Challenge: Research and develop a tool for students to create online portfolios for VHL courses.

Background: An online student portfolio is a computer-based collection of student work samples collected over time. It can include a variety of work or a student's best work from a particular class, multiple classes, or even over years. Portfolios may include photos, videos, blog posts, audio recordings, and journal entries. To address market demand and keep up with competitors, Vista Higher Learning wanted to add a built-in portfolio feature to VHL Central, their online learning platform.

Process: I conducted user interviews with higher ed instructors who had used portfolios, or had expressed a desire for portfolios to be build into VHL Central. Nine total interviews were conducted. A short summary is listed below, and a full research report was shared with the team.

Implementation: Using the data and insights discovered during the research phase of the project, it was determined that a third-party tool could be used to add a portfolio tool to VHL. I began to work with the product manager and engineers to build out the user experience which would include navigating between VHL Central and the portfolio site. I also had to plan for both the instructor experience, and the students’ experience.

Research Summary

All the instructors said they would use a Portfolio tool if it was in VHL, but many mentioned using Portfolios for upper-level courses only, not basic/intro level courses.
All the instructors mentioned a desire to have the Portfolios bridge multiple courses, but would be very happy even if it was course-specific.
All instructors mentioned cheating as a top concern and discussed ways to minimize cheating, and how videos and non-traditional assessments could help with that.
Most instructors said peer-interaction was not a critical piece of the portfolio. Some had the students present the portfolio as a final project, but for the most part they only want the student and themselves to be able to see the portfolio.
All instructors said the portfolio could be course-specific. Although some said having the portfolio span multiple courses, or follow the student through their progression of language courses, would be nice to have, they said that would not be feasible nor necessary.
The ability to download or export the portfolio is important so that students can save it for future use when looking for a job or when applying to another college or university. A PDF or a shareable/accessible link would work for this.
Instructors said they would want to be able to comment or provide feedback on the portfolios, and that it must be a part of the students' grade to motivate them to do it.
Making it easy to use and grade were mentioned by many of the instructors, who felt that adding Portfolios would be a daunting idea for many instructors who are not familiar with them.