During the 2000-2001 academic year, the Music Education Division of the School of Music at Ball State University decided to begin working with select students on an electronic portfolio model. After much discussion, the faculty involved decided to utilize a Web-based template during this pilot project. The template model was chosen to give students a starting point and framework to utilize in developing their portfolio, assist them with the initial technological challenges of e-portfolio development, and provide a common structure to enable the portfolios to be assessed more easily. With the template, students had prompts to utilize as they selected artifacts and described their development as a teacher in relation to each of the INTASC standards. As anyone who has ever suffered writer's block while staring at a blank page knows, the process of getting started can be quite difficult at times. The e-portfolio template minimized the "getting started" process for the students by designating the types of reflection and materials that should be included in the portfolio. Because the students in our pilot project would be learning the necessary technical skills at the same time they were learning many other traditional concepts and skills that were part of their methods class curriculum, the template-based model also provided a means to accelerate their technical development by minimizing some of the technical requirements placed on the students in what was for many of them their first attempt at Webpage editing. Finally, because the professors involved would be assessing the portfolios of many students, it was felt that a common structure to the portfolio, established by the template, would aid the assessment process since the professors would be able to more easily locate and examine all the required materials in each portfolio.
     The pilot project included all freshmen music education majors enrolled in first semester introduction to music education classes and students in a junior-level music education methods course. A template was developed that students downloaded from a Webpage on the BSU Music Education Web site. The template had several different components that students could modify and personalize as appropriate using Netscape Composer, a free, basic Webpage editing program. An initial cover page featured the logo of the music education division and a place for students to place their name. From this cover page, the portfolio "opened" to a two-frame design with navigation links found along the left frame and each of the other pages of the portfolio displayed in the right, content frame. The initial page displayed in the content frame is the "home page" of the portfolio. Students edited this page to display their name and email address, replaced the graphic with a picture of themselves, and wrote their music autobiography. The autobiography was an assignment that previously existed in the introductory music education class. For the freshmen this assignment now became part of their portfolio requirement, while the juniors could update what they had completed as freshmen.
     A philosophy page was included for students to eventually include their philosophy of music education as part of their portfolio. This was not required of the freshmen in the pilot project. Juniors included it if they had already taken the course where this assignment in the music education curriculum is completed. The other parts of the template consisted of separate pages for each of the ten INTASC standards. Each page included a brief description of the standard for the student to refer to, an area for students to reflect on their overall development in the standard, and a place for the student to link to artifacts that demonstrate their competence in the standard along with providing a brief description of each artifact, describing what they've learned, and discussing how the artifact demonstrates their competence in relation to the INTASC principles.
     The INTASC standards were discussed in class. The technical aspects of portfolio development were modeled in class for students. In addition, some classes (if the instructor chose to do so) spent one class period in the School of Music computer lab where they completed a brief tutorial on Webpage editing techniques including modifying text, inserting graphics, creating hyperlinks, and basic file management strategies. Handouts were also developed for students to refer to related to editing Webpages, scanning pictures, creating their personal portfolio Web space on the university's servers, and using an ftp program to place their portfolio files on the server. Students could receive additional assistance from workers in the computer lab, or by scheduling an appointment with their professor. In addition, the more Web-savvy students ended up assisting those students who were less experienced.
     In reflecting on the pilot project, there were three common threads that stood out. One of my concerns has always been getting students to see the big picture - how all of the disparate parts of their curriculum fit together. Often it seems students don't understand how music theory, educational psychology, their applied lesson, and the music education methods class all relate to each other, and what the importance of any individual course is as far as the student's development as a teacher. In reading through the portfolios, it seems that at least some students are starting to make these connections. The portfolio, structured as it is, is creating a framework that is helping students to synthesize and connect the various components of the music education curriculum.
     The second trend that became apparent were the varying levels of quality in the students' reflections. Much of the students' reflective writing was at a low level, primarily descriptive in nature. Students need assistance in better understanding what reflection is and how the process of reflection works. While part of the skill in reflecting on practice is undoubtedly developmental in nature, perhaps formal instruction and exercises to develop skill in thinking and writing reflectively need to become part of the curriculum.
     Finally, students need more development of their technical skills (skills in using the technology) in order to present a portfolio that looks good (graphic design issues), and that doesn't have problems such as dead links, etc. They also need more knowledge and skill development in this area so they will feel comfortable using higher end technologies such as digital audio and video. The artifacts students used were very basic, and the overall quality was fairly low. Admittedly, most of these students started from "ground zero" and as they continue to hone their skills while developing their portfolios semester after semester these problems may dissipate. However, there may need to be more formal instruction in these things too; instruction that is probably beyond the scope of any single methods class.
     In retrospect, the music education faculty were satisfied with the template model. The initial reasoning behind using a template seemed to be well founded in practice. Individual students who had adequate technical skills were able to personalize their portfolio by changing the backgrounds of pages, using different styles of fonts, inserting appropriate graphics, and linking to other Webpages they developed and added to their portfolio. As of this writing, the faculty involved in the electronic portfolio project plan to continue working to refine the process, and develop a model that will coalesce with the electronic portfolio system implemented for all teacher education students at Ball State University.