Existing Scholarship:
From what I have understood, the effects of both Eportfolio/Canvas on the academic world of writing is a fairly newer concept of study. Thankfully this has not hindered my ability to find sources. These sources have, for the most part, been positive and support the implementation of Eportfolio into our academic world. Sitting in COL McDonald’s office for a mere twenty minutes produced various sources regarding the topic. While those are not sources which I currently have listed in my annotated bibliography, they provided me with confidence that this project would be feasible. The five sources I currently have in my annotated bibliography cover a broad range of focuses. I feel like by understanding Eporfolio as a whole I will be able to better analyze the data.I The existing scholarship I have evaluated covers a broad range of information; such as whether Eportoflio is useful, or if it is “over hyped,” how Eportfolio is being used to evaluate curriculum, and where Eportoflio began and where they hope it will be in the future. These are just three examples of the existing scholarship that I believe will essential in this project.
Proposed Research:
The question I am using to direct my research during this project is, “How does the Eporfotlio/Canvas process model extend the writing process and help us gain a new understand of our writing?” As an English major I personally spend a lot of time on both platforms. Therefore, I have decided to make English majors my focal study group. Because we are typicaly the group who spends the most time with these platforms I believe that we are the best option to use to gather data. In the words of COL McDonald during our last conference, the purpose of these platforms is to, “Cultivate a metacognitive awareness of their (students) own learning.” I think this is important because as the use of modern technology becomes more prevalent in our writing process it is important that we see benefits. Writing should not just happen once and never be used or evaluated again. It should also not be stored away online in a virtual filing cabinet. Sometimes I worry that we implement technology simply for implementation sake. Meaning that we use it because it is there, and we feel like we should. The question of how this effects our writing process and understand is extremely important to making sure that we truly are receiving the best education possible.
Methodology:
Throughout this project I have gone through a few scenarios regarding how to retrieve my data for analysis. Initially I was against trying to create a survey to send a round. I felt like this would narrow down what information I am able to gather in a negative way. After my meeting with COL McDonald I concluded that a survey may be my best option. This option is most compatible with the time I have available to me here and the time left in the semester. This survey will not be multiple choice, but will be open ended, consisting of 5 key questions that I will read and evaluate. As of now these questions will be as follows; Do you use Eportoflio/Canvas word platforms? How often/ when do you post on them? Honestly, do you find it useful? Who do you generally receive feedback from using these platforms? Is this feedback generally good, bad, or unnecessary? My focus group will be 5 English majors from the class of ’20,’19 and ’18 I hope to use this information combined with the existing research to see how Portfolio and Canvas are effecting the academic writing “scene.”
Annotated Bibliography:
Fitch, Dale, et al. “THE USE OF EPORTFOLIOS IN EVALUATING THE CURRICULUM AND STUDENT LEARNING.” Journal of Social Work Education, vol. 44, no. 3, 2008, pp. 37–54. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23044338.
This source begins with a quote stating that the Eportfolio is intended to be used as a “content management system.” According to this source, portfolios have become more popular in the past few years, even coming as far as programs like Eportfolio begin created. These portoflios are intended to help educators step back and evaluate how an individual student is doing and lend some influence on how future curriculum should be. I believe that this source will be usual to my project because it focuses heavily on both the teachers and the students. This allows me to see some perspective on how teachers use it (or intend to) and how they believe that using this technology has helped their students develop their own writing.
Lombardi, Judy. “To Portfolio or Not to Portfolio: Helpful or Hyped?” College Teaching, vol. 56, no. 1, 2008, pp. 7–10.JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/27559345.
Immediately in this source the author shares the cumulative belief that the reactions to Eporfolio in the classroom have been primarily positive. However, she immediately follows up that abstract statement with a quote form a teacher who was employed by the same people as Ms. Lombardi. The quote states that the use of Eporfolio was the sole purpose for this educator’s resignation. They felt as if it was a waste of time and resources and was not responsible for the success students feel following an assignment. The reason I find this quote so significant is because, by implementing this quote followed by a positive quote, she shows that she has fully evaluated both angles of the debate. Because of this, I plan to use this source as the base article for whether this platform matters or has been a determent to the academic world.
Pauline Roberts, et al. “EPortfolio-Based Learning Environments: Recommendations for Effective Scaffolding of Reflective Thinking in Higher Education.” Journal of Educational Technology & Society, vol. 19, no. 4, 2016, pp. 22–33., www.jstor.org/stable/jeductechsoci.19.4.22.
This source my Pauline Roberts is another example of a source that focuses on both the good and the bad of Eporfolio. While looking for sources I have found that ones such as this give me a sense of trust when it comes to the information I am reading because of their thoroughness and willingness to evaluate more than just their own personal bias. This source does not deny that Eporfolio is a useful tool but focuses on evaluating whether Eporfolio is being used in the most effective way. What is different about this source is that the primary focus of it is to give recommendations on how they believe Eporfolio usage could be altered or changed entirely to benefit higher education. They do not simply state complaints or short comings, but offer up plausible solutions.
Watson, C. Edward, and Peter E. Doolittle. “EPortfolio Pedagogy, Technology, and Scholarship: Now and in the Future.” Educational Technology, vol. 51, no. 5, 2011, pp. 29–33. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44429948.
In order to understand the effect Eporfolio has had on the academic community I believe that it is important to understand where this platform began. This article begins with a brief overview of when the Eporfolio platform began and how various organizations immediately reacted to it. Like in other reviews of Eportfolio I have gone over the reviews tend to be more positive and optimistic. What I like about this article is that it specifically addresses whether Eportfolio has met all the expectations it was intended to. And for the ones which are “no” they explore why. This gives me information which to base my question of whether or not Eporfolio is useful off of.
Yoo, Hyesoo. “A Web-Based Environment for Facilitating Reflective Self Assessment of Choral Conducting Students.”Contributions to Music Education, vol. 41, 2016, pp. 113–130., www.jstor.org/stable/24711131.
While this specific source focuses primarily on choral students and their self-reflection of pieces on the internet, I feel like it allows me another perspective other than that I have experienced personally and that I will with my research. Much like my project this source studies ten students (mine will be a little more) and their journey through the analysis processes. I plan to not only study the information they received, but the way they went about conducting the experiment as a sort of inspiration for me, who has never conducted something like this.