The Clash of Epistemologies: A Study of the Transformative Learning of Bilingual Pre-service Teachers Engaged in Simulations in a Virtual Environment

Written by HETS Admin on July 30, 2014. Posted in English, Fall Issue: November 2013, Volume IV

By:

Dr. Leticia De León

Associate Professor
College of Education Student Success Initiative Coordinator
University of Texas- Pan American

Abstract

The entrenched epistemologies of pre-service teachers were challenged when they encountered a new way to learn using virtual reality.  This mixed methods study examined the extent to which pre-service teachers were willing to transform their views of knowledge.  Transformative Learning Theory (Mezirow, 2000) scrutinizes how adults learn, and so it was the lens used for determining epistemic change.  Data collection was accomplished with two online instruments that represented mixed data sets.  Past epistemologies clashed with new ones as participants considered how their past experiences could be reconciled given new learning tools. Findings indicated that most participants exhibited some transformation despite the fact that the initial disorienting dilemma was seemingly insurmountable. These transformations were only possible for those who were able to find value and motivation in their learning experiences, as well as discern a positive change in themselves as learners and as future teachers.

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¿Quién está en línea? A Five Year Longitudinal Study of Online Hispanic American Student Demographics

Written by HETS Admin on July 30, 2014. Posted in English, Fall Issue: November 2013, Volume IV

By:

Dr. Ben Meredith

Executive Director, EWU Extended Campus
Eastern Washington University

and

Dr. Stephen R. Burgess

Professor of Psychology
Southwestern Oklahoma State University

Abstract

In a five-year longitudinal study of Hispanic-American students taking online courses at a U.S. South Central University, the researchers sought to describe the demographic makeup of the typical online Hispanic-American student and the demographic makeup of the successful online Hispanic-American student. Using archived data it was determined that the profile of the online Hispanic-American students closely mirrored the profile of white populations.

Introduction

While already a decade old, the Pew Internet study on Hispanics and the Internet (Spooner and Rainier, 2001) found that Hispanic-American Internet users behave much like other Internet users, and in many instances are more likely to use the Internet for entertainment or as a source of information than white Internet users. Additionally, the study found that Hispanic-American households, even those living in modest economic circumstances of less than $40,000 perhousehold[ , were as likely to have a computer and Internet connections in the household as white households. In the areas of personal and economic advancement, Hispanic-American Internet users use the Internet in roughly the same way that Caucasian-American Internet users do.

Now a decade past this report and already into the second decade of online education invading the halls of higher education, the questions of who is online, who is successful online, and what of the Hispanic-American student onlinemust be asked. Several studies (Coldwell, Craig, Paterson and Mustard, 2008; Diaz, 2000, 2002; Guernsey, 1998; Hoskins and Hooff, 2005; MacGregor, 2000, 2002; Meredith, 2011; Moore & Kearsley, 2005; Smith-Jaggars & Xu, 2010; Thompson, 1998; Wojciechowski & Palmer, 2005) over the last two decades have begun to ask the first two questions, but very little research exists asking the final question. This study seeks to add to that body of literature.

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Metaevaluando Programas de Educación a Distancia

Written by HETS Admin on July 30, 2014. Posted in Authors, Dr. Juan Meléndez, Fall Issue: November 2013, Spanish, Volume IV

By: Dr. Juan Meléndez

Full Professor
University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus
Consultant, Ana G. Méndez University System, Virtual Campus

Introducción

El mundo ha cambiado y con ella la necesidad de cambiar la forma en que educamos a nuestros ciudadanos. Las escuelas y universidades no puedan funcionar de la misma manera como lo han hecho por los últimos 50 años. La internacionalización y la crisis económica mundial nos obliga a cambiar, y las nuevas tecnologías han revolucionado la forma de transformarnos.

Estos cambios explican por qué muchos países del mundo, como Puerto Rico, están luchando por encontrar su lugar en una nueva economía del conocimiento. En los últimos años, se ha informado en los medios de comunicación, sobre muchas políticas, leyes y proyectos, que se promueven con la esperanza de pasar sus países en esta nueva economía. Por ejemplo, en el Reino Unido, el Department for Business Innovation and Skills (2011) propuso nuevas políticas sobre el futuro de la educación superior, que en esencia ofreció cambios dramáticos en la forma en que el país educará a los estudiantes y financiar sus instituciones educativas. En Puerto Rico, se debate sobre las formas más apropiadas para desarrollar la economía, y conjuntamente se debate como las universidades deben establecer unos currículos del siglo 21, que contengan estándares altos y con evaluaciones rigurosas. Pero ¿cómo se implantará este currículo? ¿Cómo se evaluará? Esta última pregunta es lo que motivó el inicio este proyecto de investigación.

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Meaningful Online Interactions and Writing Improvement

Written by HETS Admin on July 30, 2014. Posted in English, Fall Issue: November 2013, Volume IV

By:

Dr. Brenda Ann Camara-Walker

Associate Professor
University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus

and

Dr. Vanessa Irizarry

Full Professor
University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus

Abstract

This paper reports on a research study on a teaching strategy that successfully incorporates conditions that support optimal second language learning in the classroom environment of two low proficiency level English courses at the University of Puerto Rico. Results of the study indicate that providing opportunities to meaningfully interact through the performance of authentic purposeful tasks significantly increases student learning. In this paper, the results and conclusions from a study conducted at the UPR that investigated the effect that online writing strategies have on students’ writing fluency performance will be discussed. In addition, a research based model that can be used to integrate technology to the curriculum of General Education courses is proposed.

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La Percepción de los Docentes de un Distrito Escolar de Puerto Rico, Sobre la Deserción Escolar y el Programa Desarrollo Educativo General (GED) en la Escuela Superior

Written by HETS Admin on July 30, 2014. Posted in Fall Issue: November 2013, Spanish, Volume IV

By: Dr. Dámaris Velázquez

Technology Professor

Department of Education of Puerto Rico

Resumen

Este estudio indagó la percepción de los docentes de un distrito escolar de Puerto Rico, sobre la deserción escolar y el Programa Desarrollo Educativo General (GED) en la escuela superior. Permitió conocer la percepción de los docentes acerca de una serie de variables. Entre éstas, las que describieron (a) la situación de deserción en Puerto Rico y la gestión que se realiza para atender la crisis, (b) los factores que inciden en la deserción y la responsabilidad asociada, (c) el conocimiento de los docentes acerca del programa GED, la gestión que se realiza para promoverlo y los factores que inciden en que un desertor complete o no el GED; (d) la responsabilidad asociada al éxito del programa GED en Puerto Rico y el rol social en el éxito de los desertores. Así también, (e) explorar la conceptualización del término deserción escolar, y (f) la viabilidad de propuestas para lidiar con la crisis y aumentar la efectividad del programa GED. Entre las propuestas se auscultó la integración de las nuevas tecnologías y la Educación a Distancia para los desertores escolares y la capacitación para los docentes.

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La Educación Presencial, a Distancia y el uso de las TIC en Puerto Rico y República Dominicana.

Written by HETS Admin on July 30, 2014. Posted in Fall Issue: November 2013, Spanish, Volume IV

By: Mr. Víctor Robles

Information Systems and Distance Learning

Resumen

Este artículo recoge los principales acontecimientos cronológicos ocurridos en la educación superior y a distancia, haciendo un énfasis en el uso de la tecnología, en República Dominicana (R.D.) y Puerto Rico (P.R.) desde la época colonial hasta el presente. Las influencias y orígenes en aspectos de educación general de República Dominicana y Puerto Rico tienen bases y sistemas diferentes; ya que uno, en el caso de Puerto Rico, tiene sus raíces en el sistema educativo norteamericano y el otro, entiéndase República Dominicana, proviene de Europa, no obstante en la Educación a Distancia, el asunto es un poco diferente, la misma es universal y casi todos los países tienen en común un propósito, el cual es anular las barreras de la distancia y proveer educación de excelencia a aquellos que por alguna razón u otra no pueden estar físicamente en un lugar específico para tomar sus clases. Ambos países tienen similitudes en cómo han desarrollado e implementado el uso de las Tecnología de Información y la Comunicación (TIC) en la Educación  a Distancia (EaD).

Palabras Clave: Educación a Distancia, Educación Superior, TIC, Universidad, Virtual.

Abstract

This article summarizes the main chronological events occurring in higher education and distance learning, with the emphasis on the use of technology in the Dominican Republic (DR) and Puerto Rico (PR) from the colonial era to the present. The influences and backgrounds in general education aspects of the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico have different bases and systems, as one, in the case of Puerto Rico, has its roots in the American educational system and the other, this is Dominican Republic, comes from Europe, however in distance education, the issue is a little different, it is universal and almost all countries have a common purpose, which is to nullify the barriers of distance and provide excellent education for those who for some reason or another, cannot physically be in a specific place to take their classes. Both countries have similarities in how they have developed and implemented the use of Information Technology and Communication (ICT) in Distance Education (D.E).

Keywords: Distance Education, Higher Education, ICT, University, Virtual.

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Las experiencias de los egresados de un programa a distancia en Puerto Rico

Written by HETS Admin on July 30, 2014. Posted in Authors, Dr. Marcos Torres, Fall Issue: November 2013, Spanish, Volume IV

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Encouraging and Motivating Minority Engineering Students through Summer Research Initiative

Written by HETS Admin on July 30, 2014. Posted in English, Fall Issue: November 2013, Volume IV

By:

Dr. Nieves Angulo
Associate Professor
Department of Mathematics
Hostos Community College
City University of New York

and

Dr. Tanvir Prince
Assistant Professor
Department of Mathematics
Hostos Community College

 Key words: Engineering, Education, Summer Research, Motivating, Minority

Encouraging and Motivating Minority Engineering Students through Summer Research Initiative

Key words: Engineering, Education, Summer Research, Motivating, Minority

Abstract

The 21st Century ushered in a new era of globalization with accelerated rate of technological developments demanding a work force highly trained in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields. The current US administration has recognized this challenge by making education a priority and focusing particularly on the restoration of America’s leadership in Higher Education with special emphasis on the role played by Community Colleges. We have been charged with preparing a well-trained student population in the STEM fields to meet these challenges and stay competitive in the global markets. Consequently, innovative educational programs must begin at an early stage of students’ education with the theoretical and practical applications needed to become front-runners in this competitive world. There is an imperative to introduce students to a research environment where students can experience career relevance motivating them to continue pursuing these fields. By conducting research through internships with faculty members, students will be empowered to develop skills and will be motivated to succeed within STEM areas. Therefore, the Summer Internship Initiative will narrow the gap between theory and application by making the theory relevant to existing research projects and making the learning process exciting and interactive for students, thus increasing retention in the STEM areas. Hostos Community College of CUNY has partnered with senior colleges in CUNY and the Goddard Institute of Space Studies (“GISS”) in New York City to expand the educational horizon of our students, enabling them to compete and win in global markets. The latter is possible through collaborative research initiatives that develop and improve critical thinking and creativity skills, hands-on, team oriented, and interdisciplinary learning via collaborative research projects.

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El significado del lenguaje escrito en un ambiente educativo virtual

Written by HETS Admin on July 30, 2014. Posted in Fall Issue: November 2013, Spanish, Volume IV

The significance of written language in a virtual educational environment

By: Ms. Angélica Ricaurte-Avendaño

National Sub director of E-learning

Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia 

RESUMEN

Este artículo pretende aportar a los investigadores y a los docentes que trabajan en aulas virtuales en cursos presenciales, bimodales o cien por ciento virtuales, para que puedan hacer un acto comprensivo del significado del lenguaje escrito en un ambiente de aprendizaje.

Un significado que aporta a las construcciones comunicativas de hoy, que no deben ser descalificadas por utilizar la micro-redacción como una estrategia de inmediatez y simplificación de la idea. Muy posiblemente la experiencia de los profesores de hoy, que hacen uso de herramientas de comunicación virtual, les permite identificar fácilmente el significado de un texto que lleva una “k” o una “q” como un que.

Pero existen otros elementos como el tono y la forma que se pueden distinguir para comprender los mensajes con los cuales se comunican los estudiantes. Para mayor comprensión del texto, el lector realiza varios hallazgos, que son producto del análisis de los datos de la investigación fuente de la publicación, cruzados con las teorías de John Austin.

PALABRAS CLAVE

Lenguaje, ambiente virtual, significado, oración realizativa, educación.

ABSTRACT

This article pretends to enrich investigators and educators that work on virtual classrooms for traditional courses, bi-modal or completely virtual subjects, so they may comprehend the significance of written language in a learning environment. Significance which contributes to the communicative constructions of this day and age, which should not be disqualified for its use of “micro-redaction” as an immediacy strategy and simplification of the subject. Probably the experience of today’s educators, that make use of virtual communication tools, allows them to easily identify the meaning of a text that replaces a “q” for a “k” when writing “que”. But there are other elements such as tone and form that can be identified for the comprehension of the messages that students establish. To better comprehend the text, the reader elucidate concepts resulting of the data and source of publication analysis, combined with John Austin’s theories.

Keywords

Language, virtual environment, significance, written, proposition, phrase, education.

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Building a Sense of Global Identity through Artifacts in Freshman Composition Classrooms

Written by HETS Admin on July 30, 2014. Posted in English, Fall Issue: November 2013, Volume IV

By: Dr. Jean Darcy

Associate Professor

Queensborough Community College

The City University of New York

Article Abstract:

Queensborough Community College, part of the City University of New York, is an Hispanic

serving institution with 26% Hispanic population.  Students learn alongside students from 143countries bringing language experience in Spanish, French, Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Chinese, Pushto, and Farsi. We are preparing our students for a future in which information networks are readily available, situating our students in a global search engine. In addition, increasingly our students come into academic communities with transnational identities. This requires that our students be prepared to create connections, to synthesize identity and information in a way that facilitates the bonds of relations that create coherences and communities.  Broad based networks rely on deep, personal abilities to both present ourselves and understand others in technological environments.  Our colleges welcome students from around the world into new learning spaces to join in learning experiences that must also connect to authentic meaning making that is rooted in communities of origin at the same time that those origins are incorporated into an understanding of a future self in a new space.

In this article we argue that the use of artifacts in technological spaces not only help students express an authentic self but also create an authentic audience. Integrative learning practices that begin with the student and move that student to imagine a future self in a broad network of relations with an authentic audience transforms the classroom space into a social network based on disciplined ways of knowing.

     Teaching composition to entering freshman in the multicultural classroom is a rich challenge for teachers.   Many teachers focus on providing content that represents the diverse backgrounds within the class.  This approach might be called the “heritage” approach. The teacher draws on family experiences, knowledge of cultures of origin, religious communities, and meaning making that has been a part of the student’s life as memories are preserved.  In another approach, teachers focus on what is bringing students from diverse backgrounds into new communities, cultures and neighborhoods.  This might be called the “adaptive” approach as students from around the world share a common environment and create new artifacts and languages that express their desire to be a part of concerns in a new geographical location.  The first approach stresses building on already existing structures of meaning making while the second opens up into the dynamics of selection of new opportunities and relationships.

     Using technology to structure learning objectives around artifacts, teachers can begin to combine both approaches to bring the student an integrative experience in learning.  By juxtaposing artifacts with a rich cultural heritage against artifacts encountered in their immediate experience students can begin to build on prior knowledge to analyze and synthesize new knowledge in ways that makes learning visible.

     Donald R.Schon in The Reflective Practitioner  stresses that it is a combination of these approaches that best prepares students for careers in the 21^st C.  By understanding how technology can be folded in sociological change and how artistic practices that stress design and flexibility can organize such change, Schon’s thought prepares students for the shifting surfaces of exchange and decision making that characterize 21^st C. collaborations (p.266).   New technologies used in the classroom connect students who have “transnational identities” not only to their homelands but to larger global networks within which they can begin to communicate. Beyond the classroom, new career opportunities offer positions in institutions that draw on technology to gain shared information and perspectives.  Being able to negotiate between knowledge that is familiar and a part of one’s “heritage,” and the unfamiliar knowledge that belongs to a vastly different set of experiences is a required skill, one that combines both social intelligence and the ability to communicate in meaningful ways in technological collaborations.     

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Using Classroom Clicker Technology to Enhance Student Engagement

Written by HETS Admin on July 30, 2014. Posted in English, Fall Issue: October 2010, Volume I

Abstract

Classroom clicker technology is used in many K-12 and university settings. The use of clickers is often seen as a way of engaging students with technology “native” to their generation. Handheld electronic gadgets are clearly popular with students. While clickers may not have the “wow factor” of the latest mobile phone or MP3 player, students generally seem to find clicker technology appealing. Faculty members, who may find technology a bit more daunting, find value in clickers for other reasons. Clicker technology is particularly appealing in large, auditorium style classrooms, where it is often difficult to know and engage all members of a class in weekly lecture interactions. This article focuses on how one University implemented a standardized clicker system for use by faculty across campus; in addition, the article discusses activities using clickers in a first- year seminar to better engage generation Y students who want technology and interaction in the classroom.

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The Student in a Global Social Networking Community

Written by HETS Admin on July 30, 2014. Posted in English, Fall Issue: October 2010, Volume I

An ePortfolio Virtual Learning Community within a Traditional Classroom Space:

(A) Introduction

Queensborough Community College is one of six community colleges of the City University of New York. Located in Bayside, Queens, the college serves more than 15,000 degree students. Queens County in New York City is the most diverse county in the United States. The College reflects this diversity. Its White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian students or their families come from 143 countries including Paraguay, Venezuela, Korea, China, India, Guyana, Pakistan, Haiti and many more. Among the numerous languages they speak are Spanish, French, Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Chinese, Pushto, and Farsi. Almost half of them speak a language other than English at home. This diversity generates both challenges and opportunities in a college community. Historically, non-ESL students have scored 20 percent higher in pass rates for reading and 10 percent for writing.Queensborough Community College is an Hispanic Serving Institution with a 26% Hispanic population.

In addition to the challenge of learning a second language, many of these students have strong family and community ties and obligations. Obligation to community and family is highly valued and identity with the country of origin remains strong. In order to meet the needs of these valued students who bring so much rich cultural diversity into our classrooms, the College has committed to promoting High Impact practices in the classroom that promote student engagement by encouraging active learning and that tend to appeal to diverse student groups. George Kuh (2008) has named practices such as service learning, learning communities, diversity/global learning, and project-based learning as High Impact. Queensborough has added to this list ePortfolio, an electronic archiving and networking system, because it provides an opportunity for students to store and reflect upon their own work over time, as well as to communicate virtually and asynchronously with other students in an academic environment. Queensborough’s commitment to High Impact practices emerges from its attemptto help students become a part of a new academic community that, in the end, will help them meet their family and cultural needs through good career options and a liberal education. Support of these students in the first semester of their experience at Queensborough Community College,it is hoped, will facilitate student efforts to learn a new language, join a new community, and manage employment obligations in a way that could foster reflection during this transition in their lives.

Queensborough’s strategy in the ePortfolio project involves synthesizing longitudinal goals in the General Education Objectives into one experience in the first semester Cornerstone course, an introductory course that teaches general education skills of communication, critical thinking, organization, and development of values. Through the design of the course, objectives that are usually achieved over time are combined into one experience of integrated learning in a Web 2.0 environment. In this High Impact synthesis, the ePortfolio collaboration facilitates social networking, information literacy through the world wide web (www), and interdisciplinary collaboration in a project whose end result is a new artifact of knowledge production created through teamwork. Through this synthesis, an incoming student makes social connections with a very diverse student population while also gaining experience in career options through collaborating with students in career disciplines by using cultural artifacts found on the world wide web.

The interdisciplinary collaboration joins Basic Skills (remedial Reading and Writing) classes with Freshman Composition classes (which encompass the above-mentioned cornerstone experience) and a content course reflecting a career elective (e.g., Education, Acting, Nursing)—to form a team of three classes that collaborate by sharing their stories and then enhancing those written by other students, working across disciplinary boundaries in a virtual community. Basic Skills students begin to see the skills needed for Freshman Composition while also gaining a perspective on career disciplines. Perhaps the most valued part of the project is that students with strong social skills and community values translate those values easily into understanding the global community in the classroom. Stories are shared among students with widely divergent cultural orientations, yet the students move with ease to appreciate the common values and experiential authenticity of their classmates. Students learn from other students.

Beyond this, students in all three of the collaborating courses undergo major learning experiences in the virtual collaboration. In a typical collaboration, a professor teaching Freshman Composition, a cornerstone or gateway course in essay writing, asks the students to write essays about a personal learning experience, that is, any situation where language led them to see the world differently: a conversation they overheard, a joke, a piece of writing, etc. In the link below the reader will find a student story from a Composition class before the process of collaboration. In this story a student remembers the way her mother shared stories with her sisters in an apartment in the Bronx, remembering her homeland and her relatives. After her mother dies, the student thinks back to that experience, that way of using language as the richest experience of her life.

http://media.acc.qcc.cuny.edu:8088/faculty/darcy/Velilla/Presentation4/Presentation4.html

In this highly scaffolded class, the teacher then starts a process through which the students can re-see their initial effort. The students are assigned a piece of writing characterized by excellent use of descriptive language. After reading it, the Composition students go back to their essays and rewrite key paragraphs to improve their sensory, concrete detail. In her article, “Attending to Student Voice,” Carol Rogers (2006) claims that this attention to “slow description” heightens the visibility of the student to fellow students and the teacher.

Then the Composition students read essays that stress the making of distinctions and problem-solving strategies, after which the students rewrite their essays using analysis to make clearer distinctions. Having done that, they reflect upon the ways their writing has changed as a result of using the reading assignments. In this way students see their own stories change as a consequence of meeting General Education objectives, such as developing effective reading and writing and honing critical thinking.

In the next steps, additional General Education goals are met as the students make connections across disciplines in a social/academic network that creates a sense of meaning and belonging. This begins when the Composition students upload their essays to the group wiki in the ePortfolio. There, these students join in collaboration with students in Basic Skills and, for example, History 101, who read the essays and then post artifacts—art, music, video, statistics, graphs, quotes, and so on—from the Worldwide Web (www) that express other, more generalized ways of understanding the content of the essays; in the case of the content course, History 101, the artifacts are specific to the disciplinary discourse of the course. By adding another dimension to the Composition students’ narratives, the artifacts help students to place their own personal experiences in a larger context, a context specific to the disciplinary discourse of their class work.

Then the Composition students select the artifacts that they think enhance their personal narratives. After that, the students create PowerPoint presentations in which they record voiceover narratives while the chosen artifacts pass across a screen. The artifacts from the www enhance the personal narratives by once again placing them in a broader framework that goes beyond the Composition students’ personal experience. For example, if the content course is History, one of the selected artifacts might be a graph showing the rate of immigration year-by-year from a Composition student’s country of origin during the era in which the student’s immigration experience occurred. Another artifact might be a photo of immigrants arriving in America.And so, individual experience becomes part of a broader phenomenon. In turn, the students in Basic Skills and the content course gain an understanding of how to apply their knowledge, share cultural experiences, and develop technological literacy skills. Students who came into our academic community facing challenging translation and adaptive tasks are able to actively engage in projects that allow them to emerge as leaders who speak in the language of art, music, and technology, using their social skills to collaborate in producing artifacts of new knowledge while learning a new language.

(A) History of the ePortfolio Program

The Queensborough Community College Student Wiki Interdisciplinary Group ePortfolio project is made possible through participation in three different grant opportunities:

• 2001–2004 “Learning to Look,” sponsored by The Graduate Center of the City University of New York and the American Social History Project and supported by the National Endowment of the Humanities, trained humanities educators to develop effective strategies for using digitalized artifacts to promote learning.
• 2005 The Georgetown “Crossroads” project, funded by the Carnegie Foundation, taught faculty members from across the nation how to use web-based resources for classroom projects.
• 2007–2009 LaGuardia “Making Connections” institutes were financed by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE). Teams of faculty learned how to use ePortfolio spaces as “learning spaces” that showcase student projects and facilitate transfer and reflection.

In the Fall of 2009, 15 faculty members created 5 teams of 3 classes each to collaborate in producing student digital stories. The authors of this article—two of them professors in the English Department and one a professor in Speech and Theater Arts—brought together Basic Skills, Freshman Composition, and Acting I classes as one of the teams. That is the collaboration discussed in this article.

(A) Team Collaboration between Freshman Composition, Acting I, and Basic Skills: Fall 2009

In the collaboration between Freshman Composition, Acting I, and Basic Skills courses, three professors and their three classes collaborated to develop a virtual learning community with the theme of Family and Culture. As Sheena Gillespie and Robert Becker (2008) say of the texts in their anthology, Across Cultures, they were aware of “how much of our personal and cultural identities [were] rooted in our need for community” (p. 16) and wanted to help their students develop a similar awareness.

(B) Reflection on Narrative in the Freshman Composition Classroom

In the Composition class the assigned readings were meant to serve as models and inspiration. Students read literacy narratives and other essays by people who grew up influenced by more than one culture and language. Amy Tan was one such person. She writes in “Mother Tongue” of her Chinese mother’s “broken” English, which she says “helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world” (Gillespie, 2008, p. 28). In “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me,” Native American writer Sherman Alexie narrates his experience of growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation, where books were scarce except in his home, where his father kept an eclectic library that fascinated the young Alexie and led, no doubt, to his career as a man of letters (Gillespie, 2008, p. 72). Paule Marshall, in “Poets in the Kitchen,” tells the story of the West Indian women in her Brooklyn neighborhood who gathered in her mother’s kitchen and spoke in a language so imaginative that the young Marshall absorbed the poetry and power of that authentic speech (Gillespie, 2008, p. 196). In “My Pen Writes in Blue and White,” Vincent Cremona speaks of straddling two worlds, one white collar (his mother’s) and one blue collar (his father’s), so that he was exposed to two languages, both English (Gillespie, 2008, p. 206). Chang-Rae Lee writes in “Mute in an English-Only World” of the embarrassment and estrangement his Korean-American mother experienced as she tried to navigate the world of suburban New York, where people could be rude and impatient with those whose first language was not English (Gillespie, 2008, p. 157). Former boxer Jose Torres, in “Letter to a Child Like Me,” writes movingly of growing up “Hispanic” (Puerto Rican, in his case), arguing that “your best defense against the ignorance of bigots and haters is pride in your own heritage” (Gillespie, 2008, p. 163).

Composition students wrote reading journals that served as jumping-off points for class discussions and fodder for what would become their digital essays, but the seeds of the first formal writing assignment were planted the first day of the course when they wrote in class in response to a series of prompts about their experiences of reading and writing in their elementary, middle school, and high school years. Sometime later they were asked to write reflections on how race, ethnicity, language, gender, and education (the latter broadly defined) had contributed to their sense of who they were and what they wanted from their lives.

Then, Composition students revised and elaborated on their essays based on the comments, suggestions, and “gifts” they received on the group wiki from the Acting and Basic Skills classes. The professor reviewed the revised essays and determined if the students were ready to create their multi-media presentations, using PowerPoint slides and a voiceover. It was these digital stories that the Acting class used to create their video logs (vlogs). Finally, students in the Composition class were asked to reflect on how the experience of writing the personal narrative and creating the digital essay changed the way they thought about Family and Culture.

At first, several students were disinclined to discuss their family and culture, insisting that they were “Americans” without a need or desire to explore their heritage. It was essential to create a classroom environment where students felt safe from negative stereotyping and understood that their stories of family and culture would be treated with respect. They came to see that race and ethnicity could be defined in many ways and that they had a right to define themselves however they saw fit. When students realized that they had a sympathetic audience for their narratives, most of them came to embrace the project and revel in the stories of their racial and ethnic heritage (however they chose to define it), seeing, I think, an opportunity to discover—and/or make manifest—things about themselves and their families that had remained largely unexamined. In the end, most of the students became performers whose desire to show off their best work was evident in their oral presentations and on the page.

As Howard Gardner (2008) argues in 5 Minds for the Future, “In a world where we are all interlinked, intolerance or disrespect is no longer a viable option” (p. 3). With projects such as the one outlined here, where students see the world from many different perspectives, respect for viewpoints and experiences other than one’s own is essential. Students also see the enthusiasm of their professors as they collaborate and see their work and the work of their students in a broader context. Gardner (2008) proposes that “any lesson is more likely to be understood if it has been approached through diverse entry points: these can include stories, logical expositions, debate, dialogue, humor, role play, graphic depictions, video or cinematic presentations. . . . any individual with a deep understanding of a topic or method can think about it in a variety of ways” (p. 33). When the students in the Composition class viewed the vlogs that were created from their narratives, they saw their presentations in a stunning new way.

Mike Rose speaks of our country’s “extraordinary social experiment: the attempt to provide education for all members of a vast pluralistic democracy” (Gillespie, 2008, p. xxix), and Howard Gardner (2008) speaks of a “pluralistic view of the mind” (p. 3). Gardner’s (2006) theory of multiple intelligences recognizes “many different and discrete facets of cognition, acknowledging that people have different cognitive strengths and contrasting cognitive styles” (p. 5). The Digital Storytelling Project, with its interdisciplinary collaboration, embraced the pluralism to which Rose and Gardner refer. Students were given the opportunity to use or develop several of the “intelligences” that Gardner writes of in his groundbreaking work Multiple Intelligences (1993). When they told their own stories, they used what Gardner (2006) calls “Intrapersonal Intelligence” (p. 16). When they collaborated with their peers, they used an intelligence that Gardner (2006) terms “Interpersonal” (p. 14). Several students used their “Musical Intelligence” (Gardner, 2006, p. 8), and in creating their PowerPoint presentations they all used “Spatial Intelligence” (Gardner, 2006, p. 13). Finally, in writing their essays and editing the writing of their peers, they developed their “Linguistic Intelligence” (Gardner, 2006, p. 13).

Toby Fulweiler (1987), in Teaching with Writing, uses Ken Macrorie’s term “Engfish” to refer to “the stilted, evasive prose common to school and bureaucratic writing” (p. 10). “If we want writing (and thinking) skills to become useful, powerful tools among our students,” Fulweiler argues, “we must ask them to write (and think) in a context which demands some measure of personal commitment” (p. 10). The Digital Storytelling Project demanded such a commitment, and to judge from the work of our students, they felt—and wielded—the power.

(B) Student Reflections from Composition Class Fall 2009

Below, students in Freshman Composition describe how they benefited from the Digital Storytelling Project.

“The digital story presented me with the opportunity to share with others some of the reasons I am what I am today. It was great not only to tell others about my cultural background, but to show them as well. It was interesting also to see and share with others some of their cultures. It is said that pictures help one understand words better. That was what I got out of the digital story experience—a better understanding of the various stories that were being told.” — Beverly

“I found this learning process to be transformational not only for me but also for my fellow classmates. This multi-media activity has been an incredible experience which has made learning enjoyable for me. The best part about this was not going through pages and pages of boring written material but instead sharing my story via colorful pictures and slides. I also enjoyed listening to other classmates’ stories, which included music, pictures and videos of their cultures. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.” — Mariyam

“Last Semester when I took Digital Storytelling it was the best class I had. I thought it was awesome to be able to log into a program and read and comment on other people’s essays or help them out with them. And the PowerPoint presentation part of it was cool because it got to emphasize the words in the essays. Being able to put pictures, music, and videos just made it more fun to do and more enjoyable to share with the class.” — Eileen

“The project managed to bring out a unison of culture and literature, eventually culminating into a project that became worth spending time working on; it was fun. . . . This project should be used for all 101 classes because everyone wants their 5 minutes of fame.” — Brian

“Everyone has spoken about how their finished project changed the way they see themselves, carry themselves, and see life differently. Today you have watched all of our hard work and all of our dedication, come to life! With Kelsey’s experience on her Puerto Rican heritage and Billy’s experiences growing up on the island of Dominica, which allowed Ian to give a great performance. I would have never thought that this project would open so many doors to so many different people. We all learned a little something about ourselves. If you were to ask me how this project reflects on me I would have to say one word and that’s change! This also made me evolve as a student. I am starting to see how hard work really pays off. I see writing not as something not to be feared, but something that can inspire, change and yes transform you and your work into something beautiful.” — Oscar

(A) Reflection on the Narrative in the Elective/Career Content Classroom: Acting

This is an examination of the process and result of layering the Student Interdisciplinary Wiki Project into a first-level acting class titled Theater 120: Acting I. This class is an elective for most programs but fulfills a requirement in the Early Childhood Education program at Queensborough. It holds the same course objectives as the required class for the Fine and Performing Arts program with a concentration in Theatre Arts, and students who complete the class are eligible to enroll in the class Acting 2, for both Theatre and non-Theatre majors. In the same collaboration discussed in the previous section, the Acting Class partnered with a Freshman Composition Class and a Basic Education Class.

The project was titled Family and Culture. The three faculty members assigned readings from the dramatic text Autobahn, by Neil LaBute, and Across Cultures, an anthology, to offer shared reading assignments across the three classes and to prepare for the development of personal narratives that would become digital stories.

The ePortfolio virtual community offered an immediate opportunity to expand the established classroom practice of the actor journal. Constantine Stanislavski (1936), who codified modern actor training through such works as An Actor Prepares, said, “You must ‘live the part’ by actually experiencing feelings that are analogous to it, each and every time you repeat the process of creating it” (p. 14) Self-reflection and personal history are considered the essential first steps in approaching the craft of acting. The class responded to each other’s personal histories with gifts of photographs and films. This use of other ways of knowing is supportive of the acting techniques of sense and emotion memory, in which the five senses are employed to viscerally recreate the actor’s personal experience.

The artifact that became central to the Freshman Composition students’ personal narratives translated into personal object work to assist with triggering sense and emotion memory for the acting students. It also provided an opportunity to explore the concept of “Endowment,” described by Uta Hagen in Respect for Acting (1989), in which objects surrounding the character are assigned history and relationship by the actor to create a realistic environment (p. 89).

Self-reflection, sense and emotion memory, and endowment were all course concepts seamlessly integrated into the project’s structure. However, the most significant experiences in the classroom required some departure from traditional delivery of Acting I in an attempt to build a significant interdisciplinary cohort experience.

The personal narratives from the Basic Skills and Freshman Composition classes were used as texts by the acting students for performance. Traditionally, Acting I uses dramatic texts in the style of modern realism. Using personal histories afforded the acting students the opportunity to use critical thinking in asking the question, what is an “actable” or “dramatic” text? Most importantly, the student personal narratives gave acting students a deeper understanding of mapping analogous situations, a central concept of theatrical textual analysis for the actor. Stanislavski (1936)refers to the analogous situation as “the magic IF.” “IF acts as a lever to lift us out of the world actually into the imagination” (p. 46). A textual analysis for the actor requires the actor to ask herself, “If I was in this situation, how would I react?” The Practical Handbook for the Actor (Bruder, Cohn, Olnek, & Pollack, 1986), the textbook chosen for the class, unpacks the question using three levels of analysis. The first level is called the “literal action,” which describes what happens in the particular scene (i.e., the character is saying goodbye to his mother on his way to fight a war); the second level is the “essential action,” which articulates the action in more general terms (the character is leaving a loved one to face unknown experiences and does not know if he will ever see her again); and the third level asks the actor to articulate, “It’s as if I. . . .” With an understanding of the essential action, an actor does not need to have performed the literal action to empathize with the character and thereby play the character’s experience with a sense of appropriate reality. The textbook attempts to create a simple form for analysis and a bridge from the experience of the character that may not be in the students’ experience. However, students new to acting do require repeated practice to understand the difference between the literal action and the essential action and often resist articulating or find themselves unable to articulate the answer to the question “IF.”

The students analyzed and rehearsed scenes from a dramatic text in the style of modern realism before attempting to look at the personal narratives from the Basic Skills and Freshman Composition classes as texts for performance. They read essays and chose the ones they wished to perform on their own, as well as abridging the texts to create a short monologue. They were asked to reflect on the reasons for choosing these texts for performance. Their choices often crossed their own gender and ethnicity, a departure from most casting that takes place in the theatre. The choice to cross gender and ethnicity helped students understand that they were compelled by the “essential” story, not the “literal” experiences of the character. The class discussion held after a review of the student texts centered around identity and self-definition, which reinforced the lesson of self-knowledge that is the cornerstone of actor training.

Students also fluidly found the “magic IF” using other students’ texts. “I chose this character,” one student wrote, “because it reminded me of myself. When I was young my family moved from a predominantly black West-Indian neighborhood to a mostly white community. On my first day of the new school, I thought I was watching aHappy Days episode with a bunch of Richie Cunninghams. Her closeness to her family is the same as mine. Family is very important to me” (Navin, Acting I student, on an essay by Farimah, Freshman Composition student). The students placed their reflections and questions directly on the student essays using the wikis to share the information, so the Freshman Composition students had an opportunity to dialogue and revise their essays upon hearing the Acting students’ reactions.

The need to archive and share the performance asynchronously with the Basic Skills and Freshman Composition classes led to the choice of creating video logs for the assignment. The advent of video logging or “vlogging” came in 2004 with the emergence of the website Youtube (Show, 2007), and there are now several thousand active vloggers on Youtube and other video websites. Youtube itself defines vlogs as “a video of someone talking into the camera about their thoughts on a particular subject matter. Vlogs are generally a frequent posting of videos which are personal in nature keeping with the idea of a ‘log’ or ‘diary’” (Show, 2007).

The vlogging community values authenticity highly. To give an example of the community’s definition of the practice, a popular vlogger, “Lonely Girl 16,” was eventually revealed to be an actress with a script who had been hired by a production company, not a lonely teenager in her bedroom. Youtube vloggers felt betrayed and expressed their disapproval by way of thousands of vitriolic comments and response vlogs (Show, 2007). Some of the trained actors among the vloggers portray constructed characters in their vlogs and have achieved notoriety, which in some cases has led to some substantial film work, even though many vloggers express disapproval of this practice. The online dialogue on Youtube has raised many questions about the nature of presenting “the truth.” In Stanislavskian theatre practice, actors are requested to present their own personal truths as the truth of the character to create a believable performance, yet this very practice was suspect in this narrative format.

The choice to create vlogs for the personal narrative assignment arose from the opportunity to share the performances with the other classes. Vlogs presented a unique opportunity to create a sense of verisimilitude. The innate self-reflective nature of vlogs aligned with the nature of the essays themselves. The choice at first seemed problematic for a first semester acting class, as theatrical vocabulary and practices are challenging in and of themselves, and traditionally, camera technique is taught only after mastery of basic theatrical principles. Homemade video logs, which were often self-filmed with flip video cameras, also held the possibility of creating archived material that was not aesthetically pleasing.

A viewing of Andrew Neel’s (2007) documentary about his grandmother, titled Alice Neel, the artist, led to the decision to work with vlogs, despite the apparent drawbacks. Alice Neel focused on portraiture, and the documentary was filmed with a handheld camera in video emulation of the artist’s paintings. The visual story and the content of the discussion in the film’s interviews were reflections on the nature of portrayal. “Why portray anyone at all?” was a question the son of the artist posed back to his own son, who was interviewing him, and although the camera was unsteady, and the subject seemingly not well lit, the very presence of the subject and his use of physical gesture communicated meaning in a way that would have been incomplete in a narrative simply read on a page.

The departure from theatre into theatrical media in the use of the video log expanded the actor’s task to include direct address to the camera and observations of new aesthetic distances. Students began to discern the distinct requirements of fourth-wall technique (the convention in drama in the style of modern realism) when approached with direct camera (and, by extension, audience) address. Students were videotaped with a flip video camera while performing exercises based on the theories of Sanford Meisner, which incorporate repeating of text with an acting partner. The camera served as audience in this exercise, and the actors were tasked to create a circle of attention on their acting partners, with a sense of projection to the camera, which holds a very different distance than does a live audience. In the actual vlog, the camera became the acting partner, and the students were prompted to endow the camera with the attributes of a partner. The camera technique served to assist students in understanding live theatre technique in relief—the acting partner became more appreciated as a tool in the theatrical performance when acting students no longer worked with one.

Students were also prompted to employ physical gestures for the camera, which were more economical than those required for the theatre, yet which provided sublingual information. This lead to a more complete and complex interpretation of the personal narrative text, in much the same way that the digital stories, in their use of visual and aural information, provided other ways of knowing.

The following videos of Javier from the Acting I class portraying Oscar from the Freshman Composition class document the progression from actor exercise with a partner to vlog, as well as Javier’s on-camera reflection.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGxOzounOv0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGu9Q5xkgzg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS44PipGiiw&feature=related

The ePortfolio Virtual Learning Community Project in Family and Culture at Queensborough created a virtual learning community to assist students in meeting course and General Education objectives within the traditional face-to-face classroom space. This community provided an interdisciplinary space that examined and celebrated the students’ own experiences, and those of their families, while developing the students’ ability to think critically, apply aesthetic and intellectual criteria in the creation of theatrical performances, to make connections across disciplines, and to examine cultural commonalities. The addition of theatrical media and wiki collaboration posed problems for the delivery of class content that, through the creation of solutions for those problems, actually provided new and vivid information that assisted students in understanding performance techniques.

Conclusion

The ePortfolio Virtual Learning Community Project engaged within a traditional classroom would be described by George Kuh (2008)as delivering multiple High Impact Practices that appeal best to Hispanic students and other historically underserved groups in their alternative modes of delivery of competencies. There are elements of service learning in the support that students give to each other on their projects, learning communities in the online collaborations and shared assignments, diversity and global learning in personal narratives from largely immigrant students, and project-based learning in the creation of digital stories and vlogs. Kuh (2008) says that “historically underserved populations tend to benefit more from engaging in them but are less likely to participate in range of High Impact Practices than ‘majority students’” (pp. 17–19). It is the College’s intention to continue to offer and expand this model of service to student learning, and to reach out to other Hispanic Serving Institutions to extend the virtual community, and therefore extend access to those students who would most greatly benefit.

References

Bruder, M., Cohn, L. M., Olnek, M., & Pollack, N. (1986). A practical handbook for the

actor. New York: Vintage.

Fulweiler, T. (1987). Teaching with writing. Portsmouth, N.H.: Boynton/Cook, Inc.

Gardner, H. (1993). Multiple intelligences: The theory in practice. New York: Basic Books.

Gardner, H. (2006). Multiple intelligences: New horizons. New York: Basic Books.

Gardner, H. (2008). 5 minds for the future. Boston: Harvard Business Press.

Gillespie, S., & Becker, R.. (2008). Across cultures: A reader for writers. 7th ed. New York:

Pearson/Longman.

Hagen, U. (1989). Respect for acting. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.

Kuh, George. (2008). High impact practices: What they are, who has access to them, and why

they matter. Washington, D.C.: A A C & U.

Neel, A(ndrew) (Director). (2007). Alice Neel. [Motion picture]. United States: Think Productions.

Rogers, C. C. (2006). Attending to student voice: The impact of descriptive feedback on learning

and teaching. Curriculum Inquiry, 36, 209–227

Show, R. (2007). The history of vlogs. Retrieved April 10, 2010, from

http://richardshow.org/vloghistory/aoir_vloghistory_abstract.pdf

Stanislavski, Constantine. (1936). An actor prepares. Trans. Elizabeth

Hapgood. New York: Routledge.

Youtube. Retrieved April 23, 2010, from

http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=95729

Acknowledgements:

This study benefited from support from a Challenge Grant 2009–2010. In addition, a “Making Connections” grant through LaGuardia Community College’s FIPSE grant has supported this work since 2007.
About the authors: Michele Cuomo, Jean Darcy, Joan Dupre

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COBIMET Library Consortium: the experiences of a collaborative project of four Hispanic Higher Education Institutions in Puerto Rico

Written by HETS Admin on July 30, 2014. Posted in English, Fall Issue: October 2010, Volume I

Abstract

This paper describes the experiences of the only registered library consortium under the State Department of Puerto Rico, mostly composed by private higher education institutions.

The author explains how the Consorcio de Bibliotecas Metropolitanas (COBIMET) was founded and what were the challenges, needs and goals of this collaborative group. To achieve cooperation the members of the consortium considered the common needs of each one of the participating libraries. The areas to work on were technology, library services, information resources, budget constraints and professional development. Among the benefits derived from all activities the participating institutions were able to reduce costs, share knowledge, and explore diverse learning experiences.

Keywords: consortium, collaborative projects, COBIMET, virtual library, virtual media resources

Resumen

Este artículo describe las experiencias del único consorcio de bibliotecas inscrito bajo los criterios del Departamento de Estado de Puerto Rico. Está compuesto en su mayoría por instituciones privadas de educación superior. El autor explica como el Consorcio de Bibliotecas Metropolitanas (COBIMET) fue fundado y cuales fueron su retos, necesidades y objetivos de este grupo colaborativo.

Para alcanzar la cooperación se identificaron las necesidades comunes entre los miembros del consorcio. Las áreas con necesidades comunes fueron las de tecnología, servicios bibliotecarios, recursos informativos,presupuesto y desarrollo profesional. Algunos de los beneficios obtenidos de las actividades que participaron las instituciones fueron reducción en gastos, compartir de conocimientos y explorar diversas formas de aprendizaje.

Palabras Claves: consorcios, proyectos colaborativos, COBIMET, biblioteca virtual, recursos informativos electrónico

COBIMET Library Consortium: the experiences of a collaborative project of four Hispanic Higher Education Institutions in Puerto Rico.

Introduction

The Knowledge society uses communication and information technologies to restructure the production of goods and services, and to support the development of new services. Having reliable information is essential to develop new technologies, services and therefore wealth. According to Brindley (2009), Thomas Stewart was one of the first to discuss the emerging knowledge based economy. Stewart saw “intellectual capital as intellectual material – knowledge, information, intellectual property, experience – that can be put to use to create wealth” (p.4).

The involvement of libraries in the 21 century for the development of the intellectual capital is crucial to the economical and social development of a society. Libraries must provide user centered services that empower patrons to get information from the library at any time, independently from their geographical location, and encourage a flexible response to their unique and diverse needs (Atlas, Wallace and Van Fleet, 2005).Furthermore, libraries must provide high quality peer reviewed information to the users to help them create new knowledge and take well informed decisions.

COBIMET, acronym for Consorcio de Bibliotecas Metropolitanas, was designed considering these needs. Making quality information available to users through a virtual library and providing the necessary tools to critically evaluate that information. The following paper will present how COBIMET has addressed the common informational needs of four higher education institutions in Puerto Rico through a cooperative model of consortium.

According to Johnstone (2007) institutions that are prepared to collaborate and work cooperatively are the ones who are taking in their hands accountability and efficiency. There are many ways to improve programs and services throughout collaboration. Johnstone (2007) presents some examples about how higher education institutions can benefit from collaborative activities. Some of this benefits are: “1) Saving money with consortium agreements, 2) Allowing faculty to work on site and at other institutions to create course materials, 3) Sharing courses among institutions, 4) Developing electronic services for students and faculty, and 4) Creating resources in open formats that aid in institutional recognition and mission fulfillment” (p.147).

When organizations explore partnerships with other institutions is generally because they have identified a need that cannot be fulfilled using their own human or economical resources (McClure, 2003; Johnstone, 2006). That was inspiration to create COBIMET.

According to Fernós (n. d.) higher education in Puerto Rico has presented a sustained and diversified growth in enrollments, institutions and programs. Cámara (n. d.) presents that by the first semester of 2001- 2002 the enrolment was of 191,552. By the first semester of 2006-2007 the enrolment was 223,974 that reflects a 17 % increase from 2001-2002. The Directory from the Puerto Rico Council of Higher Education (2010) states that there are 6 public higher education institutions and 42 private institutions accredited by them.

COBIMET consortium is currently a nonprofit organization offering virtual library services, information literacy skills website and a library professional development program to private institutions of higher education and schools. The COBIMET consortium is the only non profit organization of its kind registered in the Puerto Rico’s Department of State.

COBIMET started seven years ago as a United States (U.S.) Title V cooperative grant, with the University of the Sacred Heart acting as the host institution. The four higher education institutions that participated in the cooperative grant were the University of the Sacred Heart (U.S.C), American University of Puerto Rico (A.U.P.R.), Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico (U.P.P.R.), Colegio Tecnológico de San Juan (S.J.T.C.). The participating institutions began by identifying the common needs, after an analysis they coincided in the following:

1. They were unable to keep pace with the Information Technology demands to adequately provide library resources to students and faculty.
2. They were unable to individually provide reliable and accessible Virtual Library Services to meet the information needs and the flexibility required by students and faculty.
3. IT staff and Librarians needed comprehensive, continuous training in networks management, strategic planning and security vulnerability issues.

The first identified need was partially addressed through the acquisition of a common multidisciplinary virtual library collection. As shown in Table 1, over the course of the project the collection grew significantly so that the universities had collective access to an enviable amount of data and information.

Note. The data in the table does not mean that there are 623 separate databases but is shown merely to demonstrate the progress and increase in and the number of databases now accessible at each institution.

As shown in Table 2, from 2003 to 2004 there was a percentage increase on most of the type of resources when compared with the baseline of 2003.

According to Grogg (2009) during this financial turmoil it is essential for librarians to demonstrate to higher education administrators that “the library is conducting business in such a way as to save the institution money while concurrently negotiating for the best possible content as the best possible price” (p.129). Furthermore Perry (2009) presented the results of a survey conducted in the spring of 2009 in which the two major issues for consortium were budget management and license renegotiations. Out of necessity, library consortium will be focusing a great deal of attention on managing their budgets, especially in times of economic uncertainty.

COBIMET Title V project grant produced substantial financial savings to each of the partner institutions during its operations; a minimum of $1,000,000 has been saved on acquisition of information resources since the project inception. By acquiring acquisitions as a group ,the negotiating power of the consortium with the data base vendors has resulted not only in savings for each institution but has enabled COBIMET to acquire more information volumes from each vendor with a minimal investment. Furthermore, value added exercises carried out by COBIMET, such as a review and elimination of more than 30% of duplicate titles, resulted in financial savings to date of approximately $60,000. Another example of strengthening the collection and generating even more savings for the institutions was the evaluation of over 100 open access resources resulting in 80 free titles being incorporated into the collection; 90% of them were databases.

The second identified need was addressed through the creation of a COBIMET Portal were the institutions accessed the virtual library. According to Vijayakumar, Kannappanavar and Mestri (2008) the main benefits of a portal resides in acting as a single access point for library information resources like catalogues, subscriptions databases, subject gateways and electronic journals. Furthermore, they state that the main benefits to a portal are easier access, simplified authentication, personalization and the resources presentation in a single place.

Since its inception, COBIMET’s portal has registered an increase of 36% in the number of visits while a decrease of 37% in the number of hits due in part to the WebMaster working on improvements to the portal, the introduction of the MetaSearch function, and the integration of the Private Virtual Library which sporadically slowed service during the 2007 year. Vijayakumar et al. (2008) indicate that changes in a portal can affect the use of patrons until they adjust to the new modifications. As Table 3 demonstrates, activity in the Portal increased gradually while students and faculty became more familiar with the tool and also as a result of the promotion of services by each of the participating institutions.

Training and Professional Activities

As demonstrated in Table 4 below, over the course of the 5 years, the project provided a total of 39 professional development activities with a participation of 481 library staff (437 from the partner institutions). In addition, during Year 05 a total of 44 professors, administrative staff and students also participated in training activities.

COBIMET Technology Component

Technology is an essential component of COBIMET’s mission, because it ensures the smooth operation of the Virtual Library. The four institutions concurred that there was a need for a reliable and secure network that provides an efficient virtual library services platform. Hossain (2009) explains that without a “proper access management mechanism, confidentiality and integrity of information cannot be guaranteed” (p.21).

COBIMET’s technological goal was to implement a secure local network model for the participant institutions. The requirements for a local network followed the guidelines of the AN-MSI model from EDUCAUSE. The goal of AN-MSI (which stands for Advanced Networking with Minority-Serving Institutions) was to assist Minority-Serving Institutions as they developed the campus infrastructure and national connections to become and remain full participants in the emerging “Information Age.“

Improving security and vulnerability was one of the principal needs presented in developing the local network. All of the partner institutions had serious security risks at the onset of the project. Furthermore, there was limited knowledge and resources at their institutions on how to correct the situation. COBIMET made significant strides in the issues of security by providing:

• Network assessments to member institutions conducted by a network security expert.
• Acquisitions of state of the art network equipment
• Providing the IT Professionals training on network security.
• The implementation of security measures and tools such as corporate anti-virus servers with automatic updates, windows updates and policies has occurred in the institutions.
• Training in the development of the institution strategic plan for IT and security policies and procedures.

The principal outcome of all these activities was an improved, more secure and reliable campus network. Figure 1 show the number downtime hours and how they were reduced to zero in 50% of the member institutions and to almost zero in the other 50% per year during the last 2 years of the project.

Figure 1

Network Downtime by Institutions / Years

Conclusions

The COBIMET cooperative project developed collections of available electronic information resources and services for education, using virtual and physical networks. It identified common needs in the areas of information technology and Libraries. The common goals of the project members were achieved by:

• Developing and implementing a virtual library service information model
• Designing and Developing Information Technology Networks to support the Virtual Library Services.
• Developing a learning environment in virtual library services, IT and security vulnerabilities
• Adopting standards, policies and procedures in IT and virtual library services.

Other benefits obtained from this project were the reduction of costs, shared knowledge, and diverse learning experiences from all participating institutions. Best practices regarding budget, facilities, security and technology can also be learned from this collaborative project.

References

Atlas, M., Wallace, D., & Van Fleet, C. (2005). Library Anxiety in the Electronic Era, or

Why Won’t Anybody Talk to Me Anymore? Reference & User Services

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Brindley, D. (2009). Challenges for Great Libraries in the Age of the Digital Native.

Information Services & Use, 29(1), 3-12. doi:10.3233/ISU-2009-0594.

Cámara, L.R. (n. d.). Breve radiografía de la educación superior en Puerto Rico. Retrieved

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Consejo de Educación Superior de Puerto Rico. (2010). Directorio de Instituciones de

Educación Superior. Retrieved May 5, 2010, from http://www.gobierno.pr/NR/rdonlyres/0BF4C446-8C55-44DB-

9295-8D04016F3CB3/0/DirectorioIESENERO2010.pdf

Fernós, M. (n. d.). La reglamentación de la educación superior en Puerto Rico. Retrieved

October 27, 2009, from http://www.rlcu.org.ar/documentos/MarcosRegulatorios/MR_PuertoRico.doc.

Grogg, J. (2009). Economic Hard Times and Electronic Resources. Journal of

Electronic Resources Librarianship, 21(2), 127-130.

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Johnstone, S.M. (2007). Advancing campus efficiencies: A companion for campus

leaders in the digital era. Bolton, MA: Anker.

Kannappanavar, B., & Mestri, M. (2009). Content Analysis of Indian Institutes of

Technology Libraries Web Portals: A Study. DESIDOC Journal of Library &

Information Technology, 29(1), 57-63. Retrieved from Library, Information Science

& Technology Abstracts with Full Text database.

McClure, P.A. (Ed.). (2003). Organizing and managing information resources on

your campus. (Vol. 7). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Perry, K. (2009). Where are library consortium going? results of a 2009 survey.

Serials, 22(2), 122-130. Retrieved from Library, Information Science &

Shoeb, Z. (2009). Access Management for Digital Repository. DESIDOC Journal of
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Technology Abstracts with Full Text database.

About the author: Carlos Crespo

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Waterfall method: A Necessary Tool for Implementing Library Projects

Written by HETS Admin on July 30, 2014. Posted in English, Spring Issue: March 2011, Volume I

Waterfall method: a necessary tool for implementing library projects

Carlos A. Crespo-Santiago

Consorcio de Bibliotecas Metropolitanas (COBIMET)

Sonia de la Cruz Dávila Cosme

Universidad de Puerto Rico- Recinto de Cayey

Abstract

This paper describes a methodology for implementing effectively library projects. The authors explain how the Waterfall Method for information system development and organizational design, created by Winston W. Royce can be applied to library projects. The proposed adaptation of the method for library projects is presented in stages; where each stage has a set of activities that produce deliverables that serve as evidence documentation for management or governing agencies.  The stages are given a percentage to establish relevance and a basis to inform progress to top management. The benefits of applying the Waterfall Methodology include maintaining the scope of a project within the requirements and needs of all stakeholders; establishing cost control and time management for all the required activities; and provide documented evidence of the activities that govern the project. . It can be applied to every project and discipline, including education. The technique itself is so flexible that it could be used to manage research proposals, investigations, and even operational plans, but as in library sciences, the lack of information in the educational area present some challenges to this method followers 

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to propose a methodology for implementing effectively library projects. The primary emphasis of the methodology is to provide a project management strategy that will fit most library projects.  The basis of the methodology will be based on the Waterfall Method for information system development and organizational design, created by Winston W. Royce in 1970 (Royce, 1970, p. 328).

Today, librarians implement better services for providing resources through the internet and on-site physically to their users.  In traditional and digital libraries, services include access to informational resources like books, journals, magazines, videos, audio media, maps and historical archives (Digital Libraries, 2003).  Also, services like electronic reference, e-reserves and electronic interlibrary loans are becoming increasingly implemented by libraries. Furthermore, the need to market those services and resources has turned them to social networks by using Web 2.0 tools for help.

Libraries can manage the implementation of new procedures and projects by using project management methodologies. According to Winston and Hoffman (2005) project management methods can help libraries administrators to ensure the most efficient and effective use of resources and the completion of projects (p. 60). The completion of project activities requires a series of different and diverse skills, and having a structured methodology is necessary for setting the project environment (Cerrone, 2007, p. 23).

This paper will describe the Waterfall Methodology for information system development in terms of organization design, and its use in project management.  After examining this methodology, we then propose a library project management strategy based on the Waterfall Methodology.

Waterfall Methodology for Information Systems Development

The design of an information or computer system requires considerable organization and management; a planned approach needs to be taken to define how the development and implementation needs to be performed (‘Systems design and life cycle’, 2008). Winston and Hoffman (2005) explain the Waterfall Methodology applies the principle that the development process should be divided into phases to provide clarity of content.  Results of each phase are documented and the next phase only begins when all pre-requisites are satisfied. It is not permitted to return to a previous phase, once another has started unless the implementation requirements change. The project is completed when all phase gate reviews are satisfied.  Requirements change must be tracked and controlled so as to reduce scope creep.

The phases for a development of a system using the Waterfall Method are typically as follows (Systems design and life cycle, 2008):

1. Feasibility study: benefits, cost estimates, effectiveness from a new or improved system need to be determined.
2. System requirements: existing system is analyzed and requirement specifications from the system owner are gathered.
3. System design: involves the technical specification produced for the new system based on requirements.
4. Design Implementation: work begins on the development or production of the new or improved system.
5. Testing and Installation: protocols for testing verification and proper installation are performed.
6. Maintenance: after the system is implemented, operational modifications could be made to fit new requirements.

The successful implementation of an information systems project or any other project will be based on answering effectively the following questions:

Is the system acceptable to the customer?

Was it delivered according to schedule?

Did the project ended within the agreed budget?

Did the system development process have a minimal impact on ongoing operations?

Why use the Waterfall Method instead of other methods for Library Projects

According to Cerrone (2007), the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) developed by the Project Management Institute approximately 20 years ago, is the definitive methodology for theory and practice. Adherence to the PMBOK method assures a successful implementation.  The PMBOK method establishes that during the course of a project, activities occur within the following five process groups:

1. Initiating processes which focus on gaining authorization of a project or one of its phases.
2. Planning processes that define objectives and select courses of action that will be used to effect project goals.
3. Executing processes used to coordinate activities, staff, and other resources in order to put the plan into action.
4. Controlling processes which provide the context for measurement and monitoring of project results in order to prevent variance from the plan or correct the course of action when a variance occurs.
5. Closing processes that formalize the acceptance of the project and end the project activities.

The detailed activities that fall within the five process groups are 44 different in total.  Furthermore, detailed tasks can be applied differently depending on the objective.

The biggest difference between PMBOK and the Waterfall method is complexity. PMBOK is better suited for large scale projects and requires experience and the ability to apply specific activities to diverse processes in order to manage the project efficiently (Cervone, 2007). On the other hand, the Waterfall Method is simple and convenient while allowing the flexibility for managing both, large scale and small scale projects.

Oura and Kijima (2001) explain that the waterfall method is employed top down in the sense that the development process can only proceed if management approves each phase.  This could be an issue if the organization is a bottom-up and changes come from lower level personnel.  The simple process that the Waterfall method provides makes it ideal for libraries project management.

Waterfall Method for Library Project Management

The Waterfall Method divides the development process by phases.  The proposed adaptation of the method for library projects will be presented in the following stages: plan, design, implementation and operations. Each stage has a set of activities that produce deliverables that serve as evidence documentation for management or governing agencies.  The stages are given a percentage to establish relevance and a basis to inform progress to upper management.

In the Plan Stage, the scope of the library’s project is discussed an analyzed.  There is a need to establish the project feasibility, user requirements, map the current process, establish the team charter and get the buying from management. This stage corresponds to the Feasibility Phase and Requirements Specification described in the Waterfall Methodology.

Table 1

Activities and Deliverables during the Planning Phase

In the Design Stage, specifications described in the user requirements to be processed are designed.  The library systems procedures or guidelines, communication plan with end users and measurements that will show improvement are developed.  This stage corresponds with the design phase in the Waterfall Methodology.

Table 2

Activities and deliverables during the Design Phase

The Implementation Stage requires the library system to be installed or commissioned for testing by end user.  The end user is then presented with the procedures and training developed for them to test the system.  This stage comprises the implementation of design, testing and installation in the Waterfall Methodology.

Table 3

Activities and deliverables during the Implementation Phase

The Operation Stage refers to the formal use by library system’s end user.  The library system needs to be monitored for ensuring compliance with requirements specification.  Provide a presentation to management to close the project and archive documentation for evidence.  This stage is more comprehensive than the Waterfall Methodology as it comprises system compliance and operation and maintenance.

Table 4

Activities and deliverables during the Operations Phase

As we can see, the Waterfall method is very simple. It can be applied to every project and discipline, including education. The technique itself is so flexible that it could be used to manage research proposals, investigations, and even operational plans, but as in library sciences, the lack of information in the educational area present some challenges to this method followers.  Koskela and Howell (2002) present that:

The lack of theory has rendered education and training more difficult and has hampered effective professionalization of project management. Lacking theory, project management cannot claim, and will not be granted a permanent and respected place in higher education institutions. Also, the lack of an explanation of project management, to be provided by a theory, has slowed down the diffusion of project management methods in practice (p. 12).

There is a vast amount of information of project management methods, especially in the areas of engineering, software development, construction, architecture and telecommunications. Project management itself has been transformed through the decades by these disciplines, but the application of project management methods are more used in the industry by practitioners, rather than by educators (Hoon-Kwak & Ambari, 2009; Koskela & Howell, 2002). This presents a dichotomy between practice and scholarship because practitioners are using project management methods on a daily basis but higher education institutions are not using it as much as we expect. Further research and analysis has to be done in order to establish why scholars are not taking advantage of project management methods in the academy.

Conclusions

The present paper proposed the application of the Waterfall Methodology to library projects.  Library and information science professionals could implement this staged based approach to their projects.

The benefits of applying the Waterfall Methodology in libraries can help administrators to: 1) maintain the scope of a project within the requirements and needs of all stakeholders; 2) establish cost control and time management for all the activities required; and 3) obtain documented evidence of the activities that govern projects. The literature review shows that there was no research publications identified that applied the Waterfall Methodology to Library projects and education. Future research can be performed using the methodology and applying it to a specific library or educational project.

References

Cervone,  H. F.  (2007). Standard methodology in digital library project management. OCLC

Systems and Services, 23(1), 30-34.  DOI: 10.1108/10650750710720748.

‘Digital Libraries’. (2003). In Encyclopedia of Computer Science. Retrieved from

http://www.credoreference.com/entry/encyccs/digital_libraries

Hoon-Kwal, Y, & Anbari, F.T. (2009). Availability-impact analysis of project management

trends: perspectives from allied disciplines. Project Management Journal, 40(2), p.94-

103. DOI: 10.1002/pmj.20111.

Koskela, LJ, & Howell, G 2002, The underlying theory of project management is obsolete, In:

The PMI Research Conference, June 2002, Seattle, Washington. Retrieved from

http://usir.salford.ac.uk/9400/1/2002_The_underlying_theory_of_project_management_is

_obsolete.pdf

Oura, J., & Kijima, K. (2002). Organization design initiated by information system

development: a methodology and its practice in Japan. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 19(1), 77.  DOI:10.1002/sres.415.

Royce, W. W (1970).  Managing the Development of Large Software Systems.  Retrieved

January 11, 2011, from http://www.cs.umd.edu/class/spring2003/cmsc838p/Process/waterfall.pdf

‘Systems design and life cycle’. (2008). In BCS Glossary of Computing and ICT. Retrieved from

http://www.credoreference.com/entry/bcscompict/systems_design_and_life_cycle

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Using ePortfolio to Improve Retention of Hispanic Students at a Predominantly Black College

Written by HETS Admin on July 30, 2014. Posted in English, Spring Issue: March 2011, Volume I

By Janice Zummo, Rosalina Diaz and Rupam Saran

Medgar Evers College

Abstract

This study investigates how technology is being used to improve the engagement of at-risk Hispanic students at a predominantly Black institution through the use of ePortfolio in a co-curricular context. Historically, attrition rates for Hispanic students at Medgar Evers College of The City University of New York have been high. In 2009, 5.6% of incoming freshman students were Hispanic. By Spring 2010 that number had dropped to 2.5%. Recently, concerned faculty have concentrated on improving Hispanic student engagement. In Fall 2010, the Education Department and the Association for Latino Studies Student Club (ALAS) were among a small group who participated in an ePortfolio pilot project focused on improving engagement, fostering integrative learning, and encouraging personal development through reflective writing. Preliminary findings indicate that Hispanic students’ connectedness to the College increased after participation in this project.

Introduction

Medgar Evers College (MEC) is one of eleven senior colleges of The City University of New York (CUNY) and one of the few CUNY colleges that grant both baccalaureate and associate degrees. Founded in 1970 as a result of actions of New York State elected officials and community leaders in Central Brooklyn, MEC is a Predominantly Black Institution. MEC is in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, one of the largest, most densely populated and ethnically varied sections of the borough. Its students represent all areas of New York City, especially the surrounding Brooklyn community. In Fall 2009, 75% of the student body was female and over 90% was of African descent, a group historically underrepresented in higher education. The other 10% was comprised of Hispanic (5.6%), European American (0.9%), Asian/Pacific Islander (1.1%), Native American (0.2%), and other (1.7%). The Hispanic population at MEC is growing but the growth rate has been unsteady.

The mission of the College is to develop and maintain quality professional career oriented undergraduate degree programs in the context of a strong liberal arts background. MEC is committed to strengthening its academic programs to provide students with the knowledge and experience necessary to enable them to be competitive applicants for graduate education, to attain rewarding careers, and to contribute productively to society.

The current student population at Medgar Evers College is comprised of typical CUNY “boundary crossers” (Eynon, 2009):  36.5% were born outside of the United States and a large percentage of MEC students are first-generation college-goers who struggle to stay at college due to various social, personal, and economic problems. The MEC academic community is committed to meeting the needs of its unique student population and creating a learning environment that will promote student engagement, facilitate active learning, and encourage students to address academic and personal challenges with the support of the college community.

Over the past year, MEC has implemented an electronic portfolio project, hereafter referred to as ePortfolio, to improve the engagement of high-risk students, to build a community of reflective learners, and to enhance social networking. Through the use of ePortfolio, MEC intends to develop a virtual learning community in which students feel comfortable sharing their lived-world and life-stories with peers and faculty. MEC’s ePortfolio project aims to address learning and competency objectives through a student-centered reflective process that ultimately benefits all stakeholders by creating a positive teaching and learning environment. It is anticipated that the ePortfolio project will increase student engagement by fostering integrative learning and encourage personal development through reflective writing. Given the longitudinal nature of the development of ePortfolios, it is anticipated that student reflections will become richer and more complex as they advance in their academic programs. As ePortfolios are developed, the digital documentation of students’ work should provide detailed information that can be used to examine growth and progress over time, and enhance our student, program, and institution based assessment efforts. We also anticipate that using ePortfolios will enhance Hispanic students’ engagement in the MEC academic and social communities.

Problem

According to a report released in October 2010 by the Community Service Society of New York, young people who identify themselves as Hispanics are the largest single ethnic group among 16 to 24 year olds in New York City (CSS, 2010). There has been a very measured and gradual increase in the Hispanic student population at MEC over the last five years. Yet, the enrollment of Hispanic students at Medgar Evers College, CUNY, a Predominantly Black Institution (PBI) in Central Brooklyn, continues to lag behind that of most other CUNY colleges. In Fall 2009, Hispanic freshman enrollment at Medgar Evers College was only 5.6 % of the college’s total full-time enrollment. What is even more alarming is that of the 5.6% that enrolled in the fall, only 2.5% remained by the Spring 2010 semester. This article will examine the factors contributing to the high attrition rate of Hispanic students at Medgar Evers College through a discussion and evaluation of a co-curricular ePortfolio initiative designed to address the issue of Hispanic student retention and encourage overall academic engagement and success.

In recent years, there has been extensive research indicating that a strong sense of school belonging is positively correlated with “student’s intrinsic values, expectations for success and academic effort” (Sanchez, Colon, & Esparza, 2005, p. 620). For Hispanic students, a sense of school belonging seems to play a greater role than for any other ethnic group. Hispanic students have a greater tendency to attend hypersegregated schools than African-American students (Gandara, 2010). As reported in recent studies, Latinos, as opposed to other ethnic groups, seem to thrive best when they are members of in-group peer networks. “Our results offer important evidence that co-ethnic friendship networks are positively related to Latino students’ achievement… additionally, in-group ties are an important source of maintaining cultural heritage, identity, and a sense of community” for Latino students (Riegle-Crumb & Callahan, 2009, p. 627-628).

The Medgar Evers College ePortfolio Project

In the Fall 2010 semester, the College implemented an ePortfolio pilot project. That project, now in its second semester, has trained 15 faculty and staff representing the Departments of Education, Public Administration, Search for Education Elevation and Knowledge (SEEK), Credit for Prior Learning, the Freshman Year Program, and the Library. The ePortfolio Implementation Group has designed and implemented a comprehensive faculty development seminar series which provides participants the opportunity to learn the benefits and uses of ePortfolio for improved teaching and learning through reflective, integrative pedagogy and to encourage faculty to create or revise assignments that will foster the use of ePortfolio for course and program level assessment. Faculty who participated in the initial training sessions in fall 2010 are offering 19 ePortfolio courses for the Spring 2011 semester. In the Fall 2010 semester, the Education Department offered two courses that included ePortfolio. Once the ePortfolio team began to see the benefits of ePortfolio firsthand, the use of ePortfolio was implemented within a student club as a tool for community building.

Current Uses of ePortfolio at Medgar Evers College

At MEC, one of our goals is to increase our focus on integrative learning through the use of reflective strategies. The MEC Education Department has been using print portfolios as an integral part of accreditation and graduation processes. Historically, print portfolios are a collection of student self-assessments in the form of reflective essays. In general, students view print portfolios as a cumbersome task that has “no practical use.” As one of our students expressed, “Portfolios are good for collecting dust.” Students reluctantly assemble their print portfolio as a graduation requirement. However, as we have shifted to ePortfolio, students are more engaged in creating ePortfolios and in the reflective process. Yancey (2009) explains the nature of the paper to electronic shift: As portfolios have gone electronic, reflective texts have taken myriad forms — from concept maps to written texts to streaming video. In this shift from print to electronic, the claims for reflection have widened and increased as well (p.5).

Aimed at improving student learning and holistic development, the ePortfolio project at MEC is currently focused on creating scaffolded assignments that foster deep learning through recursive processes embedded in ePortfolio practice. At MEC, participating faculty are helping students to integrate what they have learned through traditional instruction with their lived experiences through a process of reflection. ePortfolio is used as a system of productive teaching and e-learning that addresses students’ comprehensive thinking, cognitive skills, and learning process. At the same time, ePortfolio provides continuous documentation of students’ learning processes, which includes evidence of their learning in the form of self-selected artifacts and allows faculty to view learning from the student’s perspective through reading their reflections. Through ePortfolios, both students and faculty have ongoing access to student work. Simultaneously, ePortfolio provides an alternative form of assessment in addition to traditional paper and pen assessments.

ePortfolios provide students with a space to collect and showcase their work, making connections across disciplines and engaging in self- reflection about the learning process. Students are able to present themselves electronically to graduate school admissions officers and future employers. At MEC, students use a process and product format to create their ePortfolios (Carlson, 1998). In process/working, ePortfolio students collect their work throughout their enrollment at MEC. In the product/showcase ePortfolio, they select and present their best work.

The ALAS Student Club ePortfolio Initiative

In Spring 2007, a small group of Hispanic students and faculty at MEC formed the Association for Latino American Students or ALAS, which, translated from the Spanish, means Wings. According to the original club president and founder of ALAS, this small group of students felt isolated, ignored, and disregarded and decided to do something about it. Thus, ALAS became the first Hispanic student club in the history of Medgar Evers College. Beginning in the 2010- 2011 school year, the MEC ePortfolio Implementation Group integrated ePortfolios into this Club’s structure to document the effectiveness of ePortfolio as a tool for community building. The overarching goal of this project was to foster integrative learning processes that would encourage Hispanic students to link their lived experiences and extracurricular activities to classroom learning, with the hope of increasing their sense of school belonging and, consequently, improving retention.

The process of ePortfolio integration within ALAS began in August of 2010 with the training of the club president in the use of ePortfolio. Once she was fully trained, she was given an ePortfolio account for ALAS. She was not instructed about how to construct or organize the site. The ALAS ePortfolio began as a file cabinet, initially used by the president to document past activities and events that the club had sponsored and/or participated in over the last three years. This was its sole function for the first few months. Later the president added a welcome page with excerpts from the club’s mission statement. Gradually the ePortfolio began to be used to advertise upcoming events and activities. It became apparent that the ALAS Student Club ePortfolio site would become more than a repository as illustrated in the following quote:

Josie: I am a vastly different person today than I was just two short years ago and I owe the majority of this change to ePortfolio project and ALAS. I showcased my ePortfolio at LaGuardia College Showcasing Event…It was awesome…I earned prestige and recognition…

Why Use ePortfolio in a Co-Curricular Context

Seamless learning environments allow students to “make meaning of the academic experience by connecting classroom learning with their own lives outside the classroom” (Kuh, 1996, p. 136). Kuh explained that the use of the word seamless implies that what were at one time understood to be discreet learning opportunities occurring in and out of the classroom are now considered to be continuous learning experiences. The implementation of ePortfolio within the ALAS club initiated the creation of a seamless learning environment that would allow Hispanic students to assimilate learning across their life experiences. Current research has found that there is a relationship between “student engagement in educationally purposeful activities” and improving persistence (Kuh, Cruce, Shoup, Kinzie, & Gonyea, 2008, p. 542).

For most of the first semester of the ePortfolio implementation, the ALAS club president continued to be the only ALAS member actively involved in maintaining the ePortfolio site. This changed in November/December of 2010, when a new section was added to the ePortfolio. This section was titled “Why ALAS? – Member Testimonials.” This page was created to encourage members to share their experiences as Hispanic students at MEC and to discuss the reasons they had joined ALAS. In so doing, the students unknowingly began to build a seamless learning environment, bridging their experiences across classroom, lived, and reflective learning.

Reflective Learning

ePortfolios give students the opportunity to reflect on the learning process and to consequently identify the strengths and weaknesses of their own learning processes (Chen & Light, 2010). Reflection refers to the process through which students synthesize what they learn and explain their learning process to others, specifically the ePortfolio audience (Yancey, 2009). The structures created by students or provided in the ePortfolio format “invite, foster, and support reflection (p. 8). Students reflect on their learning in the context of lived experiences and begin to understand how learning can be transferred across the different parts of their lives (Chen & Light, 2010). Reflective learning within the context of ePortfolio begins with the creation of artifacts and extends to the selection of specific artifacts that illustrate learning outcomes. In addition to written reflections, students can provide video, audio, or visual reflections (Chen& Light, 2010, Yancey, 2009).

The first few students to post their experiences, aside from the club president, were ALAS alumni, the original founding members who had since graduated and moved on to employment or graduate school, but who had remained actively involved in the ALAS club. These former members expressed a desire to have their “legacy” as the founding members of ALAS remembered and acknowledged as ALAS moved into the future. Encouraged by these entries, the newer members began adding their statements, and the page has since continued to expand. At last count, 12 members had posted their statements. The following statements illustrate how students were able to make connections across learning experiences:

Mya: As a Latina woman I never had any issues concerned with race in all my years living in New York. After my first year as a college student at MEC I could write pages answering that question…

Sarah: Being Dominican-American in a college that is predominantly Black was not an easy experience for me. Most of my teachers at Medgar Evers College talked about the African Diaspora regardless of the subject they were supposed to be teaching, and I’m sad to say that I now know more about the struggles of African-Americans than I do about my own ethnicity.

These student testimonials illustrate how students were able to reflect on their personal experiences with race and explore issues related to their ethnic background. They were also able to transfer learning across the different parts of their lives as described by Chen and Light (2010) and synthesize their learning as discussed by Yancey (2009). As students reflect on the learning process they begin to make connections and integrate learning, which will be discussed in greater detail below.

Making Connections: Integrative Learning

One of the major benefits of using ePortfolio is how it allows students to make connections across different learning experiences. The process of making connections is also referred to as “integrative learning” which allows students to integrate learning accomplished in and out of the classroom and the development of skills and abilities across different courses (Chatham-Carpenter, Seawel, & Raschig, 2009-2010). “Portfolios are fundamentally integrative, being composed of heterogeneous artifacts, the connections between which are explored through reflection” (Cambridge, 2009, p. 41).

In the case of the ALAS club ePortfolio site, students were clearly making connections across different learning experiences and because of the ALAS ePortfolio site, they now had a forum in which to explore and share their views.

Mya: I was the only Hispanic person in all of my classes for my first year in college. I felt as if I didn’t belong. I had no one to relate to. My second year in college I became friends with two Latinas from the Dominican Republic. For the first time in my college experience I felt like I could express my concerns about attending an all Black College. We all had the same concerns and there wasn’t a person that we could voice our concerns to.

Sarah: When teachers continued to discuss this topic [African Diaspora] in their classrooms, it left out the rest of the few students who were from different cultural backgrounds, and caused them to feel neglected. When teachers did so, it made me not want to try as hard in their classes because I was not being acknowledged as the person that I am, a Dominican-

American.… I noticed that when exposed to these types of classroom environments, my grades were usually lower.

In a qualitative self-study, Brandes and Boskic (2008) found that graduate students acknowledged how the use of ePortfolio and technology enhanced learning. The students also noted the importance of creating an online learning community, which provided opportunities for them to work with other students in small and large groups and share ideas. The ALAS students built an online learning community in which they shared not only ideas but also their feelings of isolation. The combination of the use of technology and the creation of an online learning community provided a means for students to “move from the personal to the professional, sociological, and cognitive aspects of learning” (Brandes & Boskic, 2008 p. 8). The ePortfolio experience allowed students to “link ideas and make apparent connections between concepts” (Brandes & Boskic, 2008, p. 10). In addition to making connections between ideas, ePortfolios also allow students to make connections to each other (Bolliger & Shepherd, 2010).

The ALAS students were able to make connections between ideas. As they were exposed to and learned about the African Diaspora, they made connections between concepts related to Black history and their own Hispanic heritage.

Wilma: I believe that everything fell into place when I was feeling out of place. While Medgar students felt pride in belonging to a country or the history of Medgar, and ALAS students were being connected to illuminating Latin American history, here I was disconnected from the two. Because of the combination of both of these worlds I have experienced, I have now set out in search for my cultural lineage. I have now set out on discovering not only myself, but my people as a whole, and ALAS has helped make this possible for me.

And students were also able to create links between their academic and career experiences as illustrated below:

Sulnada: I am not out of place anymore. Like everybody else I have my ePortfolio. I am walking with everybody. I will take my ePortfolio with me for interviews at schools to show my computer skills and to show my work. Principals of schools can see beyond my Latina face and my accent and see what I have to offer. My ePortfolio shows who I am, where I come from, and why I came back to college…

Scaffolding

Scaffolding is the process of constructing learning that occurs across assignments, courses, and learning experiences. Assignments that incorporate multiple layers provide a framework upon which students build understanding through the construction of knowledge. Brandes and Boskic (2008) noted that as part of their ePortfolio, students were required to provide a site map that guided their audience through the ePortfolio with an explanation of how it was constructed and organized, and how artifacts were selected and interrelated. The process of constructing an ePortfolio, which includes organizing and reorganizing artifacts, reflecting on learning, receiving feedback, and revising assignments helps students to become deeply engaged in the learning process.

ALAS students constructed their own ePortfolio site, which provided them with a forum in which to highlight the mission of the organization, their own learning, and their feelings. The club mission statement, posted on their ePortfolio is as follows:

As the Hispanic population at MEC increases, ALAS seeks to fill the knowledge gap, left by the lack of academic courses on the history and culture of Latin America. We promote and support cultural diversity on campus and seek to educate the MEC population regarding the rich cultures of Latin America via cultural and historic events. We also seek to provide a safe welcoming haven for Latino students in the Brooklyn community here at MEC.

Through the reorganization of artifacts including the club’s mission statement, announcements and descriptions of upcoming events, and personal reflections, ALAS students became deeply engaged in the learning process. ALAS students were able to construct knowledge as their learning spanned across classroom learning, co-curricular learning, and personal reflection which resulted in a scaffolded learning experience and improved student engagement within the context of a student organization.

ALAS ePortfolio: A Tool for Community Building

Electronic access to clubs like ALAS through ePortfolio serves to address the issue of community building and creating a positive identity by bringing the benefits of club membership and participation to a larger group. In general, the MEC student population is non-traditional and many students have full-time jobs and families. In spite of the proven educational value of extra-curricular activities, the majority of our students have a difficult time attending meetings and events. But, since ePortfolio allows students to participate in the ALAS club online, Hispanic students who are using ePortfolio have indicated an increased sense of belongingness and connection to each other and to the larger college community. Hispanic students’ testimonies indicate that ePortfolio has provided them with a channel for self-expression and a forum in which they can write about themselves and reflect on the learning experience in an environment that allows them to include multi-media such as slides, pictures, videos, songs, and music.

Vicki’s comments illustrate the intensity of the ALAS experience as expressed in the ePortfolio format.

Vicki: In fall 2010, I found ALAS or they found me. Joining them has strengthened my feeling of belonging in the MEC family. ALAS provided that support and extra encouragement I needed as a Latino in a campus community that has a high percentage of African American and Caribbean students. I feel fortunate that I was able to join such a positive and energetic group of people that can express and encourage diversity in an already diverse community…I can honestly say that my future as an early childhood education educator would be because of the strong support I have received.

According to a recent article, The Latino Educational Crisis, by Patricia Gandara (2010),

Latino students’ extraordinarily high dropout rate is related, in part, to their lack of attachment to school and a sense of not belonging. A crucial means by which students attach to school and form supportive friendship groups is through extracurricular activities… Unfortunately, Latino students are less likely to participate in these activities, either because they perceive the club to be exclusive or because of logistical problems, like needing to work or help out at home after school or not having transportation or the money required for the activity (p. 29).

Gandara (2010) added the following related to developing a sense of belonging: “Schools that effectively address this issue, find ways to incorporate clubs, sports, and other activities into school routines and bring the benefits of these activities into the classroom” (p. 29). Electronic access to clubs like ALASmay serve to address belongingness as they bring the benefits of club membership and participation to a larger group of Latino students. Below is a student comment that expresses the impact ALAS membership has had on her educational experience at MEC since the integration of ePortfolio:

Josie: Having felt so powerless for the majority of my life due to having to conform to so many rules, I felt lucky to be part of a group that shared one voice, one mission, and one dream. No ideas are turned away without fully exploring the possibilities, which is why everyone feels that they can freely express themselves. Overall, being both a member and [officer] of the ALAS club has been for me a transformative experience that has helped me to grow and develop in unforeseen ways. I am a vastly different person today than I was just two short years ago and I owe the majority of this change to ALAS.

As a result of this initiative, ePortfolio has emerged as a tool not only for collecting and documenting club events and activities, but also as a means of community building through the sharing of personal experiences. When reading the statements, patterns emerge, similarities are highlighted, and it becomes clear that all the stories are really one and that none of the students are alone in their hopes, dreams, and struggles.

In January of 2011, ALAS became the first MEC club to travel out of the United States (to Puerto Rico) to institute an Intra-Cultural Initiative with the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. The event was planned and advertised on ePortfolio. After the trip those students who participated shared their experiences by posting pictures and reflections on ePortfolio. Shortly after returning from the trip, the ALAS members emailed a link of their ePortfolio to the College President and met with him to discuss their accomplishments, goals, and future needs, using ePortfolio as their documentation and presentation tool. In the space of a few short months, the ALAS ePortfolio evolved from a one-person file cabinet to an interactive group sharing platform and a community building and advocacy tool. The students reported the following within the ePortfolio format:

Mya: It wasn’t until my third year in college that I became a part of a club that embraced my heritage. I met people that spoke the same language as I did and I was able to talk freely about being a Latina in an all Black College.

Johnny: When I first got to Medgar Evers, I felt like an outsider. I could not relate with my peers or professors, which in my mind was strange because most of my classmates come from the Caribbean, so one would think that I would feel at home. As you can imagine, at first I had some trouble adjusting… In addition, I think that most of my peers saw me as white because of my light complexion. And, to be honest with you I often felt white in class. When a discussion of racism arose in class, I used to voice my opinion and my classmates looked at me as if I had no right to be talking about racism because I’m “white.”

Tanya: For me sometimes being a Latina of color in the United States of America is very frustrating. Don’t get me wrong I love who I am and know who I am, but I am tired of not being considered enough. When I first came to Medgar Evers College I honestly did not think about it as going to a historically Black school, I just needed to go to a school that wasn’t too far from my family, and where I could take classes at night. I never thought about how being a Latina of Color would play out for me.

The reflective thoughts of Mya, Johnny, and Tanya indicate that they made a connection within the digital environment. As they shared their thoughts and feelings through ePortfolio, students explored their sense of self, feelings of alienation and worth, and sense of belongingness.

Use of ePortfolio to Address Needs of a Minority Hispanic Student Population

at a Predominantly Black Institution

In addition to sharing their personal educational journeys, Hispanic student statements reflect the challenges inherent in being a Hispanic student at a predominantly Black College, an issue that has not been sufficiently researched and/or discussed in the current literature. Of the 12 students who posted on the ALAS ePortfolio site, nine expressed difficulties adjusting and or “belonging” to the MEC community. Feelings of not belonging have been found to lead to attrition (Gandara, 2010). But, for the ALAS students, having the opportunity to share their concerns did improve their sense of belongingness. ePortfolio also impacted students’ personal and academic growth. A few ALAS club members have developed ePortfolio expertise and are working as Student Tech Mentors in the MEC ePortfolio lab assisting their fellow students as well as faculty members.

One of the benefits of using ePortfolio is its support of life-long and life-wide learning (Cambridge, 2008). Cambridge (2008) described lifelong learning as “learning that occurs across and between episodes of formal learning…” (p. 1228). The use of ePortfolio by Hispanic students at Medgar Evers College is focused on tapping into ePortfolio’s capability for enhancing life-long and life-wide learning to connect students’ learning across real life and classroom experiences with the goal of ultimately improving their engagement in the learning experience and academic success. Giving students the opportunity to share personal observations and learning in a safe and respectful environment provided a forum in which one Hispanic student was able to develop a teaching philosophy that reflected her own experiences incorporated with what she had learned in the classroom.

Another benefit of using ePortfolio is that it allows students to document and share their experiences with others (Bolliger & Shepherd, 2010). Through an examination of each other’s ePortfolios, students recognize similarities across experiences, which can increase communication and improve feelings of connectedness. Clearly, the students in the ALAS club were able to share their experiences which improved their feelings of connectedness where before they had felt alienated.

Chen and Light (2010) noted how ePortfolios “can be tailored to specific individuals and groups” (p. 13). Students who have used ePortfolio have reported developing an enhanced sense of community (Brandes & Boskic, 2008). In their study examining how students view “communication and connectedness, learning, and value in online programs,” Bolliger and Shepherd (2010, p. 296) noted that ePortfolio has been shown to address issues of isolation and improve community building. At Medgar Evers College, Hispanic students who are using ePortfolio have indicated an increased sense of belongingness and connection to the larger college community. And since ePortfolio provides a means of connecting to broader audiences (Cambridge, 2008), we anticipate that the broader Medgar Evers College community will also expand its connection to the Hispanic student population as they are exposed to the ALAS student club ePortfolio.

The preliminary success of the Medgar Evers College ePortfolio project has fueled the team’s desire to continue and expand the use of ePortfolio at the college. The number of participants in the small ePortfolio pilot does not allow us to make generalizations to other settings and populations at this time, but as we expand the use of ePortfolio in curricular and co-curricular settings, we plan to continue our research and to document how participation in ePortfolio is related to students’ sense of belongingness and their persistence.

References

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