Virginia Tech FYE and ePortfolio

1. Pathways to Success
Virginia Tech’s First Year Experiences

3. Virginia Tech
Who are we?
Large public, Research 1 university
What Jump Started Us?
Accreditation expectation
What did we decide to do?
Support 1st Year Students
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4. Who YOU are…
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5. What did we know at the beginning?
• No “one size fits all”
• Discipline-based
• Mission and culture of units
• Institutional commitments
• Technology
• Student-centered
(Let’s Go HOKIES)...
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6. What are our essential elements?
• Collaborative environment
• Institutional commitments
• Discipline(s) based
• e-Portfolios to enhance learning and
assessment
• Multi-faceted assessments
• Solid foundation – AAC&U essential learning
outcomes
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7. Problem-
Solving
Lifelong
Learning
Inquiry Integration

8. Overview of the Pathways
Portfolio: The Matrix
Students reflect, on the “big”
Students choose (“are guided to level, about each of the FYE
choose”) what goes here, as the goals
term/year progresses
Goals can be customized to
include programmatic goals for
each program. You can design
your reflection prompts, also.

9. Overview of the Pathways
Portfolio: The Presentation
• Optional • Flexible
• Student-centered • Sharable:
• Program- Public/Private
customized

10. Invent the Sustainable Future
"The new name will more accurately reflect our broad-
based programs and increasing focus on sustainability
initiatives to effectively prepare our graduates for today's
challenges in managing the environment,“ Paul
Winistorfer, Dean, June 2010

11. Why First Year Course Failed!

12. Overcoming Inertia, Making it Happen
•Curriculum
•Instructional
support
•Assessments
•Reflective
practitioners
•Partnerships
•Positive
outlook

13. Faculty, 19 Majors4, Departments
67 Faculty, 19 Majors , 4
Departments
Curriculum
Curriculum
Instruction Assessment

15. Reflections on Curriculum
Curiosity
Self understanding
and integrity
Civility
Courageous
Leadership
Ut Prosim

18. Problem
Solving
First Year Experience
Inquiry
Integration
Foundational
Knowledge
Skills
Critical
Thinking
Communi-
cations
Quantitative
Reasoning

19. Partners in Instruction and
Assessment
University
Libraries
Office of
Assessment &
Evaluation

20. Peer Mentors

22. “Zip-Line” Components
• SCALE-UP Classroom
• Degree Audits/Pathways Planner
• Strength Quest/MBTI
• Career Search – Resume
• E-Portfolio “Hot Buttons” project
• Common Book (and Paper)
• Resource Partners
• $$$$, $$$$, $$$ (budget & debt mgt.)
• Research/Grad School Searches
• (entrance requirement; Examination Prep; financing; VT Expertise
Database; even crashing research picnics, etc.)
• Critical Thinking
• (e.g. “ZOOM”, parts of a chicken, etc.)

23. Acclimation to the
Campus Culture
• Out & About trips:
• Chamber of Commerce shares info:
Local Farmers’ Mkts.; Historical
-Hospitals; Dr.s, Dentists, etc.;
Sites; Regional/Local cultural –
Restaurants; Voter Registrar &
bluegrass music Friday Nights,
other Civic Offices-Utility bill
Int’l Culture Fairs, etc.
payment/courts, etc.; Public Transit
Routes; Shopping (COUPONS for • Campus - CT newspapers in
pizza/ doughnuts); Auto Repair/Dry classroom each wk.; Circulate
Cleaners, etc. weekly calendar of campus
events; VT Engage presentation;
• Campus / Area Visitor’s Center for
Study Groups ~ Social Groups…
campus and regional history, State
B’burg night life; Study and
and National Parks - hiking
Academic Help Centers
trails, Farmer’s Markets, etc.
(Writing, Study skills, Career),
etc.; Social groups-TAs; Socials
for all Zip-liners (end-of-
semester w/ outreach project) .

24. Instructional Changes for
Student Groups
of Combined Interests
• Small Group Projects - (SCALE-UP helps)
• More Subject-specific exercises – e.g.
Biology/Psychology ethics cases debated in
class. Grouping by “social/quantitative” in
batch scheduling at Orientation
• Draw universal issues across disciplines (e.g.:
critical thinking exercise & how it affects
disciplines similarly/differently)

25. University Academic Advising Center/UAAC
• UAAC Administrates University Studies major
• Diverse Student population: 1st & 2nd year
• Connect to university& engage in learning
(Schlossberg, 1989)
• Academic Advising Process-Developmental
• ePortfolio: advising tool; FYE course; GA’s
• Adult learners often view education as a service they
purchase and demand prompt delivery (Gordon & Habley,
2008) —ePortfolio provides tangible example of the
advising process.
• Important role of advisor is to encourage self-authorship
and promote identity development
(Magolda & King, 2004).
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26. Hokie Horizons: Revised successful FYE course-*3cr.
• Delivery modes
• Traditional; Online; Hybrid/Blended
• Academic Advisors with Peer Mentors
• Collaboration across campus
• “Frame” the creation of ePortfolio
“By helping students see—perhaps for the first time in their lives—
that the work in which they are engaged is meaningful work that is
important for them to accomplish, we can help students take the
initiative, avoid failure, and learn”. Association of American Colleges
and Universities. 2002.
• MLSQ; SACQ, ILT, Loneliness Scale; Student
Essays; GPA
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27. Hokie Horizons: Course Goals
Transition
Career
Admission Retention Graduation
Grad
School
Learning Problem
Solving
Inquiry Integration
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29. Our Successes & Challenges
• Professional Development (Tinto, Astin)
• Support from ePortfolio experts
• Awareness & Utilization of campus resources
• Video Tutorial & Written Instructions/duplication
• State Objectives & Learning Outcomes & Rubric
• Technological skills & Developmental level of FY
• Student Development theory (Chickering; Perry;
Kohlberg; Kolb)
• Achievement goal oriented vs. grade oriented &
motivation (Dweck and Leggett, 1988; Ames and
Archer, 1987; Svinicki, 2005)
• Modifications 2011 & 2012
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30. Student Evaluations
• “I feel that the ePortfolio is important because it shows what kind of person that I
am, and how much I have done. The resume also does this, but in a more compact
format. It shows them a lot about what kind of person I am, but in a way that they
can read it over really quickly.”
• “The topic that was the least useful was learning about the ePortfolio. I feel that I
am „tech-savvy‟ enough to have created my own ePortfolio without having to listen to
a lesson during class.”
• “I also benefitted from the lessons on ePortfolio. We live in a competitive world
where almost everything is becoming electronic. Having someone come into class to
break it down and explain how it works was helpful. It was also great to have her
there to answer questions.”
• “An accomplishment relating to Hokie Horizons that I am especially proud of
would be the completion of my ePortfolio… I was able to incorporate my aspirations
for the rest of my college career along with including information about my past and
my family”
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32. What are we learning?
• Start with the end in mind
• Academic units must be allowed to “do it their
way” and it takes time
• Connecting students with their majors in the
first semester enhances advising
• Assessment must make sense to the program
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33. What are we learning?
• Partners across the university make it work
better
• People will be creative if we make it safe to
take risks
• Communicate frequently
• Don’t forget to pay attention to people
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35. Contact us…
• Mary Ann Lewis, malewis@vt.edu
• Marc Zaldivar, marcz@vt.edu
• Teggin Summers, teggin@vt.edu
• Don Orth, dorth@vt.edu
• Gary Kinder, gkinder@vt.edu
• Therese Lovegreen, talovegre@vt.edu
• http://www.fye.vt.edu
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