January 2010 EPAC/AAEEBL Virginia Tech webcast

If you'd like to join us and AAEEBL for tomorrow's webcast with Virginia Tech University on Telling the learning story: Students' authentic experiences used to assess learning, at 10-11 a.m. PT/12 p.m.-1 p.m. CT/1-2 p.m. ET, connection information is posted here: http://epac.pbworks.com/2010_01-Virginia-Tech-webcast

We still encourage you to register for the event since this will allow us to contact you directly once the archived recording and chat transcript are available. We also use the registration information to solicit feedback and suggestions for future webcasts and chat topics as well as to support networking among our members.

Association for Authentic, Experiential, and Evidence-Based Learning (AAEEBL)/EPAC Webcast with Virginia Tech University
Telling the learning story: Students' authentic experiences used to assess learning
Thursday, January 14, 2010
10-11 a.m. PT/12 p.m.-1 p.m. CT/1-2 p.m. ET.

Registration and event follow-up:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dGQ4WjI1MFpPZklkX0hHcnltdWNNbUE6MA

NOTE: We ask that you to fill out the above form even if you attended the event but did not pre-register since this allows us to follow up with you directly once the recording of the event and chat transcript are available. It would also be helpful for us to inform of you of future events of interest.

Description: For the past several years, Virginia Tech has been engaged in a campus-wide effort to explore and adopt ePortfolio technology in appropriate places in its curriculum. From a handful of interested faculty in 2007, the ePortfolio Initiatives Office has grown to be working with more than 60 different projects across seven colleges. A large part of our success, we think, is not to focus too much on the technology for ePortfolio deployment, but to focus instead on using the technology to encourage student learning and assessment of that learning. Though we have a variety of ePortfolio projects, we find that our most successful and vibrant projects are those that engage with authentic activities that use the students' creative voices to analyze experiences from their perspectives. In this way, assessment of that learning, by the student, the instructor, and the institution, is enhanced by including qualitative, individual pictures of each student's different experiences with the curriculum. In this webcast, several examples of these projects will be reviewed, including our next big focus: our first-year experiences. As part of its regional reaccreditation efforts, Virginia Tech is planning to focus on first-year experiences in order to enhance overall institutional quality and effectiveness by improving student learning. In order to facilitate synthetic, reflective learning across a variety of experiences, ePortfolios will be one among other tools used. In this session, we will discuss how and why we chose to use ePortfolios, and how they will assist us in assessing the elements of the AAC&U VALUE Rubrics.

Our presenters will be Marc Zaldivar, Director of the ePortfolio Initiatives, an office of the Learning Technologies Department at Virginia Tech, and his Assistant Director, Teggin Summers, both of who will discuss some of the student-centered activities used in our ePortfolio projects. Also from Learning Technologies is C. Edward Watson, Director of Professional Development and Strategic Initiatives, who will provide information about the history and future potentials of the ePortfolio Initiatives. Finally, from the Office of Academic Assessment, Kate McConnell will talk about our adoption of the AAC&U VALUE Metarubrics and our plans for assessment of the First-Year Experiences.