Portland State University Final Project Report

July 2001 Kathi A. Ketcheson Campus Project Director Introduction At the close of the Urban Universities Portfolio Project, Portland State University had completed a fully functional electronic institutional portfolio. The combination of the talents of those involved and the spirit of collaboration and collegiality that we were able to maintain throughout the process resulted in a highly successful project on our campus. During the final phase of the project, our Web team, which we were able to assemble with funds from the UUPP grant, formed the backbone of our efforts. With their help, we were able to find cost effective and innovative technological solutions that have put our portfolio on the cutting edge of Web site design and maintenance. Accomplishments The most important accomplishment resulting from the project was the completion of the portfolio itself. During the three years of the UUPP, PSU's portfolio was redesigned at least three times. Each experience led to improvements in the site that brought it closer to the Faculty Advisory Committee's vision of a dynamic and useful portfolio. In the third year, we adopted new software and hired a team of contracted specialists to move the portfolio into its most advanced phase. Most of the grant period was spent evolving the concept of the electronic portfolio into something that could be implemented. Once the concept was well developed, the adoption of a groundbreaking technology allowed the concept to become a reality. (Please see Features of the Portfolio Web Site) Work on the portfolio project helped to foster a spirit of collaboration and communication among faculty and administrators, and prompted conversations about our institutional values and mission. The project also began to change in the way institutional research was viewed on the campus, helping institutional researchers to move from a narrow data support role to one more closely tied to decision making and implementation of campus initiatives. Although it was unusual among the UUPP campuses to have the IR director also serve as the campus project director, PSU found this combination to be a highly effective way to develop, manage, and embed the portfolio into the campus culture. The IR office formed a collegial relationship with the Faculty Advisory Committee that was beneficial to the project and fostered a sense of credibility and acceptance for the office and its work. Initiatives The development of PSU's institutional portfolio has prompted several new initiatives on campus. The first of these is the planning initiative, which will be launched by Provost Tetreault during summer 2001. In addition to ongoing analyses of planning data, the Provost will lead a series of campus discussions surrounding our vision and institutional mission. The series will begin with academic department heads and be launched formally in the all-university symposium at the beginning of Fall Term. A discussion board located on the portfolio will serve as a place for faculty conversations about our mission and direction. Summaries of these discussions will appear regularly on the discussion page and also will be linked to the Provost's vision page. Another initiative resulting from the UUPP is the redesign of the OIRP statistical Web site, which will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of information management in support of decision making. The new site will have the capability for regular, automated updates of official university statistics and research reports, and will share data with the portfolio site, the assessment Web site, and the program review site, the latter of which will be initiated during Fall 2001. Much of the information required for our 2004-05 accreditation self-study report in would be gathered by the OIRP site and reported through the portfolio. This marks a major step forward for data extraction and reporting at PSU and will put us well ahead of most of our sister institutions. The Body of Evidence PSU's portfolio contains a body of evidence for accountability and improvement. The evidence is organized under the following headings: Community and Global Connections Institutional Effectiveness Research and Scholarship Student Success Teaching and Learning Each section contains some combination of narrative descriptions, data, reflective narratives from faculty, students, and community members, and links to relevant external sites. The sections contain hyperlinks across the portfolio content to display information wherever it is relevant. For example, assessment of community based learning appears under Community and Global Connections and under Teaching and Learning, as it comprises aspects of both themes. Accountability to Various Audiences Early in the project, the Faculty Advisory Team identified five major audience groups to whom materials in the portfolio would be directed. They are: prospective students PSU faculty, staff, and students the business community the metropolitan community higher education boards and agencies With a completed portfolio in hand, the project team will begin developing customized "tours" for each of these audiences groups that will focus on content that is of particular interest to each. We will also develop specific tours for general audiences on diversity and assessment. Focus groups and face to face meetings with audience group members will help to shape the tours and provide an avenue for feedback. Work on this phase will begin during summer 2001. Accreditation PSU plans to use the portfolio as part of its self-study report to the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges in 2004-05. We have begun outlining the required elements of the report as they relate to the five sections of the portfolio. Work on development of this part of the portfolio will begin during 2001-02, with the appointment of an accreditation committee that will work closely with the portfolio team. Usability Testing During the final phase of the UUPP, PSU conducted informal usability testing with contributors and representatives of various user groups. These informal conversations and observations around the format, design, and content of the portfolio resulted in changes that have improved the site. In addition, an evaluation form is included on the Web site, along with a discussion board and email address for comments and suggestions, to provide several avenues for user feedback. Formal user testing will begin during summer 2001 and will involve various techniques, such as focus group discussions, observations, and questionnaires. The Urban University PSU's portfolio begins with vision statements from the President and Provost that address the University's identity and mission as an urban university. References to mission and how it is played out in our activities are threaded throughout the portfolio content. Community and Global Connections highlights our urban identity most clearly, but other important examples may be seen in all of the other themes. While it was difficult at first to frame urban characteristics within the theme of Research and Scholarship, we have been able to develop chapters within that theme that speak directly to PSU's urban mission (please see the Research and Scholarship section of the Portfolio). Site Visits While the site visits to PSU did not model accreditation self-study visits, as we know them under NASC, they did provide direction and support to the project that was essential to its progress and completion. Our reviewers, Pat Hutchings, Roland Smith, Carol Bobby, and Tim Gilmour worked closely with us, combining careful critique with an atmosphere of partnership and collegiality that created a positive experience for all of us. Reports of the visiting teams were most useful to the project team itself, although the Provost did review the reports and referred to them in presentations to the campus. If the site visits were intended to model accreditation self-study visits, then it would have been more helpful to have fully developed portfolios available for review. The visits were most useful in helping to shape the portfolios and provide feedback as they were being developed. The accreditation piece was difficult to conceptualize at PSU, because most of the team's efforts simply were directed toward creation of the portfolio and establishment of processes for gathering and framing content. PSU's Process The strengths of PSU's process were the combination of talents gathered to work on the portfolio, the collegial nature of the process, and the commitment of the leadership to creating and sustaining the product. It worked well to house the project in the institutional research office, which reports directly to the Provost and has an open line of communication with her. The Provost has played a highly effective and visible role as the leader of the project and has incorporated the portfolio into her planning activities for the campus. In the IR office, we were able to come up with creative solutions to our budgetary limitations and now have a technical platform and software that will sustain the project into the future. Enthusiasm for participation in the portfolio is high in several areas across campus and is expected to spread, as the portfolio becomes more visible. It was difficult to identify community members who were available to serve as consultants to the project. We plan to remedy this through the development of the customized tours and the implementation of the Provost's conversations on campus planning, which will begin in fall 2001. The assessment initiative is not integrated into the portfolio process, making it difficult to obtain and to frame goals, plans, and outcomes from departments that are participating in the initiative. We understand that some efforts to change the situation may be pending for fall 2001, but it is not clear what result can be expected. In the long run, we will need to have a full-time staff member assigned to the portfolio to continue to collect and edit content and to maintain the technical side of the Web site. A position has been requested through the formal budget process, but departmental budgets are not expected until fall 2001. In the meantime, we will continue to use funds from the UUPP for a Web editor, programmer, and graduate student through most of 2001-02. The portfolio has become part of the fabric of Portland State University and will be a useful tool for the campus for many years to come.