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ePortfolios for Accreditation

Significant changes are taking place in education. The ability to have almost all student work in electronic format, plus the development of dynamic databases, plus the progress of the internet (anywhere, anytime) are intersecting trends supporting electronic portfolios. There is also an increased interest in accreditation agencies attention to ongoing assessment of student work, and accomplishments of institutional goals.

Can ePortfolios with the ability to provide ongoing assessment help with accreditation?


Background

The Commission on the Future of Higher Education in one of the first drafts of their 2006 report called for the creation of a “national accreditation framework,” and asks the National Assessment of Educational Progress be revised to measure students’ readiness for college and employment. The Commission also recommended accreditation agencies “act in a more timely manner” to get their reports done and distributed and to share any results with the public. As stated in the August 8, 2006 draft of the report:

“We recommend that America’s colleges and universities embrace a culture of continuous innovation and quality improvement. We urge these institutions to develop new pedagogies, curricula and technologies to improve learning, particularly in the area of science and mathematical literacy. At the same time, we recommend the development of a national strategy for lifelong learning designed to keep our citizens and our nation at the forefront of the knowledge revolution.” (p. 8)


Accreditation Agencies

Accreditation agencies such as the National Council for Accreditation for Teacher Education (NCATE), ABET (the recognized U.S. accreditor of college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology), and The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) have become more outcomes driven, requiring examples of student learning as well as an aggregation of assessment data for internal program evaluation.

Some accreditation agencies are providing outcomes workshops for members (http://www.abet.org/workshop.shtml) encouraging immediate adoption of these new expectations.

The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) provides a workshop entitled Using the Accreditation Review Process for Institutional Transformation that embraces improvement, and asks the attendee to consider the accreditation process an opportunity to learning something rather than proving something, which is in line with the Commission’s suggestion for continued improvement.

Process

George Lorenzo and John Ittelson, in “An Overview of E-Portfolios,” (Lorenzo & Ittelson, 2005), state that WASC is encouraging institutions to use e-portfolios for accreditation, and notes the sample portfolios are available on the WASC website. WASC also asks for key indicators of performance and evidence, including actual student work, and rather than a once-every-ten-years visit, it’s looking as though accreditation will be a steady review, meaning data has to be more readily accessible than in the past.

The authors consider student portfolios applicable for advisement, career preparation, and credential documentation. Teaching portfolios are for sharing philosophies and practices, and institutional portfolios used by groups might be used for department and program self-study or used in the accreditation process.


ePortfolios vs. Learning Management Systems

When used in accreditation, electronic information may be more visible as a website, making the report more accessible to the public which may increase accountability. Data collected from the students’ portfolios and the institutions portfolios can be aggregated and compared over time to reveal how well standards are being met, with some institutions dedicating serious time to organizing rubrics, which are used for data collection. This provides an opportunity for continual improvement as the institution, department, or professor collects, assesses, and reflects. Lorenzo and Ittelson also report on the advantages of lifelong e-portfolios and the potential benefits for career development. Their conclusion suggests ePortfolios may evolve to be as important as learning management systems (LMS).