Support challenges (technical, pedagogical, administrative)

[Kathleen Willbanks]

Before the February 25, 2009 ePortfolio Day of Dialogue, attendees submitted these challenges related to selecting or implementing ePortfolio solutions:

* Because the campus has not yet committed to a single eportfolio
application, we spend far more time on "how to use this particular
application" than we do on the larger pedagogical questions.
* For our campus, this is a new concept. In the 1st CAOT class, we
found that the students did not already have records of past
accomplishments; so much of the time was spent on collecting,
organizing, and editing that information. We expect that to be a
continuing problem, but have tutors in the Writing Center that can
assist. For integrating into existing classes, we find that tech
savvy instructors are excited by the possibilities but nervous
about the time taken from their regular curriculum. We are
thinking to offer a series of workshops to introduce ePortfolios
to the students so that they can see the benefits and get a quick
overview of how to proceed. In addition we anticipate setting up
one or more tutor/"experts" specifically for ePortfolios, to
assist the students outside the classroom.
* College-wide buy in to single system. People remembering usernames
and passwords. Tech support.
* On our campus because Eportfolios are being piloted by individuals
for different purposes with different methods, it’s difficult to
create synergy. Because my students are accustomed to face-to-face
presentations, they don’t see online reflections as important. I
am only partially effective at guiding meaningful reflection.
* The lack of institutional support.
* Finding the resources to purchase or design an eportfolio tool
* Examples/templates of eportfolios used for student services
* No computer lab available for student body