Learning Environment & Situational Factors to Consider

1. Specific Context of the Teaching/Learning Situation

● The class will have up to 8 teachers in the Social Studies department.
● It will consist of 1st-year teachers to veteran teachers.
● It will be for professional development offered over the summer.
● It will be a flipped classroom with readings given beforehand so they have time to read, reflect, and
come to the live, in-classroom PD prepared for discussion.
● No physical elements should affect the class.
● There should not be any constraints regarding network access. Teachers can come to PD with their
district-provided devices.
● I will have to discuss with the administration how many days this PD can be offered as the building is
used for other things over the summer. Ideally, I would like two days for to go over the foundation,
application, and part of the integration. The second day can be for building the ePortfolio so there can
be collaboration between myself and between the teachers.

2. General Context of the Learning Situation

● With the permission to use ePortfolios in the classroom, it will be an expectation by my school for
teachers to utilize them when possible. Therefore, it will be expected by the school that this PD helps
educate teachers on their practicality and beneficial use.
● I am hoping my school allows me to offer PD in the week before school begins for students to continue
the discussion on how to purposefully use ePortfolios in their classes. Additionally, I would like to offer
PD after school throughout the year to address any concerns and achievements we’re seeing within the
school.
● It will be expected that ePortfolios are used throughout the Social Studies department at a minimum
before broadening it to include other contents.

3. Nature of the Subject

● The course will be a practical subject that allows teachers to put in place in their classrooms what we
discuss and build.
● The goal is for teachers to take what they have learned about ePortfolios and use them regularly in the
classroom the following school year.
● The course is primarily divergent, where teachers are able to be creative and develop new ideas.

4. Characteristics of the Learners

● The course will take place over the summer, possibly with teachers who have not begun teaching yet all
the way to veteran teachers with more than 20 years of experience.
● The learners will come from a wide variety of backgrounds.
● I expect a few to have heard about ePortfolios, but no teacher currently uses one with students in the
classroom. Some will be hesitant to incorporate ePortfolios in the beginning.
● They are expected to have completed the readings on using ePortfolios in the classroom and the
different uses they have.
● The teachers at my school are willing to try new things and I believe they will see the benefits and come
with the goal of learning more about how to purposefully use technology in the classroom.
Learning environment & Situational factors adopted from: by L. Dee Fink, (2003) Creating Significant Learning
Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
5. Characteristics of the Teacher What beliefs and values does the teacher have about teaching and
learning? What is his/her attitude toward: the subject? students? What level of knowledge or familiarity does
s/he have with this subject? What are his/her strengths in teaching?
● I believe in having a growth mindset and continuing to learn. I want technology to be used better than
we are currently using it in the classroom, so it’s important for me to help the teachers at my school
grow.
● I have been working on my own ePortfolio and am currently enrolled in the Applied Digital Learning
program at Lamar University. During this time I have researched the benefits of using ePortfolios in
regard to our ELL students and how they can help with feedback and self-reflection.
● I do not have experience implementing ePortfolios in the classroom, which is why we are starting with
just the Social Studies department in the beginning so we have an easier time assessing how it is going
throughout the year and making any necessary adjustments before it is a school-wide implementation.

Learning environment & Situational factors adopted from: by L. Dee Fink, (2003) Creating Significant Learning
Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
 Questions for Formulating Significant Learning Goals
A year (or more) after this course is over, I want and hope that students will have continued to build their
ePortfolio and have allowed their students to create and build their own while giving them ownership and
choice in their learning.

My Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) for the course is: Learners will be able to research, design, and build
an ePortfolio for themselves while working on preparations to begin incorporating them into their classrooms
for students to utilize and grow with during their educational careers and beyond.

Foundational Knowledge
● Learners need to understand the potential impact ePortfolios can have on their student’s growth in
multiple areas, such as reflection, feedback, and choice.
● They can learn the benefits, as professional adults, of using an ePortfolio. This can help them when
working with students to discuss the relevance of using ePortfolios in the real world.
● Learners need to learn about the COVA approach to truly implement the use of ePortfolios.
● A key idea they need to understand is simply what ePortfolios are and how they can be used today.

Application Goals
● Learners must analyze their lessons to determine where ePortfolios can be used by their students.
● Learners need to learn what options are available for building ePortfolios online to create their own.
● Learners need to analyze ePortfolios already being used to see their potential and flexibility to make it
their own. They will need to decide which platform to use for themselves and discuss which platform
they would prefer their students to use.
● Learners need to be open and creative to determine how ePortfolios can be used throughout the school
year in different units.

Integration Goals
● Learners must develop a way to assess their students' ePortfolios.
● Learners must connect the COVA approach to teaching to how ePortfolios can be used to achieve this.
● Learners can begin building their own ePortfolio and reflecting on what they are getting out of this
professional development.
● They can connect the benefit to building an ePortfolio to further their career goals.
● While building, they can evaluate the effectiveness of ePortfolios and how they can be useful to their
students.

Learning environment & Situational factors adopted from: by L. Dee Fink, (2003) Creating Significant Learning
Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
 Human Dimension Goals
● Learners should explore the benefits of giving students choice, ownership, and voice through authentic
learning.
● Learners should understand how the use of feedback using ePortfolios can help us see student growth
and build relationships between teacher and student.
● Learners should look at how they develop lessons and what they can do to incorporate COVA for the
desired learning environment.

Caring Goals
● I hope they will develop an interest in using ePortfolios in the classroom and will find value in using one
for themselves.
● I want them to be excited about giving our students choice, ownership, and a voice through authentic
learning so they look at it through that lens when developing their lessons.

“Learning-How-to-Learn” Goals
● I want my learners to be open-minded and complete the readings to understand how others have used
ePortfolios in the past, but for myself to be open with them as well to the drawbacks we might have.
● I want my learners to be creative and explore the site they use to build their ePortfolio so they take
ownership of it and can show this high level of enthusiasm to their students.

Learning environment & Situational factors adopted from: by L. Dee Fink, (2003) Creating Significant Learning
Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
 3 Column Table
BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) – Learners will be able to research, design, and build an ePortfolio for
themselves while working on preparations to begin incorporating them into their classrooms for students to
utilize and grow with during their educational careers and beyond.

Learning Goals Assessment Activities Learning Activities

Foundational Reflect on reading Read How to make an ePortfolio:

Learners will analyze how a guide for students & teachers
ePortfolios provide students with Discussion - what do they know
opportunities for feedback, about ePortfolios, who already has
self-reflection, and choice. one, etc?

Application Working as a content team, review View ePortfolio examples

Learners will analyze examples of examples and reading to
ePortfolios to determine the determine what they believe would Read A Digital Digest: Using
various uses in the classroom. or would not work for them and ePortfolio Assessments In The
their students. 21st-Century English Classroom

Discuss reading and the pros and

cons they can see for using
ePortfolios in their classroom.

Integration Stage 1 Begin looking at their subject’s first Review ePortfolio Rubric example
Learners will analyze their learning unit and brainstorm how to
environment and align individual introduce ePortfolios to students.
units with possible ePortfolio uses.
Develop an outline to align unit
topics with ePortfolio use.

Discuss rubric - likes, dislikes, how

will we “grade” reflections?

Integration Stage 2 Start building ePortfolio Introduce several popular

Learners will begin to build their
own professional ePortfolio and
start reflecting on how they would
like students to use their own.
Blog post in ePortfolio
Discussion - what worked and
didn’t work for them, and what
might their students need help
with when building an ePortfolio?
ePortfolio sites
View videos, FAQs, and other
resources to help build the
ePortfolio.

Human Dimensions/Caring Blog post in ePortfolio Read Dr. Harapnuik’s COVA

Learners will analyze the role ebook
ePortfolios can build in a Discussion on reading and what
classroom that offers COVA. they can do to bring COVA to their
students.

Learning environment & Situational factors adopted from: by L. Dee Fink, (2003) Creating Significant Learning
Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass