E-Portfolios

2 Ohio Colleges Building Publicly Funded Portfolio Project

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 10/13/16

Two Ohio institutions are partnering to build a web-based application to help students submit a digital portfolio of prior learning that can be assessed for college credit. Columbus College of Art & Design and Franklin University have teamed up to create "Credit for Life Integrated Portfolio" or CLIP.

The software, with a focus on assessment of prior learning, the competency-based model and e-portfolio usage, is expected to be developed by technologists from both schools this year and implemented for the next academic year. Faculty and staff will develop the evaluation criteria. The resulting application will then be shared with other Ohio institutions.

Columbus College, the smaller of the two schools with about 1,100 students, is leading the project. Said Provost Kevin Conlon in a prepared statement, "CLIP will require and simultaneously create new ways of thinking about the learning experience." He noted that the program would use social technology "to leverage effective delivery to the Millennial Learner and [blur] the line between scholarship and practice..."

Added Christopher Washington, Franklin's provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, "Social media has become a reflection of our social lives. Through CLIP, we can now capture the journey and evidence of one's life-long learning and academic life." Franklin has about 10,000 students.

The project is being funded in part by the Ohio Department of Higher Education, which granted $998,000 to the schools for their work. The state funding came through an innovation grant program that emphasizes "collaborative, innovative projects that support academic achievement and economic efficiencies." Projects are favored that help to consolidate services or address competency-based education. The expectation, according to the state, is that the program will "save students money and ensure they are not taking unnecessary coursework."