PLTW EDD: Unit I, Lesson 1 - Innovation portal introduction

Connecting the original design work of students to opportunities and the national STEM conversation

Tens of thousands of high school and post-secondary students complete original engineering design and problem solving projects each year.

The vast majority of these students simply close their project portfolios and move on when the project is finished as opportunities for them to seek recognition for their work beyond the classroom are few and varied.

The Problem

Students who are demonstrably capable of engineering design and problem solving work are highly valued in the post-secondary and industry arena yet there is no standardized format or vehicle for interested parties to use to view and evaluate their engineering design work.

The Problem

“Hands down, a student with decent grades and a solid experience in a capstone design course would be at the top of my list for admission to our engineering program …..However….”

“…..Without a systematic process for reviewing original student design work there is no way to incorporate the value of the work into the algorithm of college admissions or any other recognition process. Without a standardized assessment tool to organize and evaluate any submitted work there can be no systematic process.”

The Challenge…

A well recognized engineering design process portfolio scoring rubric

A single template for displaying student work designed around the scoring rubric and made accessible to a reviewer

March 2010University of Maryland – College Park

In March of 2010 representatives from K-12, industry, post-secondary and private institutions were brought together to begin the discussion of what an engineering design process assessment rubric should contain and how it could be used to support curriculum development.

The discussions lead to a final draft of a rubric entitled “The Engineering Design Process Portfolio Scoring Rubric” (or EDPPSR) in December of 2010 that will become part of a university study to validate the document as an assessment tool.

2 – Create multiple, ongoing, Interactive, opportunities for recognition of individual submissions

3– Create a means of identifying, extracting, documenting and distributing noteworthy Innovation Portal events for all stakeholders

1 - Create a web-based, secure (IP issues) and standardized process for building and posting student portfolios of original design work

60,000 Foot Goals

The Rubric Student Work

Interest from Post-Secondary, Industry, and the Public Sector

How to connect the pieces

iPortal Team

Developing and Maintaining “Opportunity Modules” and Relationships with supporters

Accessible directly through student accounts

iPortal Team

Developing and Maintaining Ongoing Output of iPortal Stories and Reports

Students building online project portfolios based around the rubric in a secure and instructor managed environment

How is the Innovation Portal Concept Unique?

• Free and Secure Online Drag-and-Drop Portfolio builder software

• Single portfolio template designed directly around the EDPPSR rubric

• Free and Secure “Teacher’s Accounts” to connect to multiple student works

• Direct connection to competitions, scholarship possibilities and other opportunities related to original problem solving works from the student account

• Non-profit team dedicated to increasing the number of opportunities and resources available directly through the Innovation Portal

• All accounts, and data are the sole property of the students