IUPUI CyberLab Webinar: ePortfolio as a Catalyst for Change
On April 20th 2021, I attended the webinar “ePortfolio as a Catalyst for Change” presented by the IUPUI CyberLab and featuring Dr. Darrell Bailey. I was delighted to find that Dr. Bailery is also in music, and the presentation focused on a music appreciation course very similar to my MUS 1600 SOL.
The presentation was straightforward, and focused more on methods than (selling) technology, which I appreciated. Dr. Bailey’s approach also foregrounds student empowerment, which is not only consistent with my own philosophy, but resonated with the themes of the CMS/ATMA conference from the weekend prior. An ePortfolio is only relevant if students use it, he argued, and thus the goal should be “helping make students’ dreams and goals come true.” Dr. Bailey’s design is sound, and the depth of his experience was clearly evident. He also generously invited Karla Rigsby, one of his students, to present her work as an example.
I made my first foray into ePortfolio practice last Fall, and I was happy to see that my methods generally aligned with his approach. I am curious to know more about how he managed privacy concerns, and in retrospect, I probably should have asked him. I may follow up with an email later.
I was particularly impressed with two aspects of his approach: the social network feature and finding connections to other majors. Dr. Bailey used the social network feature of his software for “endorsements,” which has some utility for peer-review and is more elegant than my combining ePortfolios with discussion boards. There is certainly potential here, and I’d like to explore the commenting options in Google Sites (I use Google Sites because it’s free, most of the students already have Google accounts, and it’s a pretty intuitive interface—as I get more traction, I expect to explore some of the commercial platforms). Furthermore, for a music gen ed course, doing a project on a topic that connects it to the students’ majors is absolutely brilliant. I wish I’d thought of it first and I’ll definitely be stealing it for my MUS 1600 SOL in a few months.
Dr. Bailey went on to describe his exploration of the ePortfolio platform to create events, and demonstrated a site for a mini-symposium on pollution. I really liked the way it brought together both artifacts and events (and, after the event, I’m sure there will be reflections as well), and the idea of an active, problem-based experience intrigues me. It certainly draws a positive outcome from the limitations of the pandemic, and I wonder how I might adapt it. I’m curious how to advertise it, for example, particularly over the Summer, and I’ll have to brainstorm what sort of events would work. He combined music/art with an environmental awareness cause… my goal in MUS 1600 SOL is music for well-being: maybe a set of guided mindfulness meditations (involving the DAW projects)?
ふむ…
Dr. Bailey finished by asserting that ePortfolio was a means to the end of lifelong learning, and based on that, it might be interesting to frame this project around the Lifelong Learning VALUE Rubric. I’ll think on it.