Dionne Miller, professor of chemistry, has integrated ePortfolios into her General Chemistry course at LaGuardia Community College. Students use ePortfolios to reflect on their learning, and to collaborate with each other. Data shows a significant improvement in students' lab grades, submission rate, student to student connection and student to faculty connection (evidenced by SIR II score).

1. ePortfolio Integration into
General Chemistry
Dionne A. Miller, PhD
Natural Sciences Dept. - Chemistry
LaGuardia Community College
September 17, 2010

2. Background/Challenges
 How to introduce ePortfolio usefully in
an assessment heavy course?
 What areas of course might benefit most
from integrating ePortfolio?
 Can you reflect on content in a science
(i.e. fact-driven) course?

3. Objectives
 Introduce students to reflective learning
 Foster greater student to student and
student to faculty connections
 Improve standard of lab reports and by
extension, students’ grades in this area

4. Design
 Students were placed in three-person
laboratory “research teams” in which they
conducted experiments and wrote
collaborative lab reports. Drafts could be
submitted to instructor for review before
final submission.
 Students created intermediate portfolios and
wrote an “About Me” essay.
 Students read the “About Me” essay of their
team members and wrote a short reflective
piece about what they found interesting
and/or unexpected about each team
member.

5. Design
 They were also asked to write about
what they considered to be the qualities
of a good team member.
 At the end of the semester, post 2 or 3
samples of their best lab reports.
 Also write a 750-word minimum guided
reflective essay on the course experience
and working on a team.

6. Outcomes
 Average lab grade improved from 70% to
82%
 All groups submitted all the required 10
reports
 Goal of greater student to student
connections were achieved (evidence:
reflective essays)
 Goal of greater student-faculty connection
was achieved (evidence: SIR II score of 4.35
cf 4.15 in non-portfolio courses)
 Students learned how to reflect on their
learning experiences

7. Excerpts of Student Reflections
 …now I know how to negotiate and express my ideas as well as my
advice for my teammates.
 Working in a team in lab was the best experience for me. I loved
working in team because it made the lab fascinating and enjoyable.
Working together, we learned how to divide the work equally and got
a chance to learn something new from each other every week. With
the ideas from all the group members, we corrected our lab reports
and got to learn how to write a excellent lab report. … Moreover,
whenever one of us was confused the other two tried to explain and
answer the questions. That for me was really good because I got to
learn the topics I was confused about from class from my team.

8. Excerpts of Student Reflections
 I am studying to become a veterinary technician and in that field I have
no choice but to work in a team for the sake of the animal’s life.
Working in a team in the lab will be the same exact thing I will have to
do in the clinic. …We have to rely on each other to get the job done
right and have to constantly report to each other. I honestly believe
working in a team in the laboratory was great. At the beginning of the
semester I was dreading it but in the end it helped me with some skills
that I will need once I start working in a clinic.
 I developed a lot of new skills as a result of working in a team. I
learned to take risks and trust my ideas by working in a group because
my ideas were appreciated and taken in a friendly manner. I learned to
work with other people without any conflict and learned to accept
others ideas. Working in team this semester gave me a feeling of
working in real world.
 The fact that we gave each other feedbacks, was also a learning
experience, as we got to learn from one another.

9. Excerpts of Student Reflections
 In laboratory, team work was one of the greatest experiences I
have ever had in college…I think in the future working in group will
give me much secure and strength in my ideas in making decisions,
cooperate with others to develop personal relationship to continue
working on other projects and just teams membership can provide
social facilitation and support for difficult tasks and situations.
 …helped me develop another important skill that I did not learn
from my previous chemistry class. That is writing presentable lab
reports.
 The over all experience of working in a team was helpful, learning
and innovative. It also served as process to share the work load
and as I remember my instructors words that it was “division of
labor.” The biggest advantage for me of working in a team was that
it made me work and work on time. To me it was a perfect
example of John Lock’s theory in his Second Treatise of
Government that [when] in a society we all derive our rights from
others and the fear of our rights being taken away makes us fulfill
our obligations towards others.

10. Summary
 ePortfolio and reflective writing allowed
students to connect with each other, with
their instructor and with their own learning
experiences
 It allowed me to gain valuable insight into
students’ learning experiences and gauge
whether course objectives were being met.
 This in turn will allow me to improve course
design and delivery for a more effective
teaching-learning environment

11. Reflection Assignments
 As a way of getting to know your team members, do the
following:
a.View the “About Me” page in the ePortfolios of your other
team members.
b. In your reflection page, make a new rich-text module and
write a paragraph about something you found interesting or
unexpected about each team member.
B. In a separate rich-text module, list the qualities that you
think are important when working with a group of people
toward a common goal. Also list the qualities/strengths that
you believe you already possess that will make you a good
team member. You are not required to include this in the
assignment, but also think about the qualities that you think
you need to develop to become a better team member.

12. Reflection Assignments
 Reflecting at the End of the Course
In this course we have explored some of the fundamental principles and concepts of
chemistry. We have tried to lay a foundation for further study in chemistry with the
expectation that you will go on to do part II of the course and then apply this
knowledge to further studies in engineering, health-related fields such as nursing and
pharmacy as well as to your everyday life.
Please answer as thoughtfully and honestly as possible the following:
What topic(s) did you find most interesting and why? What topic(s) did you find least
interesting and why?
Do you think you have developed more awareness of chemistry in your everyday life as
a result of taking this course? If yes, in what ways?
What topics, if any, do you think will be most relevant to your career goals? For
example, if you hope to be an engineer, what topics do you think would be most relevant
as you continue to further studies?
What did you find most challenging about the course? What skills did you have to
develop to meet those challenges? What skills did you have to use that you gained from
other courses or from life in general? Having completed the course, do you have a
feeling of success? Do you think you learned a lot or a little?
What advice would you give to someone planning to take this course in Fall 2010 (apart
from taking a different professor)?

13. Reflection Assignments
 Reflection on Working in a Team in the Laboratory
As stated at the beginning of the course, modern scientific research
involves teams of scientists in an interdisciplinary approach. A survey of
scientific research articles would show that the vast majority of papers
have several authors who collaborated on a project. Each person brings
their own resources, skills and expertise to the project. You were asked to
work as a “research team” in the lab this semester.
Please answer the following as thoughtfully and honestly as possible:
What was your overall experience of working in a team?
What were the advantages and disadvantages of the team approach? What
did you like most about the team? What did you find most challenging
about the team?
Which skills did you find most useful in negotiating the team process? Do
you think you developed any new skills as a result of working in a team?
How do you think working in a team in the lab compares to what you
might experience when you have a fulltime job in your particular field?