Education Policy, Business and Technology

Building a Three-Dimensional Record of Student Learning

Campus Technology: Former Stanford University (CA) registrar Tom Black once described the traditional college transcript as "the record of everything the student has forgotten."

According to Helen Chen, director of e-portfolio initiatives in Stanford's Office of the University Registrar, that dissatisfaction with the limitations of the basic transcript has spurred the university to launch several projects to explore new representations of the student record that might do a better job of conveying a student's learning as well as co-curricular activities.

One prototype sought to organize the student record not chronologically, but according to learning outcomes. "Our general education courses define learning outcomes," Chen said. "What if you could organize the student record according to those outcomes rather than an emphasis on courses and grades?"

Read article