Ithaca College

I’m pleased to announce that TaskStream has been selected as the provider of an institution-wide integrated platform for electronic learning portfolios and assessment data management needs.

TaskStream products are used by hundreds of colleges and universities across the country, including George Mason, Northeastern, Northern Arizona, Ohio Northern, Purdue, and Tulane, and individual users within those institutions number in the hundreds of thousands. 

The electronic learning portfolio component allows our students to create multiple portfolio versions to meet professional, academic, or personal needs and incorporate both text and multimedia artifacts. The assessment management function of TaskStream provides faculty and staff the ability to use standardized or custom assessment rubrics to evaluate student work and to report information in aggregate or by subgroup. Although we will have a plethora of training opportunities for students, faculty and staff, please know that TaskStream provides unlimited technical support via phone or online, as well as web-based training and electronic user guides. Implementation of TaskStream will begin with students entering Ithaca College in fall 2013.

Many thanks to Dennis Charsky, Karen Edwards, Doreen Hettich-Atkins, Beth Rugg, Mai An Rumney, Scott Smith, and Mike Taves for their work in developing review criteria, reviewing initial vendor responses, identifying vendors for web demonstrations open to the campus, testing out finalist vendors, and reviewing cost information and technical recommendations.

A significant next step in implementing the TaskStream system is a pilot of the platform during spring 2013 with approximately 100 students via courses or student organizational involvement. Faculty groups working on processes for learning portfolio evaluation and on creating assessment rubrics will be able to test out possibilities within TaskStream and see how those processes and rubrics would work in practice. An equally significant next step is working with existing electronic learning portfolio users to identify specific data migration processes and their desired timelines for migration, beginning with the largest group of electronic learning portfolio and assessment management users on campus, programs in teacher education.

Again, I wish to thank the many faculty and staff who participated in the process, including those who attended and provided feedback during open web demonstrations for four vendors, which ultimately led to the selection of TaskStream as our provider. This is an exciting and critical accomplishment as we progress toward the implementation of the Integrative Core Curriculum, which begins in fall 2013.