This document discusses using ePortfolios and communities of practice to develop 21st century skills in students. It outlines key 21st century skills like creativity, collaboration, and problem solving. EPortfolios can help students reflect on and showcase their work, while developing these skills. However, getting faculty involved in a community of practice on the ePortfolio platform has so far failed to work effectively. Participants have remained "lurkers" rather than fully engaging or creating new knowledge. The document argues communities of practice require coordination and developing the necessary skills in members to succeed.

1. Bridging the Gap
ePortfolios, Developing a Community of Practice Model
in Support of Lifelong Learning
Josh Yavelberg

2. 21st
Century
•Academically Adrift
•STEM
•A Whole New Mind

3. Partnership
for 21st
Century
Skills
•Core Subjects and
21st
Century Themes
•Learning and
Innovation Skills
•Life and Career
Skills
•Information, Media,
and Technology
Skills

4. Partnership
for 21st
Century
Skills
•Core Subjects and
21st
Century Themes
Global Awareness
Financial,
Economic, Business
and Entrepreneurial
Lit.
Civic Lit.
Health Lit.
Environmental Lit.

5. Partnership
for 21st
Century
Skills
•Learning and
Innovation Skills
Creativity and
Innovation
Critical Thinking
and Problem Solving
Communication and
Collaboration

6. Partnership
for 21st
Century
Skills
•Life and Career
Skills
Flexibility and
Adaptability
Initiative and Self
Direction
Social and Cross
Cultural Skills
Productivity and
Accountability
Leadership and
Responsibility

7. Partnership
for 21st
Century
Skills
•Information, Media,
and Technology Skill
Information Lit.
Media Lit.
Information,
Communications and
Technology (ICT)
Lit.

8. Partnership
for 21st
Century
Skills

9. ePortfolios
•Reflect
•Assess
•Showcase
•Critique

10. ePortfolios

11. A
R
T
Studio Thinking
Develop Craft
Engage
and
Persist
Envision
Express
O
bserve
Reflect
Stretch and
Explore
Understand The Art
World

12. A
R
T
Framework

13. Model for Integration
Guidance
Guidance
Collaboration
Collaboration

15. Communities of Practice
Purpose:
“To create, expand, and exchange knowledge,
and to develop individual capabilities” (Wenger, 2002, page 42)

16. How does this relate?
• Faculty = Community Coordinators
• Foundations faculty must initiate members,
and develop 21st
century skills necessary to be
connected, involved, and successful:
– Creativity and innovation
– Critical thinking and problem solving
– Communication and collaboration

17. Is it working?
• Currently… no
• Caught in a “Vicious Cycle” rather than a
“Virtuous Cycle” (Wenger, 2002, p. 165)
• Degrees of community participation (a
common theme with online platforms)
– Lurkers
– Contributors
– Creators
• Limited scope of this particular pilot platform

18. Works Cited:
• Arum, R. & Roksa, J. (2011). Academically adrift : limited learning on college
campuses. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New
York: Harper and Row.
• Efland, A. (2002). Art and cognition : integrating the visual arts in the curriculum .
New York; Reston VA: Teachers College Press; National Art Education Association.
• Eisner, E. (2002). The arts and the creation of mind. New Haven: Yale University
Press.
• Gardner, H. (1982). Art, mind, and brain. New York: Basic Books.
• Hetland, L., Winner, E., Veenema, S., & Sheridan, K. (2007). Studio thinking : the
real benefits of visual arts education. New York: Teachers College Press.
• Partnership for 21st
Century Skills: p21.org
• Pink, D. (2005). A whole new mind : moving from the information age to the
conceptual age. New York: Riverhead Books.
• Wenger, E., McDermott, R. A., & Snyder, W. (2002). Cultivating communities of
practice a guide to managing knowledge. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School
Press. Retrieved from http://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=3483
• Yavelberg, J. (2011). Bridging the gap: concepts for integrating portfolio technology
into the studio art curriculum to develop 21st
century skills. Unpublished Paper

19. Josh Yavelberg
FlyingCloudSolutions.com or ArtHistorySurvey.com
josh@yavelbergstudios.com