AAEEBL Southeast US eFolio Conference: ePortfolios Focused On Learning and Integrative Online Thinking November 7-8, 2011 Registration is online. See the complete conference schedule online.

Blacksburg, VA

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Bret Eynon, Director of the LaGuardia Center for Teaching and Learning and founding Director of the Making Connections National Resource Center on Inquiry, Reflection, and Integrative Education. Students Welcome! We encourage student attendance and participation  at the conference. Students may register for a greatly reduced rate of $75.00 to cover expenses. Please send email David Marble to register your student(s). (Note: The registration process for students can not be accomplished on the regular registration site.) Workshop leaders Conference Schedule The conference will be held at the Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center Note: There is no conference rate for the Inn.  (The regular rate is already low.) Area Information

The Jugbusters band will be joining us for the conference reception. (Photo copyright 2008 Cynthia Connolly)

Posing and answering questions are critical reflective activities, which Rodgers (2002) explains: “The question that a learner is able to formulate depends directly on the completeness and complexity of the data or description that he or she has gathered and generated” (p. 854).  These data are made visible, according to Rodgers, through the teacher’s ability to observe and be present to all that happens in the classroom.  Because electronic portfolios can make learning activities and artifacts visible, they contribute to teachers’ abilities to be present to student learning, which also helps teachers and students make connections within and beyond the classroom.  Through posing and answering questions (reflecting) on the potential meanings of our experiences, we can begin to see connections amongst our activities, both inside and outside of the classrooms.  Portfolio activities present moments for reflection, opportunities to pose and answer questions about our experiences, and spaces to draw connections across courses, programs, and professional communities.  The AAEEBL Southeast US eFolio Conference, ePortfolios Focused On Learning and Integrative Online Thinking, offers a place to be present to all of these opportunities, a place to come together as a portfolio community to pose and answer our own questions about how to best foster active learning, authentic reflections, and integrative thinking.  

Conference activities are community-oriented:

• Two day-long series of workshops, including sessions on:
• •  eportfolio adoption and scale-up models for small and large institutions;
    
  • open source and enterprise portfolio tools;
    
  • portfolio activities that promote reflection and integrative thinking;
    
  • digital storytelling;
    
  • student-centered assessment activities;
    
  • connections between eLearning, social networking, and digital citizenry and others. 
    
• Experts from across the country will lead these workshops, with plenty of time for dialogue and hands-on learning.
• An open symposium of student portfolios for viewing and discussion.
• Traditional opportunities for presentations of scholarship.

Call for Proposals

Proposals are sought on all topics related to electronic portfolio activities, reflection, active learning, authentic assessment, integrative thinking, and technologies related to ePortfolios.  Two types of sessions are offered: Research & Practice sessions and the student symposium.  

Research & Practice Sessions (45 minute sessions): Research & Practice sessions offer the opportunity to present research and engage participants in ePortfolio pedagogies.  Presenters may focus a session entirely on the presentation of research, or they may engage participants in the sharing and modeling of portfolio activities.

Student Symposium (3 hour session): The student symposium provides an opportunity for students to showcase portfolio activities or entire electronic portfolios in an informal scholarly environment.

Proposals for Research & Practice sessions and the Student Symposium must be submitted online.  Abstracts for each session must not exceed 500 words.

Important Dates