Enabling Systemic Change: Creating an ePortfolio Implementation Framework Through Design and Development Research for use by Higher Education Professionals

Drawing from a design and development research approach, specifically model research, this study investigated the perspectives of higher education faculty and administrators regarding their experiences with a university-wide electronic portfolio implementation initiative. Participants in the study were fifty-two faculty and administrators at a large research university in the United States who were either continued users or recent abandoners of electronic portfolios. Survey and interview data were used to understand participant perspectives on the electronic portfolio implementation process, including perceived enablers and barriers to adoption of this instructional technology. Study findings and Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory informed the development of a six-component electronic portfolio implementation framework. Three external experts in systemic change were then asked to review the framework. Feedback from these external experts was incorporated into a revised version of the framework that is presented here. The framework can be used by an educational institution to support the successful adoption and integration of electronic portfolios regardless of where the organization is within the implementation process.