ePortfolio Practice and Transfer of Learning Within a First-Year Writing Program
Center for Writing and Rhetoric
go
Guy Krueger and Karen Forgette
RESEARCH QUESTION
This study examines the connection between (1) transfer
of learning and (2) ePortfolio practice in a first-year
writing program utilizing the foundational work of
Salomon and Perkins (1992), who establish five
conditions that facilitate transfer of learning, including:
• explicit abstraction
• active self-monitoring
• arousing mindfulness
RESEARCH STUDY CONTEXT
Students in the first-year writing sequence compose an
ePortfolio reflecting on their first- and second-semester
courses.
Because the composition of an ePortfolio may invoke
these conditions, we asked the question, “Does the use
of the ePortfolio process in composition classrooms
create a condition for the transfer of learning?”
RATING SESSIONS
INTERVIEWS
In Spring 2012, we rated a random, multi-section sample of 146 student ePortfolio
reflections to assess evidence of transfer. Within each reflection, raters looked for
language suggestive of transfer, and when such examples were found they
categorized the references according to where the learning originated: high school,
a CWR course, a non-CWR University of Mississippi course, or some other setting.
Each identified example was assigned one origin source from among the four
possible. Furthermore, each example of transfer was examined for the particulars it
might contain, and these were categorized in terms of origin, destination, details,
and evaluation. These particular components were not to be considered mutually
exclusive, and most examples were found to contain two or more. In addition to
completing a rubric for each paper, raters were encouraged to mark the reading
copies to identify the examples. These marked-up texts were retained along with
the rubrics for follow-up analysis.
Nine students who were identified as having rich responses in the
rating sessions agreed to be interviewed. Three students were
sophomores and juniors and six were second semester first-year
students.
2. Sophomores and juniors discussed transfer of learning in
relation to three CWR program outcomes and in relation to
the ePortfolio emphasis on reflection.
RELEVANT SCHOLARSHIP
RATING SESSION RESULTS
Observations by composition scholars Anne Beaufort
and Jeff Sommers were of particular interest to our
study. Beaufort (2007) grounds her discussion of
transfer of learning in composition classes and makes
three recommendations for facilitating transfer :
1. Teach learners to frame specific problems and
learning into more abstract principles that can be
applied to new situations;
2. Give students numerous opportunities to apply
abstract concepts in different social contexts; and
3. Teach the practice of mindfulness, or metacognition, to facilitate positive transfer of learning.
Through the insights of Beaufort we began to
conceptualize ePortfolios as spaces where teachers
could use these practices in their work with students and
establish conditions supporting the transfer of learning.
But as we sought to envision our ePortfolio practice-with its emphasis on reflection,--as a space supportive
of transfer of learning, we also understood that working
with these broad concepts in the composition classroom
has been questioned by some scholars. Critics have
argued teaching practices based on reflection –
specifically those that encourage and reward through
academic credit learners’ identification and selfexpression of transfer of learning – could result in
students merely approximating what they believe
teachers want to hear.
In response to these types of criticisms, Jeff Sommers
(2011) argues:
it does not matter that they might be telling
me what they think I want to hear because if
they are smart enough to explain the transfer
of learning in concrete, specific terms, then
whether they have actually done as they say
is not really of paramount importance. What
matters, I would argue, is that they have
learned what might transfer and how and
when - and that explanation itself is, I believe,
a meaningful transfer of learning expressed in
a reflection-on-action (117).
Findings
1. Sophomores and juniors were able to make deeper
connections than first-year students between the skills they
had acquired in their first-year writing classes and other
writing situations. The first-year students provided responses
that revealed their relative inexperience as college writers.
Though these students made suggestions of larger
applications, the suggestions were superficial. They didn’t
provide concrete examples that would suggest transfer.
•
Outcomes – Purposes and Audience, Conventions and
Mechanics, and Writing Process: Students discussed
consideration of audiences and purposes in their first-year
writing classes as distinctly different from their high
school writing experiences and identified specific writing
situations in their sophomore and junior years in which
they considered the audience and purpose of the
assignment and made rhetorical choices in response.
One student spoke about how poor wording and
mechanical errors damaged credibility and noted that her
work with ethos in her first-year writing classes
transferred into her composition of her Artist Statements.
Students also discussed viewing the writing process as a
skill they took with them to other writing situations. One
student noted that his understanding of the recursive
nature of the writing process transferred not just to other
writing situations but also to his approach to each course
during the semester.
•
Reflection: All three students discussed reflection within
the ePortfolio as a skill that transferred into other aspects
of their lives, academically and beyond. They described
the process of examining their own learning as valuable.
In almost 55% of the 146 papers (147 minus one incomplete record), we found at
least one example suggesting transfer:
Frequency
First-semester ePortfolio reflection prompt excerpts invoking
Salomon and Perkins’ conditions:
“Which one (1) course learning outcome would you identify as
being the most significant in your personal learning experience
this semester? Which one (1) assignment completed for this
course would you point to as most significant in your progress
toward this outcome?”
“You may select more than one artifact and these additional
artifacts may come from anywhere (WRIT 102, WRIT 101, other
classes at Ole Miss, high school, or personal writings). However,
your ePortfolio reflection should discuss the significance of each
artifact.”
Cumulative
Percent
66
44.9
45.2
45.2
1
63
42.9
43.2
88.4
2
13
8.8
8.9
97.3
3
3
2.0
2.1
99.3
4
1
.7
.7
100.0
146
99.3
100.0
1
.7
147
100.0
Valid
Total
Missing
System
We found the majority of transfer examples described learning that originated from
within the CWR curriculum:
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
FUTURE IMPLICATIONS
Second-semester ePortfolio reflection prompt excerpts
invoking Salomon and Perkins’ conditions:
“The text should convey careful reflection on your learning and
explain the significance of the artifact (or artifacts) in your
ePortfolio.”
Valid Percent
0
Total
“As you compose your response, be sure to consider how your
work toward this outcome may help you in other contexts outside
of this class. You might consider what this learning experience
means to you now or what it might mean to you in the future. You
might consider if this experience has led to a change in your
thinking.”
Percent
a CWR course
Valid
88
88.0
88.0
88.0
high school
3
3.0
3.0
91.0
non-CWR UM
course
2
2.0
2.0
93.0
Other
7
7.0
7.0
100.0
Total
100
100.0
100.0
We believe a longitudinal study will yield results that might be
valuable for other institutions interested in using ePortfolios. We
plan to follow the students whom we have interviewed with the
long-term goal of publishing findings that situate ePortfolios
among the pedagogical approaches to promoting the transfer of
learning.
We are also interested in conducting a comparison study with
undergraduate students who use ePortfolios in the UM School of
Pharmacy. We are particularly interested in learning if those
students’ ePortfolios reveal evidence that the collect, select, reflect
process invokes the conditions identified by Salomon and
Perkins.