British Journal of Educational Technology doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2006.00691.x
Vol 38 No 6 2007
1117–1121
Colloquium
Developing a personal and group-based learning portfolio system Eric Zhi-Feng Liu Address for correspondence: Graduate Institute of Learning & Instruction, National Central University, No. 300 Jung-da Road, Chung-Li City, Taoyuan, Taiwan 320. Email:
[email protected]
Introduction The management of portfolios is a means of accumulating student assignments in an organised manner. Such assignments can demonstrate and elucidate the learning processes of a particular student (Liu, Lin & Yuan, 2001). The assessment of portfolios through peer evaluation and self-reflection enhances a student’s critical-thinking skills and motivation to learn; thus, it is a good alternative method of evaluating college students (Reeves, 2000). In the past, portfolio assessment has focused almost exclusively on the outcomes of individual students. However, the integration of portfolio assessment and cooperative learning through a networked system has seldom been explored. For example, Chang (2001) designed a web-based learning portfolio system that provides some functions for assignment management and sharing—students can submit and collect their assignments as well as evaluate and browse through those of other students. However, Chang did not consider the functions for cooperative learning (eg, group composition, group-based peer assessment/self-assessment, group-based notebooks and group-based discussion forums). Portfolio assessment undoubtedly has both advantages and disadvantages; one of the major disadvantages concerns the storage, search ability and management of learning portfolios (Russell & Butcher, 1999). To address this disadvantage, materials can be digitised and learning portfolios can be accessed through a network, while a database method can be used for management. In addition, making a database available on the Internet can aid in the documentation, arrangement, search and analysis of materials. In this way, both students and teachers can share and browse one another’s learning portfolios, thereby providing an opportunity for students to interact with, observe and learn from each other. In sum, this study attempts to utilise a network to establish a personal and group-based learning portfolio system characterised by cooperative learning. Moreover, this system should be user-friendly and useful to teachers as they instruct and evaluate students and document and evaluate student and group learning portfolios. © 2006 The Author. Journal compilation © 2006 British Educational Communications and Technology Agency. Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.
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System users and requirements The personal and group-based learning portfolio system comprises two types of users: the teacher, who gives assignments and divides students into groups, and the students, who are asked to become acquainted with their group members, to collaborate to complete projects, and to evaluate the assignments of other groups. Further, two types of assignments can be chosen under the personal and group-based learning portfolio system: personal assignments, which must be completed individually, and group tasks, which must be finished by a group formed using the group composition function. For the personal and group-based learning portfolio system, it is necessary to have a friendly interface that ensures that the following basic requirements are met: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
The teacher can manage assignment-related tasks. The teacher can manage student groups. Students can communicate with other students easily. Students can manage assignment-related tasks. Students can evaluate the assignments of their peers. The teacher can monitor the students’ learning portfolios and communicate with students easily.
The resulting personal and group-based learning portfolio system was built on the Web using Active Server Pages and SQL Server database techniques. The functions are introduced in the following discussions without detailed technical descriptions. System functions The system functions comprised of three distinct functions. The first focuses on cooperative learning, the second on peer assessment and the third on portfolio assessment. First, the functions designed to facilitate cooperative learning include group composition and the group discussion forum. Second, the functions designed to facilitate peer assessment include online assignment submission, online grading and the ability to view peer feedback. At the end of a semester, the function of portfolio assessment allows students to select their best assignment. The 11 functions provided for the use of teachers and students are briefly described in the following: 1. Accounts. The teacher can use a default password to log in to the system, change passwords, establish student accounts for new courses and view and delete accounts from an existing student roster. Students can use the password provided by their teacher to log in to the system, change their passwords and enter personal information (eg, self introductions and a representative picture). 2. Announcements. The teacher can create new course information as well as view and delete existing course information. An announcement created by the teacher will be sent automatically to students via a notification email. The web address of this announcement will be attached to the email so that students can browse the announcement without logging in to the system. © 2006 The Author. Journal compilation © 2006 British Educational Communications and Technology Agency.
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3. Group compositions (for a detailed description of his early development, please see Liu, 2002). There is a friendly interface that allows the teacher to automatically assign students into different heterogeneous groups based on grades or other characteristics. The teacher can also adjust the group members based on his or her experiences. A group list can be posted in the announcement area, and students can then be asked to become acquainted with each other during class. 4. Giving assignments. The teacher can create new requirements, which include the title, explanation and deadline of the personal or group assignment; teachers can also view, revise and delete the requirements of existing assignments. An announcement will be posted automatically when students begin an assignment, informing them of the deadline for completion; a notification email will also be sent to students, and the web address of this assignment, the students’ usernames and the students’ passwords will be attached. 5. Uploading assignments. Students are required to upload their personal or groupbased assignments on time; the system closes the upload function at the preset time determined by the teacher. 6. Assessment. With regard to assignments, the teacher can activate peer and selfassessment or group-based peer and self-assessment and set deadlines. The system is programmed to assign student reviewers automatically, and the teacher can adjust the reviewers based on his or her experiences. An announcement will be posted automatically when students begin an assessment. Students will also be sent a notification email containing the web address of the assignment, their usernames and their passwords. 7. Student assessment. Students can be asked to review, provide suggestions for and grade the anonymous assignments dispatched by the system before a given deadline. 8. Notebooks. Students can write their private thoughts in a personal notebook and enter their ideas for public view in a group-based notebook. 9. Statistics. This function allows the teacher to browse the feedback and grades that students have given and received. In order to help the teacher determine the overall evaluation of each assignment, the system can calculate the number of reviewers who have given feedbacks and grades as well as the mean, standard deviation and mode. 10. Discussion forums. In this area, the teacher can provide student feedback as well as browse the entire class discussion forum and the group-based discussion forum. Students can browse the entire class discussion forum, view the group-based forum and provide a feedback for their peers. 11. Showcase of learning portfolios. The teacher can provide a private feedback to students as well as browse students’ personal and group-based notebooks and learning portfolios. Students can also manage their own learning portfolios in this area. Evaluating the personal and group-based portfolios In order to evaluate the usability and interface design of the personal and group-based learning portfolio system, a course entitled Programming Language was conducted © 2006 The Author. Journal compilation © 2006 British Educational Communications and Technology Agency.
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among 58 sophomores in the continuing programme of the information management department of a technology university in northern Taiwan. These sophomores were divided into 14 cooperative groups. Of these students, 94% had designed networked information systems and 32% had over 3 years of experience in managing networked information systems. After completing the 18-week course, the students and the teacher were required to answer an additional questionnaire on the use of the system; this questionnaire used a 5-point Likert scale. If a student responded positively on the questionnaire (answers of 4 and 5 on the 5-point scale), he or she was considered a satisfied participant; all others were considered to be unsatisfied. The results indicated that over 80% of the participants agreed that the functions of this system are userfriendly and useful. The teacher’s qualitative feedback showed that the use of group composition in this course made it easier for him to form student groups than did the traditional random grouping method. In addition, the statistics function provided him with a quick reference with which to monitor student learning, and the showcase learning portfolio function enabled him to browse student assignments in an orderly manner and to effortlessly write a private feedback to students. The students’ qualitative feedback indicated that they feel satisfied with their group members’ attitudes, the cooperative process and group outcomes. In addition, they acknowledged that the student feedback allowed them to revise their assignments more thoroughly. Final remarks The personal and group-based learning portfolio system described in this study is an alternative approach to the existing portfolio method; this new system should continue to be improved for a higher level of user-friendliness. From the perspective of cooperative learning, the use of an efficient grouping technique may guarantee a good start to cooperation among students, but it does not guarantee superior group outcomes. In order to promote a positive independence among group members, it is still essential for teachers to focus on social-skill training, group task selection, and classroom management (Johnson & Johnson, 1994). With respect to function development, it is hoped that this system of learning portfolios can include multiple courses as well as records of each student’s previous learning, thus enabling a more complete learning portfolio. It will be impossible to achieve this end through a single system; data exchanges from elementary schools to universities will also be required. Finally, it is hoped that this and other developing technologies will continue to offer the benefits of a web-based learning environment to teachers and students. Acknowledgement The author would like to thank the National Science Council of the Republic of China for financially supporting this research under Contract No. NSC 94-2520-S-008-007. References Chang, C. C. (2001). Construction and evaluation of a web-based learning portfolio system: an electronic assessment tool. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 38, 2, 144–155. Johnson, D. W. & Johnson, R. T. (1994). Learning together and alone: cooperative, competitive, and individualistic learning. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. © 2006 The Author. Journal compilation © 2006 British Educational Communications and Technology Agency.
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Liu, E. Z. F. (2002). To propose an algorithm for team forming: simulated annealing K team-forming algorithm for heterogeneous grouping. Paper presented at the 2002 conference of e-Learn, Canada. Liu, E. Z. F., Lin, S. S. J. & Yuan, S. M. (2001). Design of a networked portfolio system. British Journal of Educational Technology, 32, 4, 492–494. Reeves, T. C. (2000). Alternative assessment approaches for online learning environments in higher education. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 23, 1, 101–111. Russell, J. D. & Butcher, C. (1999). Using portfolio in educational technology courses. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 7, 4, 279–289.
© 2006 The Author. Journal compilation © 2006 British Educational Communications and Technology Agency.
