluation
Reflections show growth, insight, and/or a widening of perspectives
Demonstrated your motivation for professional practice and continued growth
Demonstrated your flexibility in approaches to problems and issues
Demonstrated respect and concern for other people
Look at your e-portfolio format and style….
Logical organization is clearly explained in the introduction and is used throughout
Dividers, tabs, and/or other devices are used to separate sections of main documents and appendices
Sample materials and products are separated and properly labeled
Computer and media materials or samples include instruction/requirement for use if necessary
All printed materials are typed and word-processed unless they are handwritten samples
Grammar /spelling are absolutely correct and writing style follows accepted standards
An overall profession appearance is maintained
Look at your e-portfolio presentation/defense….
Presentation is a summary of the competencies, products and the process
Presentation may, for example:

Highlight unique features of your e-portfolio

Highlight your unique characteristics with respect to the list of identified competencies

Explain the relationship between and among products and competencies

Make connection between your products and your professional goals

Describe the future goals and planned professional development

Presentation includes appropriate audience aids
Presentation adheres to its time limit

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