October 29, 2024 • 31 mins
Professor Dr Candyce Reynolds, Director of University Foundations (General Education) at Boise State University, and Dr Sonja Taylor, Director of Senior Inquiry at Portland State University (PSU) talk about one of their projects in which they use social media to teach their students reflection, digital citizenship, and digital literacy skills. Tune in to learn why folio thinking, the process, is important to them, and how they bring their students along on the journey.
Connect with
Resources
- Reynolds, C., Pirie, M. S., & Taylor, S. (2024). Folio thinking and digital literacy: Integrating social media and ePortfolios. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 1–10.
- Reynolds, C., & Pirie, M. S. (2022). Growing the garden of integrative learning: Composting as a metaphor for folio thinking. AAEEBL ePortfolio Review, Fall/Winter, 46–50.
- Sonja's portfolio
- Candyce's portfolio
- Summer Bridge programme at PSU
- Swordfisk, K. (2024, August 22). Inquiry for Justice at Portland State bridges gap for historically excluded students.
- Taylor, S. (2024). Teaching to a different test. Presentation at Pebblebash 2024.
- Taylor, S. (2024). Public reflection as a classroom tool. Presentation at AAEEBL Annual Meeting 2024.
- Funds of Knowledge Alliance
- Penny Light, T., Chen, H. L., & Ittelson, J. C. (2011). Documenting learning with ePortfolios: A guide for college instructors. Jossey-Bass. (Helen developed the idea of 'folio thinking' in this book)
- Suter, V. (2013, June 5). Folio thinking. Vicki Suter.
- Reynolds, C., & Patton, J. (2014). Leveraging the ePortfolio for integrative learning: A faculty guide to classroom practices for transforming student learning. Routledge.
- AAEEBL Digital Ethics in ePortfolios principle of DEIBD
- Sonja's PebbleBash presentation
- Distinguished Professor Dr Sylvia Spears from College Unbound
Click through to the episode notes for the transcript.
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Production information
Production: Catalyst IT
Host: Kristina Hoeppner
Artwork: Evonne Cheung
Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kristina Hoeppner (00:05):
Welcome to 'Create. Share. Engage.' This is
the podcast about portfolios forlearning and more for educators,
learning designers, and managerskeen on integrating portfolios
with their education andprofessional development
practices. 'Create. Share.
Engage.' is brought to you bythe Mahara team at Catalyst. IT.
My name is Kristina Hoeppner.
(00:28):
Today, my guests are two womenwho've been instrumental in the
shaping of portfolio practiceand thinking about portfolios in
different contexts in the UnitedStates and also continue to
influence the internationalconversation. I've gotten to
know them through their researchand portfolio advocacy at
Portland State University.
Welcome to the podcast, DrCandyce Reynolds and Dr Sonja
(00:50):
Taylor.
Candyce Reynolds (00:53):
Thank you.
Sonja Taylor (00:54):
Thank you.
Kristina Hoeppner (00:55):
Together with Dr Melissa Shaquid Pirie, you
published an article recentlywhich is the focus of our
conversation, but more on thatlater, and I hope to be able to
catch up with Melissa some othertime. Now, can you please tell
us a little bit about yourself?
What do you do? And let's startwith Candyce because you have
brought everybody together atPortland State University in
(01:18):
Oregon.
Candyce Reynolds (01:21):
Currently, I'm the Director of University
Foundations at Boise StateUniversity, which is our general
education programme. I know youreducation systems are different,
but we have general education aspart of our curriculum in the
U.S. Prior to that, I had manypositions at Portland State
University, and one thread thatwent through all of the work
(01:44):
that I did at Portland State wasworking with ePortfolios.
We started doing ePortfolios inthe general education programme
at Portland State in 1998. Youcan imagine that that was very,
very clunky...
Kristina Hoeppner (01:58):
and very early!
Candyce Reynolds (01:59):
... very, very early, but I was sold on the
fact that ePortfolios reallyadvanced student learning. So it
was really important work, and alot of my career has centred
around researching and writingand using ePortfolios.
Kristina Hoeppner (02:17):
Thank you, Candyce. So for 1998 were you
then actually already using theinternet or was that still more
portfolios on CDs because theinternet became a bit more
prominent around '94 in theStates, if I remember correctly.
Candyce Reynolds (02:34):
That is a really interesting question. And
actually, I think we had some ofit on the internet, but I think
we did have a lot on CDs. When Ileft Portland State, I had a
whole box of CDs of people'sePortfolios [laughs]. Students
were learning some basic coding,HTML coding, to be able to
create their ePortfolios, aswell as really clunky software.
Kristina Hoeppner (02:56):
When were you introduced to portfolios
yourself?
Candyce Reynolds (02:59):
Portfolios in general, probably in the 1990s.
The general education programmeat Portland State really
decided, as they were doingreform in that area, that they
wanted to include portfolioassessment. So we were really
wedded to that idea alreadyabout using portfolios, but we
found that students collectedall of their work for a year -
(03:22):
it's a year long course thatfirst-year course - that it was
really hard to sort through andmake meaning of all that
material for students as well asfor the faculty reviewing the
work. That's where the idea ofePortfolios and having the
ability to hyperlink becamereally important. That was a big
success really early on.
Kristina Hoeppner (03:43):
Thank you Candyce. Now Sonja, tell us a
little bit about yourself. Whatdo you do?
Sonja Taylor (03:48):
I am the director of a dual credit programme at
Portland State, which is thelast year of high school, first
year of college blended. We'reactually a course that team
teaches in the high school.
There's two high school faculty,one college faculty, and we do
the same year long seminarcourse that's offered on campus,
the first year seminar forPortland State. I teach in the
(04:10):
programme, and I'm in charge offacilitating the programme in
other areas where we have it,and we're at - this year - eight
different schools.
I think that Candyce is the mainperson who introduced me to
ePortfolio in the way that itstuck and became meaningful. I
remember when I was mentoringfor other classes those CDs, so
(04:32):
it's funny to remember that[laughs]. But I also have taught
online since about, I think,2008, and I was part of an
initiative at Portland State tobring ePortfolio to the
sophomore level. That's where Ireally worked out a lot of my
strategy and ideas. And then I,of course, use it in my senior
class with that year longinquiry. I use it myself for my
(04:55):
own professional life, both fordoing annual reviews,
performance reviews, for myteaching practice, and also I
use a professional portfolio forwhen I go to conferences and
stuff. I share with people and Iupdate it. It's kind of a work
in progress. It's fairly currentright now. I think it has AAEEBL
and Pebblebash on there rightnow the last conferences I went
(05:18):
to [laughs]. So it's current forthat.
Kristina Hoeppner (05:21):
Fantastic.
Sonja, you already mentionedthat you're using portfolios
with your students for thesenior inquiry and also for your
own professional practices. It'swonderful to hear that it is
part of your annual reviewprocess. Are there any other
contexts in which you useportfolios?
Sonja Taylor (05:39):
Yes, related to teaching, I run two bridge
programmes, and the summer oneis a grant funded two-week
residency for high schoolstudents who are going into
their last year of high school,and I use portfolio there, and
then I am the lead faculty onthe Summer Scholars first year
bridge at PSU, and I do theprofessional development for the
(06:01):
teaching faculty or teachingacademic courses in the
different pathways, and I havethem all do an ePortfolio as
part of the process. So in thatsense, I get to work with
faculty to help them create anartefact for students across
every discipline on campus. Sostudents coming into every
discipline are going to havethis one experience with
ePortfolio.
Kristina Hoeppner (06:22):
That is fantastic to plant that seed in
them very early on in theiruniversity career. Candyce,
you've been using portfoliosalso with your PhD students at
Portland State University. Inwhich contexts do you use
portfolio practice right now?
Candyce Reynolds (06:39):
I used it with doctoral students, and I also
used it in a master's programmethat I taught in at Portland
State University. It was theirculminating assignment was to
create an ePortfolio thathighlighted the work that they
had done throughout theirexperience in the master's
programme. Right now, in thecourses that I teach at Boise
State, I use ePortfolios and allof my classes, and I am
(07:03):
currently in the process ofrecruiting more faculty and
departments to consider the useof ePortfolios. We're getting
ready to do some pilots at BoiseState that are more programme
based. I'm excited about that.
Like Sonja, I keep aprofessional ePortfolio, too,
and it's the first thing that Iprovide to students whenever I
(07:24):
teach them.
Kristina Hoeppner (07:27):
Leading by example in both of your cases.
The reason why we're having thechat today, not just because I
really wanted to catch up withyou, since I haven't seen you
since last year's conference,but is also that you've recently
published the article 'Foliothinking and digital literacy:
Integrating social media andePortfolios' in the journal 'New
(07:48):
Directions for Teaching andLearning'. In that article,
which I highly recommendeverybody to read because it is
a really, really good read,outlining very well how you went
about working with your studentsand also how you integrated
portfolios in their learning andhow you engage with them. In
there you make, in particular,the connection between social
(08:09):
media and portfolios, or rather,in a way, actually portfolio
practice by incorporating foliothinking into activities for
students to work with socialmedia. What prompted you to
undertake that work with yourstudents?
Candyce Reynolds (08:26):
Sonja and I, and then soon after Melissa,
Sonja, and I have been talkingabout this concept for a long,
long time. This is one of thedreams that we would actually
write this article and get itpublished. You know, I think all
three of us are users of socialmedia, and people often complain
(08:46):
about social media, but wereally understand that social
media can be used for good andis actually a place where folks
can reflect and get feedbackfrom others and engage in
understanding themselves and theworld better. Sonja and I
started a conversation aboutthis at an AAEEBL conference
(09:07):
many, many years ago. That sortof led us to develop more of
these ideas. And Dr Pirie joinedus as time went on, in thinking
about these ideas. Anything youwant to add, Sonja?
Sonja Taylor (09:19):
Oh yeah. It was the summer of 2016, AAEEBL
conference, Boston. I wish I hadthe napkin that I wrote on, but
[Candyce laughs] Candyce and Iwere sitting together, and I
think it was the last keynote,maybe the Batson Lecture, which
you gave this year,where theywere talking about curating and
different steps of ePortfolio,and I was sort of like mapping
(09:39):
to different social mediaplatforms. And I was like,
'Candyce!' She said, 'Yes!'[laughs] We had this idea for an
article called 'Hashtags,tweets, and status updates', and
I think we wanted to name thisarticle that, but we were
overruled by our editors. Sowe're like [laughs], here's the
place where we get to say that'swhat the title should be
(10:02):
[laughs].
We just kept talking about it. Ithink we did a webinar on it,
and also at that time, Candyceand I had been Facebook users
together, Facebook community,and we both got really
intentional about our own use ofsocial media. One of the things
we talked about was this idea ofthe skills that students bring
with them, 'funds of knowledge',is sort of the academic framing
(10:26):
for that now, but we are like'Students are doing this work.
They're doing it, notintentionally, but they're doing
it.' And so could we maybe makea connection for them in the
classroom that helps themunderstand that they're actually
doing this work, and maybe someof that doing it in the
classroom could carry back overinto the social media world and
have an effect on how they usesocial media in that sense.
(10:48):
One year, when I was second-yearteaching at Reynolds High School
in Troutdale, I had a very clearlike, 'Here's your digital
identity, and here's acomparison between social media
and different audiences.' And Ihad students actually, they were
friends with me on Facebook, andI saw that they were
incorporating this in what theywere doing in their social media
(11:09):
practice. And so I think it's areally effective tie for the
generations that are coming upwith social media all around
them, and similar to AI, it'shere. We're going to have to
deal with it. How do we make itconstructive, and how do we make
it serve us?
Kristina Hoeppner (11:25):
I really like that you tied in the idea of
folio thinking into the workthat you're doing and making
that connection so explicit, andthen also focusing on the
process of the portfolio ratherthan the end product. Can you
please tell us what foliothinking is and how you
incorporated it into yourclasses with your students who
(11:48):
would not have heard about itbefore?
Candyce Reynolds (11:51):
One way of thinking about folio thinking is
first, it's a process. Itdoesn't necessarily require
ePortfolios though I think it'sbest if it incorporates
ePortfolios. It's a process thatactually encourages students to
collect and to organise andreflect and make connections. By
(12:11):
doing that, it can lead a personto being able to really talk
about their life and their workmore intelligently, and really
be able to tell a story abouttheir own learning experiences
and what they mean, what thevalue of those experiences are,
and I think most importantly,how they relate to each other.
As Sonja was saying, thinkingabout social media as part of
(12:33):
the process is, you know, thisis not 'Here's my life outside
of school and social media, andhere's my life inside school
doing this portfolio.' We reallywant students to be able to see
that everywhere they'rereflecting and growing, all of
it is connected, and that theycan be intentional about that
(12:53):
kind of work.
Kristina Hoeppner (12:55):
Sonia, you mentioned earlier that because
some of your students friendedyou on social media that you'd
see the updates, and also thatblurring of the lines between
the personal and theprofessional. Do you have a
short example where you haveseen that growth in the students
that they become more reflectiveand also make those connections
more intentionally themselves?
Sonja Taylor (13:17):
I have two examples, really. One where a
student put something in theirfinal portfolio for me and
talked about it, and it wasclearly me that was the audience
as their instructor. A few weekslater, I saw their graduation
post, and it was the sameelements that they had provided
as evidence for me, but with adifferent description and the
(13:39):
tone because they were talkingto their friends and family.
That was a really aha moment forme, of like, 'Oh, it actually
does work [laughs]. I'm notwrong.'
The other was a student, morerecently, who, after my class,
developed their own professionalportfolio and then shared it to
LinkedIn. In both cases, Ireally saw them bringing more of
(14:03):
their academic self into thesocial sphere that they inhabit.
I also will see students talkingabout their work and school
life, like 'Here I am,' thenthey're referring to things, and
I think they might do some of itanyway, but they might do it
sooner and more often if they'reprompted to make that
(14:23):
connection, and I think withmore intention.
Kristina Hoeppner (14:26):
So you also see that transfer of skills from
one area into another, personalinto professional, and then
professional back into thepersonal.
Sonja Taylor (14:34):
Yeah, I had a student who I did an interview
with for another project, and Iasked her about the ePortfolio
process and how it was helpfulto her. She said she had never
realised that her livedexperience could be relevant to
her academic life. That wasreally powerful for me because
the blending of your experienceover time and what you're
(14:58):
learning and your scholarlypursuits, it all comes together
in who you are. That made herlived experience more valid for
her to be able to bring it intothat space. And so I just want
all my students to know you'rechoosing, you're weaving, you're
becoming a storyteller of whoyou are, and here's some tools
to do it. And whatever you wantto be relevant is relevant.
Kristina Hoeppner (15:21):
That is also, I think, part of DEIBD:
diversity, equity, inclusion,belonging, in particular in this
case, and decolonisation so thatthey see, yes, they have a
space. They are not an outsider.
Yes, they really also belong inthere and their experiences
belong. That is wonderful thatyour student has realised that,
Sonja, on their own and istaking that forward now for the
(15:44):
rest of their professional life.
Candyce Reynolds (15:48):
I think that's so important, Kristina because
we haven't in the past as muchhelped students include their
identities and include theirunderstanding of their world and
how it meshes with what they'relearning at the university, and
our world is going to be muchricher and our ideas are much
richer because we're helpingstudents now see that what they
(16:09):
have to offer, in addition towhat they're learning at the
university, is what makes adifference in the future.
Kristina Hoeppner (16:15):
I also like that you're weaving in the ideas
about digital literacy, digitalcitizenship, and all of these
other concepts that aresometimes really hard to teach
on their own because you have toteach them in context and make
that part of the course for thestudents to go through. Candyce
is that, then also somethingthat you can champion now that
(16:37):
you're at Boise State and haveall of this experience from
Portland and seeing Sonja workwith the high school students,
but also you yourself workingwith a lot of university
students throughout your career?
Candyce Reynolds (16:49):
Oh, for sure [laughs]. For sure. Like I said,
I use ePortfolios and theseconcepts in all my courses. I'm
actually teaching a generaleducation course called 'Ethics
and diversity in the digitalage'. We are focusing quite a
bit on digital citizenshipprinciples, and digital literacy
is certainly part of that, andso it continues, and will
(17:10):
continue to continue.
Kristina Hoeppner (17:12):
What I also really liked about your article
is that you initially didn'treally make it so much about the
portfolio. You weave it in andengage your students, and then
in the end, they actually do endup with that portfolio. They
just don't know about it sincethey do not have the specific
language. Do you feel that isalso helping your students to
connect with the practice sinceit is more about that process
(17:34):
rather than the end product?
Candyce Reynolds (17:35):
I totally think so.
Sonja Taylor (17:37):
I find more and more - and this is the
presentation recently, the onespecifically I did for
Pebblebash - where it's teachingto a different test. More and
more, everything I do is gearedtoward the ePortfolio, and I
work in a team. So I'mcollaborating with other
faculty, and specifically in mysenior inquiry course, I work
with two other teachers. What Ihave done is, over time,
(18:00):
incorporated their assignmentsinto the ePortfolio products
that students are doing so thatthey are not doing new things.
They are actually engaged in theprocess the whole time.
I have a certain workbook that Ido at the beginning of the year,
which is really an explorationand initial introduction to
them, and they've done fiveassignments that they can choose
(18:20):
from that can fill all theboxes, and then they can reflect
on why they chose that thingabout that piece for them. But
then it's like, 'Oh, I did thiswork over here. It's relevant
over here, and I need to keepthinking about,' and I found
that not only then did they havethe ePortfolio at the end of the
year, they're actually thinkingmore about what we asked them to
do and the assignments they'vedone, like, 'Oh, that's why I
(18:42):
did this. And also, what do Ithink about that, and how is it
relevant to me?' It makeseverything connect more. The
more that I do that, the morethat I find that.
The other thing that I've doneis using discussion boards more
as public reflection, and I haveguided engagement that they're
required to do. They engage witheach other around their
(19:06):
reflections, and I am veryspecific about be kind, be
supportive. Here's some thingsyou might say because the
comment threads on publicdiscourse leave much to be
desired, and so [laughs] I wouldlike them to be thoughtful about
there is a human being on theother side of this post,
although, I mean, I know there'sbots sometimes, but partly, you
(19:29):
might be able to discover thatby the quality of the
conversation that you're havingwith the person, right [laughs]?
I think just being mindful aboutwe've entered this phase of
technology where we're havingall these conversations, we're
not always in the room withsomeone, but we can still
practice this mindfulness andthis citizenship and then this
(19:49):
collegiality with each other andjust practice those pieces. I've
only been doing that a few yearsnow, so we'll see how that goes.
What my takeaways are [laughs].
Candyce Reynolds (19:59):
Yeah, the process is the most important
thing about the ePortfolio. Ithink we get very stuck on the
outward product and all thebells and whistles that we can
put into ePortfolios. For me,the focus on the process and as
Sonja was saying, being able tohelp them see like, 'Oh, I
thought about this here and thatconnected with this and this
(20:20):
connected with that, and then Ican present it in some kind of
showcase portfolio at the end,and it can all make sense
together.' Isn't that what wewant our students to be able to
do? That's a critical thinkingprocess of being able to gather
a bunch of stuff, learn from it,think about it, and then figure
out how it all fits together, tobe able to use it in the future.
(20:42):
For me, the process isparamount, and we spend way too
much time thinking about theproduct.
Sonja Taylor (20:48):
I 100% agree, and I think the focus on the process
and understanding how theprocess helps us is the best
antidote to overuse of ChatGPTor whatever else is coming down
the line. Because if you'refocused on the outcome, then
people just rush to that. If youfocus on the process, you get
(21:08):
the outcome, but it's much moreauthentic, and it is
transformative.
Kristina Hoeppner (21:13):
Sonja, at one point, hopefully in the future,
I'll get to see one of yournapkin drawings or maybe it
actually [Sonja laughs] needsto be put onto a flip chart
because when you talked abouthow you transformed the
assessment tasks of yourcolleagues and put them into the
portfolio as well, I really hadthis huge map in mind where you
(21:34):
can see the touch points withthe portfolio that you also have
these authentic activitiesincluded and really see that in
a visualisation to make it veryexplicit of where all of that
comes in at which stages becauseyou're working with high school
students. So they are gettingthat right at the start. And
you're working with everybody,essentially everybody on campus,
(21:57):
so they have these touch pointsvery early on and then hopefully
also continue throughout theiruniversity career with the ideas
and with the skills and toolsthat they have learned in your
courses. What do you take awayfrom your article, from your
thinking, from your engagementswith the students, about the
(22:18):
social media use andincorporating folio thinking
methods for your future practicewith other students?
Sonja Taylor (22:27):
It's interesting because right now, I have a son
and a stepson that are both inhigh school. The way that both
of those schools have dealt withcell phones is different. One of
the schools has done this, 'Youput your phone in a pouch, and
it's locked up for the wholeday.' This is one example, but
in general, I think bans don'tusually work well. I know that
(22:49):
cell phones have gotten to bedistraction in class. I've done
classroom research projects onit. My own class, we're going to
be like, 'You need to put thephone in the pocket, unless
we're at a time where you canuse it.' That being said, if you
don't figure out how toincorporate it in some way, then
you're keeping that separate of'this is my life over here, and
this is my academic world overhere, and this is not relevant
(23:12):
or interesting to me, and thisis what I live for.' That's how
I see my kids doing that. Iffinding ways to productively use
the technology in the classroomand social media and the
capacity for knowledgedissemination is one opportunity
for that.
When we were at the AAEEBLconference this year, Sylvia
(23:32):
Spears of College Unbound, whois amazing, did an activity
where she asked us all to lookfor a photo in our phone that
represented us and then talkingsmall group about us, and then
we had a very rich discussionabout reflection and what that
was like, and I have used thatin almost all my icebreakers
since then. I have this greatpicture of me from high school
(23:54):
that I use [laughs]. Check thisout. I'm an angsty teen. It was
such a powerful and awesomemove. It did require a cell
phone, but also elicitedconversation and discussion.
Finding opportunities to do moreof that would be great,
especially for the population Iteach with.
Candyce Reynolds (24:13):
Sonja knows about this, but one thing I
tried in this class that I'mteaching was to actually talk
about the role of engagement andlearning, and asked the students
to have a discussion, make anagreement about what it meant to
be engaged in the class. Thethings that they said was to
avoid distractions as well asinviting other people in. I
(24:33):
mean, they came up with things Iwould never have thought about
in terms of ground rules, and Ididn't call them ground rules.
It was like, 'What do you needto do to be engaged so that you
can learn best? They chose'avoid distraction', and then
they rate themselves. They gradethemselves on those behaviours
for that day. Many of them say,'I've never not looked at my
phone while I've been in class.
It's the first time I've donethat, and I'm learning so much
(24:54):
more.' I think the more weinvite, and that's something I
want to do is continue to invitestudents to be inquisitive about
themselves and thenunderstanding themselves.
Kristina Hoeppner (25:06):
That goes to the point that you do need to
try it out in order to talkabout it or to know what it can
do and how powerful it is. Justtalking about portfolios is not
sufficient. So you've been usingportfolios of the electronic and
non electronic or at least notonline kind for quite a while
now. Is there anything that youwould very much like to be able
(25:29):
to do but can't yet in yourpractice?
Candyce Reynolds (25:33):
I would love all the systems to talk to each
other better [laughs]. We haveLMSs that are pretty ubiquitous
now in higher education, and yetit's not necessarily easy to
always figure out how to getthings easily from one platform
to another platform. I knowinteroperability has been -
(25:53):
people are working on that, butit's still not easy. It's not
easy that LMSs are so coursebased that many of the things
that Sonja and I are talkingabout, about having students be
able to see the connectionsbetween things, it's hard to do
that when a course closes downafter it's done. How do you get
to - unless you've decided todownload your discussion post,
(26:14):
you may not - you say, 'I thinkI talked about that,' but you
aren't able to get to it to beable to use in a portfolio at a
later date.
Sonja Taylor (26:22):
Having a way to automatically archive everything
would be awesome for students toCandyce's point because as a
faculty at PSU, I haveeverything. I have archived old
classes, not just for me, butbecause I am the Director of
Senior inquiry, I archived allmy colleagues classes too, and
just last year, a student fromone of the programmes in a
(26:46):
different school really wantedtheir ePortfolio, couldn't
access it, but I had thearchived information. So I just
put it all in a folder for herand sent it to her. Just the
fact that I had it was random,right? And that I could do that.
There's no guarantee thatsomebody would be what if I was
gone, you know, like I moved onto a different job, that option
would be gone, and that studentreally wanted their work. If
(27:08):
there was a mechanism that youcould just figure out how to
very easily collect your work asyou're doing it for these
different platforms, that wouldbe amazing. I'm sure, as
efficient that our technology isat harvesting data, I'm sure
that there's a way that thatcould be done in service of a
student and getting theirlearning archive together.
Kristina Hoeppner (27:30):
We have interoperability again, and
also, then actually, also verymuch lifelong learning that
ideally, we have the possibilityto keep a portfolio, and not
just one portfolio, to keepmultiple portfolios throughout
and then surface evidence frommany, many years ago and combine
it with something new and thenmake those connections. That
(27:52):
then already takes us to thequick answer round for our
session today. The firstquestion goes then to you,
Sonja, which words or shortphrases do you use to describe
portfolio work?
Sonja Taylor (28:06):
I think it's untapped opportunity,
undiscovered territory, in somecases, for many practitioners,
reflection meets integratedlearning. Candyce has excellent
presentation around that that Ijust saw recently. So like those
things come to mind. I think itis scaffolded storytelling.
Kristina Hoeppner (28:25):
Thank you.
Now Candyce, what about you?
What words or short phraseswould you use or do you use most
commonly?
Candyce Reynolds (28:33):
It is about the process, and the second one
is transformative, and the thirdword is connected.
Kristina Hoeppner (28:41):
Connected or connective?
Candyce Reynolds (28:43):
Connected.
Actually, you could sayconnected and connective. Let's
do that because I can have morethan one word,
Kristina Hoeppner (28:49):
Thank you.
What tip do you have for yourlearning designers or
instructors who create portfolioactivities?
Candyce Reynolds (28:57):
I would say, don't forget that it's really
about the learning and not aboutthe product. Just keep your
focus on that.
Kristina Hoeppner (29:03):
And Sonja?
Sonja Taylor (29:04):
Build your own example. And this is advice for
anyone, but definitely designersand instructors. Build your own
example. Start small to payattention to the process,
scaffold up.
Kristina Hoeppner (29:16):
Thank you. We come to the last piece of advice
for today, and that is forportfolio authors, including
students, faculty, anybody who'screating a portfolio, what
advice would you have for them?
Candyce Reynolds (29:28):
Have fun and enjoy the process. Don't get
stuck on it has to be perfect.
Kristina Hoeppner (29:33):
Thanks, Candyce.
Sonja Taylor (29:35):
Look for other contexts to use the practice.
Social media is one good place.
This last summer, I just found achildren's book that I wrote
when I was eight. Now I'm on amission. This girl needs to be
published, my former self, and Ihave some companion pieces to
add so you never know where thisfolio thinking is gonna show up.
Kristina Hoeppner (29:57):
Yeah because it's not confined to the
classroom only. We do it prettymuch all the time. Thank you so,
so very much for this chattoday, Sonja and Candyce. I
really appreciate the time youwere able to take today. Thank
you so much also for all yourwork in the many different
communities that you areengaging with.
Candyce Reynolds (30:17):
Thank you.
Sonja Taylor (30:18):
I have one last thing to add because of
Candyce's connective andconnected.
Kristina Hoeppner (30:23):
Sure.
Sonja Taylor (30:24):
It's like the connective tissue of your
learning [laughs].
Kristina Hoeppner (30:28):
It is!
Candyce Reynolds (30:29):
I love it!
Kristina Hoeppner (30:30):
Shall I add that as an additional phrase to
yours?
Sonja Taylor (30:33):
Yeah, I think it is because I think, you know,
there's connective tissue thatwraps around every cell in our
body and pulls it all together,and then we have a walking
human. I think of portfolio aspulling all your learning
together, you know, and then totell a story, right?
Kristina Hoeppner (30:48):
Thank you so much for that last thought, and
I look forward to chatting withyou some other time.
Sonja Taylor (30:55):
Thanks for the opportunity.
Candyce Reynolds (30:57):
Yeah, thank you.
Kristina Hoeppner (30:59):
Now over to our listeners. What do you want
to try in your own portfoliopractice? This was 'Create.
Share. Engage.' with Dr SonjaTaylor and Dr Candyce Reynolds.
Head to our website,podcast.mahara.org, where you
can find resources and thetranscript for this episode.
This podcast is produced byCatalyst IT, and I'm your host,
(31:22):
Kristina Hoeppner, Project Leadand Product Manager of the
portfolio platform Mahara.
Our next episode will air in twoweeks. I hope you'll listen
again and tell a colleague aboutour podcast so they can
subscribe. Until then, createshare, and engage.
Welcome to 'Create. Share. Engage.' This is
the podcast about portfolios forlearning and more for educators,
learning designers, and managerskeen on integrating portfolios
with their education andprofessional development
practices. 'Create. Share.
Engage.' is brought to you bythe Mahara team at Catalyst. IT.
My name is Kristina Hoeppner.
(00:28):
Today, my guests are two womenwho've been instrumental in the
shaping of portfolio practiceand thinking about portfolios in
different contexts in the UnitedStates and also continue to
influence the internationalconversation. I've gotten to
know them through their researchand portfolio advocacy at
Portland State University.
Welcome to the podcast, DrCandyce Reynolds and Dr Sonja
(00:50):
Taylor.
Candyce Reynolds (00:53):
Thank you.
Sonja Taylor (00:54):
Thank you.
Kristina Hoeppner (00:55):
Together with Dr Melissa Shaquid Pirie, you
published an article recentlywhich is the focus of our
conversation, but more on thatlater, and I hope to be able to
catch up with Melissa some othertime. Now, can you please tell
us a little bit about yourself?
What do you do? And let's startwith Candyce because you have
brought everybody together atPortland State University in
(01:18):
Oregon.
Candyce Reynolds (01:21):
Currently, I'm the Director of University
Foundations at Boise StateUniversity, which is our general
education programme. I know youreducation systems are different,
but we have general education aspart of our curriculum in the
U.S. Prior to that, I had manypositions at Portland State
University, and one thread thatwent through all of the work
(01:44):
that I did at Portland State wasworking with ePortfolios.
We started doing ePortfolios inthe general education programme
at Portland State in 1998. Youcan imagine that that was very,
very clunky...
Kristina Hoeppner (01:58):
and very early!
Candyce Reynolds (01:59):
... very, very early, but I was sold on the
fact that ePortfolios reallyadvanced student learning. So it
was really important work, and alot of my career has centred
around researching and writingand using ePortfolios.
Kristina Hoeppner (02:17):
Thank you, Candyce. So for 1998 were you
then actually already using theinternet or was that still more
portfolios on CDs because theinternet became a bit more
prominent around '94 in theStates, if I remember correctly.
Candyce Reynolds (02:34):
That is a really interesting question. And
actually, I think we had some ofit on the internet, but I think
we did have a lot on CDs. When Ileft Portland State, I had a
whole box of CDs of people'sePortfolios [laughs]. Students
were learning some basic coding,HTML coding, to be able to
create their ePortfolios, aswell as really clunky software.
Kristina Hoeppner (02:56):
When were you introduced to portfolios
yourself?
Candyce Reynolds (02:59):
Portfolios in general, probably in the 1990s.
The general education programmeat Portland State really
decided, as they were doingreform in that area, that they
wanted to include portfolioassessment. So we were really
wedded to that idea alreadyabout using portfolios, but we
found that students collectedall of their work for a year -
(03:22):
it's a year long course thatfirst-year course - that it was
really hard to sort through andmake meaning of all that
material for students as well asfor the faculty reviewing the
work. That's where the idea ofePortfolios and having the
ability to hyperlink becamereally important. That was a big
success really early on.
Kristina Hoeppner (03:43):
Thank you Candyce. Now Sonja, tell us a
little bit about yourself. Whatdo you do?
Sonja Taylor (03:48):
I am the director of a dual credit programme at
Portland State, which is thelast year of high school, first
year of college blended. We'reactually a course that team
teaches in the high school.
There's two high school faculty,one college faculty, and we do
the same year long seminarcourse that's offered on campus,
the first year seminar forPortland State. I teach in the
(04:10):
programme, and I'm in charge offacilitating the programme in
other areas where we have it,and we're at - this year - eight
different schools.
I think that Candyce is the mainperson who introduced me to
ePortfolio in the way that itstuck and became meaningful. I
remember when I was mentoringfor other classes those CDs, so
(04:32):
it's funny to remember that[laughs]. But I also have taught
online since about, I think,2008, and I was part of an
initiative at Portland State tobring ePortfolio to the
sophomore level. That's where Ireally worked out a lot of my
strategy and ideas. And then I,of course, use it in my senior
class with that year longinquiry. I use it myself for my
(04:55):
own professional life, both fordoing annual reviews,
performance reviews, for myteaching practice, and also I
use a professional portfolio forwhen I go to conferences and
stuff. I share with people and Iupdate it. It's kind of a work
in progress. It's fairly currentright now. I think it has AAEEBL
and Pebblebash on there rightnow the last conferences I went
(05:18):
to [laughs]. So it's current forthat.
Kristina Hoeppner (05:21):
Fantastic.
Sonja, you already mentionedthat you're using portfolios
with your students for thesenior inquiry and also for your
own professional practices. It'swonderful to hear that it is
part of your annual reviewprocess. Are there any other
contexts in which you useportfolios?
Sonja Taylor (05:39):
Yes, related to teaching, I run two bridge
programmes, and the summer oneis a grant funded two-week
residency for high schoolstudents who are going into
their last year of high school,and I use portfolio there, and
then I am the lead faculty onthe Summer Scholars first year
bridge at PSU, and I do theprofessional development for the
(06:01):
teaching faculty or teachingacademic courses in the
different pathways, and I havethem all do an ePortfolio as
part of the process. So in thatsense, I get to work with
faculty to help them create anartefact for students across
every discipline on campus. Sostudents coming into every
discipline are going to havethis one experience with
ePortfolio.
Kristina Hoeppner (06:22):
That is fantastic to plant that seed in
them very early on in theiruniversity career. Candyce,
you've been using portfoliosalso with your PhD students at
Portland State University. Inwhich contexts do you use
portfolio practice right now?
Candyce Reynolds (06:39):
I used it with doctoral students, and I also
used it in a master's programmethat I taught in at Portland
State University. It was theirculminating assignment was to
create an ePortfolio thathighlighted the work that they
had done throughout theirexperience in the master's
programme. Right now, in thecourses that I teach at Boise
State, I use ePortfolios and allof my classes, and I am
(07:03):
currently in the process ofrecruiting more faculty and
departments to consider the useof ePortfolios. We're getting
ready to do some pilots at BoiseState that are more programme
based. I'm excited about that.
Like Sonja, I keep aprofessional ePortfolio, too,
and it's the first thing that Iprovide to students whenever I
(07:24):
teach them.
Kristina Hoeppner (07:27):
Leading by example in both of your cases.
The reason why we're having thechat today, not just because I
really wanted to catch up withyou, since I haven't seen you
since last year's conference,but is also that you've recently
published the article 'Foliothinking and digital literacy:
Integrating social media andePortfolios' in the journal 'New
(07:48):
Directions for Teaching andLearning'. In that article,
which I highly recommendeverybody to read because it is
a really, really good read,outlining very well how you went
about working with your studentsand also how you integrated
portfolios in their learning andhow you engage with them. In
there you make, in particular,the connection between social
(08:09):
media and portfolios, or rather,in a way, actually portfolio
practice by incorporating foliothinking into activities for
students to work with socialmedia. What prompted you to
undertake that work with yourstudents?
Candyce Reynolds (08:26):
Sonja and I, and then soon after Melissa,
Sonja, and I have been talkingabout this concept for a long,
long time. This is one of thedreams that we would actually
write this article and get itpublished. You know, I think all
three of us are users of socialmedia, and people often complain
(08:46):
about social media, but wereally understand that social
media can be used for good andis actually a place where folks
can reflect and get feedbackfrom others and engage in
understanding themselves and theworld better. Sonja and I
started a conversation aboutthis at an AAEEBL conference
(09:07):
many, many years ago. That sortof led us to develop more of
these ideas. And Dr Pirie joinedus as time went on, in thinking
about these ideas. Anything youwant to add, Sonja?
Sonja Taylor (09:19):
Oh yeah. It was the summer of 2016, AAEEBL
conference, Boston. I wish I hadthe napkin that I wrote on, but
[Candyce laughs] Candyce and Iwere sitting together, and I
think it was the last keynote,maybe the Batson Lecture, which
you gave this year,where theywere talking about curating and
different steps of ePortfolio,and I was sort of like mapping
(09:39):
to different social mediaplatforms. And I was like,
'Candyce!' She said, 'Yes!'[laughs] We had this idea for an
article called 'Hashtags,tweets, and status updates', and
I think we wanted to name thisarticle that, but we were
overruled by our editors. Sowe're like [laughs], here's the
place where we get to say that'swhat the title should be
(10:02):
[laughs].
We just kept talking about it. Ithink we did a webinar on it,
and also at that time, Candyceand I had been Facebook users
together, Facebook community,and we both got really
intentional about our own use ofsocial media. One of the things
we talked about was this idea ofthe skills that students bring
with them, 'funds of knowledge',is sort of the academic framing
(10:26):
for that now, but we are like'Students are doing this work.
They're doing it, notintentionally, but they're doing
it.' And so could we maybe makea connection for them in the
classroom that helps themunderstand that they're actually
doing this work, and maybe someof that doing it in the
classroom could carry back overinto the social media world and
have an effect on how they usesocial media in that sense.
(10:48):
One year, when I was second-yearteaching at Reynolds High School
in Troutdale, I had a very clearlike, 'Here's your digital
identity, and here's acomparison between social media
and different audiences.' And Ihad students actually, they were
friends with me on Facebook, andI saw that they were
incorporating this in what theywere doing in their social media
(11:09):
practice. And so I think it's areally effective tie for the
generations that are coming upwith social media all around
them, and similar to AI, it'shere. We're going to have to
deal with it. How do we make itconstructive, and how do we make
it serve us?
Kristina Hoeppner (11:25):
I really like that you tied in the idea of
folio thinking into the workthat you're doing and making
that connection so explicit, andthen also focusing on the
process of the portfolio ratherthan the end product. Can you
please tell us what foliothinking is and how you
incorporated it into yourclasses with your students who
(11:48):
would not have heard about itbefore?
Candyce Reynolds (11:51):
One way of thinking about folio thinking is
first, it's a process. Itdoesn't necessarily require
ePortfolios though I think it'sbest if it incorporates
ePortfolios. It's a process thatactually encourages students to
collect and to organise andreflect and make connections. By
(12:11):
doing that, it can lead a personto being able to really talk
about their life and their workmore intelligently, and really
be able to tell a story abouttheir own learning experiences
and what they mean, what thevalue of those experiences are,
and I think most importantly,how they relate to each other.
As Sonja was saying, thinkingabout social media as part of
(12:33):
the process is, you know, thisis not 'Here's my life outside
of school and social media, andhere's my life inside school
doing this portfolio.' We reallywant students to be able to see
that everywhere they'rereflecting and growing, all of
it is connected, and that theycan be intentional about that
(12:53):
kind of work.
Kristina Hoeppner (12:55):
Sonia, you mentioned earlier that because
some of your students friendedyou on social media that you'd
see the updates, and also thatblurring of the lines between
the personal and theprofessional. Do you have a
short example where you haveseen that growth in the students
that they become more reflectiveand also make those connections
more intentionally themselves?
Sonja Taylor (13:17):
I have two examples, really. One where a
student put something in theirfinal portfolio for me and
talked about it, and it wasclearly me that was the audience
as their instructor. A few weekslater, I saw their graduation
post, and it was the sameelements that they had provided
as evidence for me, but with adifferent description and the
(13:39):
tone because they were talkingto their friends and family.
That was a really aha moment forme, of like, 'Oh, it actually
does work [laughs]. I'm notwrong.'
The other was a student, morerecently, who, after my class,
developed their own professionalportfolio and then shared it to
LinkedIn. In both cases, Ireally saw them bringing more of
(14:03):
their academic self into thesocial sphere that they inhabit.
I also will see students talkingabout their work and school
life, like 'Here I am,' thenthey're referring to things, and
I think they might do some of itanyway, but they might do it
sooner and more often if they'reprompted to make that
(14:23):
connection, and I think withmore intention.
Kristina Hoeppner (14:26):
So you also see that transfer of skills from
one area into another, personalinto professional, and then
professional back into thepersonal.
Sonja Taylor (14:34):
Yeah, I had a student who I did an interview
with for another project, and Iasked her about the ePortfolio
process and how it was helpfulto her. She said she had never
realised that her livedexperience could be relevant to
her academic life. That wasreally powerful for me because
the blending of your experienceover time and what you're
(14:58):
learning and your scholarlypursuits, it all comes together
in who you are. That made herlived experience more valid for
her to be able to bring it intothat space. And so I just want
all my students to know you'rechoosing, you're weaving, you're
becoming a storyteller of whoyou are, and here's some tools
to do it. And whatever you wantto be relevant is relevant.
Kristina Hoeppner (15:21):
That is also, I think, part of DEIBD:
diversity, equity, inclusion,belonging, in particular in this
case, and decolonisation so thatthey see, yes, they have a
space. They are not an outsider.
Yes, they really also belong inthere and their experiences
belong. That is wonderful thatyour student has realised that,
Sonja, on their own and istaking that forward now for the
(15:44):
rest of their professional life.
Candyce Reynolds (15:48):
I think that's so important, Kristina because
we haven't in the past as muchhelped students include their
identities and include theirunderstanding of their world and
how it meshes with what they'relearning at the university, and
our world is going to be muchricher and our ideas are much
richer because we're helpingstudents now see that what they
(16:09):
have to offer, in addition towhat they're learning at the
university, is what makes adifference in the future.
Kristina Hoeppner (16:15):
I also like that you're weaving in the ideas
about digital literacy, digitalcitizenship, and all of these
other concepts that aresometimes really hard to teach
on their own because you have toteach them in context and make
that part of the course for thestudents to go through. Candyce
is that, then also somethingthat you can champion now that
(16:37):
you're at Boise State and haveall of this experience from
Portland and seeing Sonja workwith the high school students,
but also you yourself workingwith a lot of university
students throughout your career?
Candyce Reynolds (16:49):
Oh, for sure [laughs]. For sure. Like I said,
I use ePortfolios and theseconcepts in all my courses. I'm
actually teaching a generaleducation course called 'Ethics
and diversity in the digitalage'. We are focusing quite a
bit on digital citizenshipprinciples, and digital literacy
is certainly part of that, andso it continues, and will
(17:10):
continue to continue.
Kristina Hoeppner (17:12):
What I also really liked about your article
is that you initially didn'treally make it so much about the
portfolio. You weave it in andengage your students, and then
in the end, they actually do endup with that portfolio. They
just don't know about it sincethey do not have the specific
language. Do you feel that isalso helping your students to
connect with the practice sinceit is more about that process
(17:34):
rather than the end product?
Candyce Reynolds (17:35):
I totally think so.
Sonja Taylor (17:37):
I find more and more - and this is the
presentation recently, the onespecifically I did for
Pebblebash - where it's teachingto a different test. More and
more, everything I do is gearedtoward the ePortfolio, and I
work in a team. So I'mcollaborating with other
faculty, and specifically in mysenior inquiry course, I work
with two other teachers. What Ihave done is, over time,
(18:00):
incorporated their assignmentsinto the ePortfolio products
that students are doing so thatthey are not doing new things.
They are actually engaged in theprocess the whole time.
I have a certain workbook that Ido at the beginning of the year,
which is really an explorationand initial introduction to
them, and they've done fiveassignments that they can choose
(18:20):
from that can fill all theboxes, and then they can reflect
on why they chose that thingabout that piece for them. But
then it's like, 'Oh, I did thiswork over here. It's relevant
over here, and I need to keepthinking about,' and I found
that not only then did they havethe ePortfolio at the end of the
year, they're actually thinkingmore about what we asked them to
do and the assignments they'vedone, like, 'Oh, that's why I
(18:42):
did this. And also, what do Ithink about that, and how is it
relevant to me?' It makeseverything connect more. The
more that I do that, the morethat I find that.
The other thing that I've doneis using discussion boards more
as public reflection, and I haveguided engagement that they're
required to do. They engage witheach other around their
(19:06):
reflections, and I am veryspecific about be kind, be
supportive. Here's some thingsyou might say because the
comment threads on publicdiscourse leave much to be
desired, and so [laughs] I wouldlike them to be thoughtful about
there is a human being on theother side of this post,
although, I mean, I know there'sbots sometimes, but partly, you
(19:29):
might be able to discover thatby the quality of the
conversation that you're havingwith the person, right [laughs]?
I think just being mindful aboutwe've entered this phase of
technology where we're havingall these conversations, we're
not always in the room withsomeone, but we can still
practice this mindfulness andthis citizenship and then this
(19:49):
collegiality with each other andjust practice those pieces. I've
only been doing that a few yearsnow, so we'll see how that goes.
What my takeaways are [laughs].
Candyce Reynolds (19:59):
Yeah, the process is the most important
thing about the ePortfolio. Ithink we get very stuck on the
outward product and all thebells and whistles that we can
put into ePortfolios. For me,the focus on the process and as
Sonja was saying, being able tohelp them see like, 'Oh, I
thought about this here and thatconnected with this and this
(20:20):
connected with that, and then Ican present it in some kind of
showcase portfolio at the end,and it can all make sense
together.' Isn't that what wewant our students to be able to
do? That's a critical thinkingprocess of being able to gather
a bunch of stuff, learn from it,think about it, and then figure
out how it all fits together, tobe able to use it in the future.
(20:42):
For me, the process isparamount, and we spend way too
much time thinking about theproduct.
Sonja Taylor (20:48):
I 100% agree, and I think the focus on the process
and understanding how theprocess helps us is the best
antidote to overuse of ChatGPTor whatever else is coming down
the line. Because if you'refocused on the outcome, then
people just rush to that. If youfocus on the process, you get
(21:08):
the outcome, but it's much moreauthentic, and it is
transformative.
Kristina Hoeppner (21:13):
Sonja, at one point, hopefully in the future,
I'll get to see one of yournapkin drawings or maybe it
actually [Sonja laughs] needsto be put onto a flip chart
because when you talked abouthow you transformed the
assessment tasks of yourcolleagues and put them into the
portfolio as well, I really hadthis huge map in mind where you
(21:34):
can see the touch points withthe portfolio that you also have
these authentic activitiesincluded and really see that in
a visualisation to make it veryexplicit of where all of that
comes in at which stages becauseyou're working with high school
students. So they are gettingthat right at the start. And
you're working with everybody,essentially everybody on campus,
(21:57):
so they have these touch pointsvery early on and then hopefully
also continue throughout theiruniversity career with the ideas
and with the skills and toolsthat they have learned in your
courses. What do you take awayfrom your article, from your
thinking, from your engagementswith the students, about the
(22:18):
social media use andincorporating folio thinking
methods for your future practicewith other students?
Sonja Taylor (22:27):
It's interesting because right now, I have a son
and a stepson that are both inhigh school. The way that both
of those schools have dealt withcell phones is different. One of
the schools has done this, 'Youput your phone in a pouch, and
it's locked up for the wholeday.' This is one example, but
in general, I think bans don'tusually work well. I know that
(22:49):
cell phones have gotten to bedistraction in class. I've done
classroom research projects onit. My own class, we're going to
be like, 'You need to put thephone in the pocket, unless
we're at a time where you canuse it.' That being said, if you
don't figure out how toincorporate it in some way, then
you're keeping that separate of'this is my life over here, and
this is my academic world overhere, and this is not relevant
(23:12):
or interesting to me, and thisis what I live for.' That's how
I see my kids doing that. Iffinding ways to productively use
the technology in the classroomand social media and the
capacity for knowledgedissemination is one opportunity
for that.
When we were at the AAEEBLconference this year, Sylvia
(23:32):
Spears of College Unbound, whois amazing, did an activity
where she asked us all to lookfor a photo in our phone that
represented us and then talkingsmall group about us, and then
we had a very rich discussionabout reflection and what that
was like, and I have used thatin almost all my icebreakers
since then. I have this greatpicture of me from high school
(23:54):
that I use [laughs]. Check thisout. I'm an angsty teen. It was
such a powerful and awesomemove. It did require a cell
phone, but also elicitedconversation and discussion.
Finding opportunities to do moreof that would be great,
especially for the population Iteach with.
Candyce Reynolds (24:13):
Sonja knows about this, but one thing I
tried in this class that I'mteaching was to actually talk
about the role of engagement andlearning, and asked the students
to have a discussion, make anagreement about what it meant to
be engaged in the class. Thethings that they said was to
avoid distractions as well asinviting other people in. I
(24:33):
mean, they came up with things Iwould never have thought about
in terms of ground rules, and Ididn't call them ground rules.
It was like, 'What do you needto do to be engaged so that you
can learn best? They chose'avoid distraction', and then
they rate themselves. They gradethemselves on those behaviours
for that day. Many of them say,'I've never not looked at my
phone while I've been in class.
It's the first time I've donethat, and I'm learning so much
(24:54):
more.' I think the more weinvite, and that's something I
want to do is continue to invitestudents to be inquisitive about
themselves and thenunderstanding themselves.
Kristina Hoeppner (25:06):
That goes to the point that you do need to
try it out in order to talkabout it or to know what it can
do and how powerful it is. Justtalking about portfolios is not
sufficient. So you've been usingportfolios of the electronic and
non electronic or at least notonline kind for quite a while
now. Is there anything that youwould very much like to be able
(25:29):
to do but can't yet in yourpractice?
Candyce Reynolds (25:33):
I would love all the systems to talk to each
other better [laughs]. We haveLMSs that are pretty ubiquitous
now in higher education, and yetit's not necessarily easy to
always figure out how to getthings easily from one platform
to another platform. I knowinteroperability has been -
(25:53):
people are working on that, butit's still not easy. It's not
easy that LMSs are so coursebased that many of the things
that Sonja and I are talkingabout, about having students be
able to see the connectionsbetween things, it's hard to do
that when a course closes downafter it's done. How do you get
to - unless you've decided todownload your discussion post,
(26:14):
you may not - you say, 'I thinkI talked about that,' but you
aren't able to get to it to beable to use in a portfolio at a
later date.
Sonja Taylor (26:22):
Having a way to automatically archive everything
would be awesome for students toCandyce's point because as a
faculty at PSU, I haveeverything. I have archived old
classes, not just for me, butbecause I am the Director of
Senior inquiry, I archived allmy colleagues classes too, and
just last year, a student fromone of the programmes in a
(26:46):
different school really wantedtheir ePortfolio, couldn't
access it, but I had thearchived information. So I just
put it all in a folder for herand sent it to her. Just the
fact that I had it was random,right? And that I could do that.
There's no guarantee thatsomebody would be what if I was
gone, you know, like I moved onto a different job, that option
would be gone, and that studentreally wanted their work. If
(27:08):
there was a mechanism that youcould just figure out how to
very easily collect your work asyou're doing it for these
different platforms, that wouldbe amazing. I'm sure, as
efficient that our technology isat harvesting data, I'm sure
that there's a way that thatcould be done in service of a
student and getting theirlearning archive together.
Kristina Hoeppner (27:30):
We have interoperability again, and
also, then actually, also verymuch lifelong learning that
ideally, we have the possibilityto keep a portfolio, and not
just one portfolio, to keepmultiple portfolios throughout
and then surface evidence frommany, many years ago and combine
it with something new and thenmake those connections. That
(27:52):
then already takes us to thequick answer round for our
session today. The firstquestion goes then to you,
Sonja, which words or shortphrases do you use to describe
portfolio work?
Sonja Taylor (28:06):
I think it's untapped opportunity,
undiscovered territory, in somecases, for many practitioners,
reflection meets integratedlearning. Candyce has excellent
presentation around that that Ijust saw recently. So like those
things come to mind. I think itis scaffolded storytelling.
Kristina Hoeppner (28:25):
Thank you.
Now Candyce, what about you?
What words or short phraseswould you use or do you use most
commonly?
Candyce Reynolds (28:33):
It is about the process, and the second one
is transformative, and the thirdword is connected.
Kristina Hoeppner (28:41):
Connected or connective?
Candyce Reynolds (28:43):
Connected.
Actually, you could sayconnected and connective. Let's
do that because I can have morethan one word,
Kristina Hoeppner (28:49):
Thank you.
What tip do you have for yourlearning designers or
instructors who create portfolioactivities?
Candyce Reynolds (28:57):
I would say, don't forget that it's really
about the learning and not aboutthe product. Just keep your
focus on that.
Kristina Hoeppner (29:03):
And Sonja?
Sonja Taylor (29:04):
Build your own example. And this is advice for
anyone, but definitely designersand instructors. Build your own
example. Start small to payattention to the process,
scaffold up.
Kristina Hoeppner (29:16):
Thank you. We come to the last piece of advice
for today, and that is forportfolio authors, including
students, faculty, anybody who'screating a portfolio, what
advice would you have for them?
Candyce Reynolds (29:28):
Have fun and enjoy the process. Don't get
stuck on it has to be perfect.
Kristina Hoeppner (29:33):
Thanks, Candyce.
Sonja Taylor (29:35):
Look for other contexts to use the practice.
Social media is one good place.
This last summer, I just found achildren's book that I wrote
when I was eight. Now I'm on amission. This girl needs to be
published, my former self, and Ihave some companion pieces to
add so you never know where thisfolio thinking is gonna show up.
Kristina Hoeppner (29:57):
Yeah because it's not confined to the
classroom only. We do it prettymuch all the time. Thank you so,
so very much for this chattoday, Sonja and Candyce. I
really appreciate the time youwere able to take today. Thank
you so much also for all yourwork in the many different
communities that you areengaging with.
Candyce Reynolds (30:17):
Thank you.
Sonja Taylor (30:18):
I have one last thing to add because of
Candyce's connective andconnected.
Kristina Hoeppner (30:23):
Sure.
Sonja Taylor (30:24):
It's like the connective tissue of your
learning [laughs].
Kristina Hoeppner (30:28):
It is!
Candyce Reynolds (30:29):
I love it!
Kristina Hoeppner (30:30):
Shall I add that as an additional phrase to
yours?
Sonja Taylor (30:33):
Yeah, I think it is because I think, you know,
there's connective tissue thatwraps around every cell in our
body and pulls it all together,and then we have a walking
human. I think of portfolio aspulling all your learning
together, you know, and then totell a story, right?
Kristina Hoeppner (30:48):
Thank you so much for that last thought, and
I look forward to chatting withyou some other time.
Sonja Taylor (30:55):
Thanks for the opportunity.
Candyce Reynolds (30:57):
Yeah, thank you.
Kristina Hoeppner (30:59):
Now over to our listeners. What do you want
to try in your own portfoliopractice? This was 'Create.
Share. Engage.' with Dr SonjaTaylor and Dr Candyce Reynolds.
Head to our website,podcast.mahara.org, where you
can find resources and thetranscript for this episode.
This podcast is produced byCatalyst IT, and I'm your host,
(31:22):
Kristina Hoeppner, Project Leadand Product Manager of the
portfolio platform Mahara.
Our next episode will air in twoweeks. I hope you'll listen
again and tell a colleague aboutour podcast so they can
subscribe. Until then, createshare, and engage.
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