University of Washington: Students Showcase Achievements Online
After 18 months of research and
collaboration with student interest groups, career counselors, and academic
leaders, the University of Washington (UW) launched the Catalyst Portfolio Tool—an
electronic archive of work produced by students—in September 2002.
Web Publishing Made Easy
The Catalyst Portfolio Tool uses UW network and storage infrastructure
and allows students to compile any electronic files of their work. Using nothing
more than a Web browser, students can save and organize papers, pictures, audio
clips or any other documents they produce. The beta release has a temporary
storage quota of 10MB per student, but by the end of January, it will increase
to 250MB to 500MB per student. Unless students exceed this quota, no limits
will be placed on the size and type of the files. A system is also being built
to allow students to store large streaming media files in another university
archive without using their quota.
"They get to keep everything they've done on campus in an online environment
where they can access it quickly. They can do all of this without knowing anything
about Web publishing," explains Mark Farrelly, coordinator of the Portfolio
Tool project at the UW office of Educational Partnerships & Learning Technologies.
Templates and style sheets are provided to format and customize each portfolio,
and students can re-organize and align their learning artifacts however they
like, so that each portfolio they publish is unique.
If students need help, technical assistance is provided in a couple of different
ways. Student helpdesk employees have been trained in each of the largest student
computer labs on campus to provide face-to-face support. Materials, including
online help and documentation (developed by four student employees and one editor)
are also available. In addition, students can contact the developers of the
Portfolio tool by e-mail or telephone (four software developers and one student
helper are available for e-mail help).
Showing What You Know
Farrelly says the new portfolios are a reaction to the need to provide better
ways to show achievement. Increasing competition in everything from top-paying
jobs to entrance in exclusive schools is putting the emphasis on physical demonstrations
of what you know. Grade-point averages and test scores, while still important,
are being complemented by concepts like the final project and the work portfolio.
"I think this is certainly a way for students to tell you, ‘These are my skills,'
instead of the increasingly less-meaningful grades," Farrelly explains.
Because the Catalyst Portfolio Tool is not tied to any particular program of
study at the university, any instructor can use the tool to offer assignments
designed to go into the portfolios, and to give students feedback online. Once
compiled, students will be able to show off their portfolios to anyone in the
world with a connection to the Internet. Each portfolio (there are no limitations
to the number of portfolios a student wishes to publish) has a unique URL, and
by the end of January a password-protection option will be added.
Enrolled students gain access to the Portfolio Tool with a system-wide login
called a UWNetID, which provides access to other UW tools and services, such
as e-mail and Web publishing. The IDs are active for six months after graduation.
After that time, alumni can enroll in the MyUW.net program that allows them
to keep all of their services, including the Portfolio, as long as they pay
a nominal monthly fee. If students choose not to continue with their subscription
to MyUW.net, they can use the Portfolio tool at any time to download all of
their published portfolios and collections of learning artifacts.
Instant Results
The Catalyst Portfolio Tool is the latest Web-based tool from the Catalyst Initiative,
an effort to improve teaching and learning at the UW through the use of technology.
The Catalyst Initiative relies on in-house staff, student workers, and existing
UW infrastructure to develop Web tools, without outside vendors or proprietary
software. Developing the Portfolio in-house permitted focus groups—made up of
students, faculty, and administrators—to provide immediate feedback so that
their needs would be met, allowing for instant implementation on campus.
One example of instant implementation of the Portfolio Tool is the Freshman
Interest Group (FIG) program. FIGs are clusters of 20 to 25 freshman who enroll
in the same classes and attend a general orientation class once a week, to help
them negotiate life on campus of the UW. As part of the FIG program, the online
system is providing more than 80 percent of the freshman class with the ability
to reflect on their education and progress through their university experience.
Currently, there are 3,200 FIG students using the Portfolio Tool to reflect
on seven topic areas: transitioning from high school, embracing diversity, academic
planning, working with faculty, social issues, an intellectual excursion, and
an arts excursion.
"This will be a nice tool for students to think about their learning, their
career path, and to get a better sense of what they did at the University of
Washington," notes Farrelly.
For more information on Catalyst, visit http://catalyst.washington.edu/
or contact Mark Farrelly at [email protected] or Tom Lewis at [email protected].
Farrelly is the outreach coordinator and Lewis is the director of the Ed-Tech
Development Group for the Office of Educational Partnerships & Learning Technologies.