Implementation
The initial phase of the project (March 2013 - June 2014) contained three pillars of student facing implementation and support: Orientation, resourcing and facilitation.
Orientation
An hour long session was used during the standard year 1 orientation schedule to introduce students to the concept of the year level ePortfolio as well as a briefing on the resources and guidance that could be expected throughout the year. This was also attended by two of the mentor students who demonstrated their ePortfolio and discussed their experiences.
Resources
The types/depth and manner of resources for other ePortfolio initiatives was also varied across the university and the ePortfolios community. The lack of available time and staff to support a major resourcing effort was also challenging, so the initial resources were created within a small group of interested parties.
Further detail on the initial and subsequent resources created and supplied can be found here.
Facilitation
The initial design of the curriculum for this course wide approach was to have a strong element of facilitation but not one of “teaching”. This included workshops run by the course director, support from student drop-in stations and mentors and also augmented by university wide services. A timeline with key support activities and milestones was created (below left) but was not implemented due to no dedicated support and a more simplified timeline was supplied to students (below right). The support was mainly undertaken by the course director and so was online through staged emails post the initial orientation.
Orientation
An hour long session was used during the standard year 1 orientation schedule to introduce students to the concept of the year level ePortfolio as well as a briefing on the resources and guidance that could be expected throughout the year. This was also attended by two of the mentor students who demonstrated their ePortfolio and discussed their experiences.
Resources
The types/depth and manner of resources for other ePortfolio initiatives was also varied across the university and the ePortfolios community. The lack of available time and staff to support a major resourcing effort was also challenging, so the initial resources were created within a small group of interested parties.
Further detail on the initial and subsequent resources created and supplied can be found here.
Facilitation
The initial design of the curriculum for this course wide approach was to have a strong element of facilitation but not one of “teaching”. This included workshops run by the course director, support from student drop-in stations and mentors and also augmented by university wide services. A timeline with key support activities and milestones was created (below left) but was not implemented due to no dedicated support and a more simplified timeline was supplied to students (below right). The support was mainly undertaken by the course director and so was online through staged emails post the initial orientation.
Click on either diagram to see in more detail.
These initiatives were conducted until June 2014 but altered during the semester 2 period due to changes in staffing, at this point a concentrated facilitation ceased. The effect of this lack of continued facilitation resulted in a reconsideration and led to a change in direction and philosophy regarding the support required for the students. The second phase of the project worked from the lessons of the initial phase including the first few months of student enrolments made some additions and amendments to the support and resourcing for students. This included changes to the resourcing. More information on the alternate resources and changes made can be found here.