Interest in ORU's ePortfolio System

ORU educators interact with professional colleagues regarding the use of ePortfolio to trace and document achievement of learning objectives. They inform the larger academy of institutional progress, share lessons learned during the implementation and maintenance processes, and obtain peer input to improve ePortfolio. ORU’s Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs supports, promotes, and encourages ORU faculty, staff, and administrators in their efforts to share ePortfolio experiences. Faculty and staff members have presented at over 40 regional and national conferences, offered 6 regional workshops, authored numerous publications, and consulted with other institutions that are considering a similar approach to assessing student learning outcomes. An article outlining ORU’s ePortfolio in the May 11, 2005, issue of Education Week quoted the dean of the ORU School of Education as saying, “Now, all [evidence needed to qualify for graduation] is available online and can quickly be gathered, broken down, and converted into charts and graphs for faculty to talk about.” Campus Technology published an article featuring ORU's ePortfolio in its March,_2007_issue. The ePortfolio Administrator has presented ORU ePortfolio results to Institutional Research organizations and consulted with numerous universities. The Dean of Instruction has shared results with the international faculty development organization POD. Many faculty members have presented at disciplinary professional organizations, to accrediting agencies, at other institutions, and at general higher education conferences, such as those sponsored by the AAC&U.

Interest in the ORU experiment has been widespread, especially among the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU). Institutions that have invited ORU presentations and workshops on ePortfolio include: Abilene Christian, Oklahoma Christian, Oklahoma Wesleyan, Bethune Cookman, Northeastern Oklahoma State, Central Oklahoma, LeTourneau, Southwestern Oklahoma State, and Northwestern Oklahoma State. When ORU’s ePortfolio was highlighted at the annual CCCU Enrollment Conference, Tim Johnson, the conference director, stated: “ORU is an institution where outcomes assessment on the integration of faith and learning is truly taking place.” This means that assessment of learning outcomes extends beyond traditional academic content to include co-curricular goals related to ethics, morality, community, and one’s calling in life.

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