Purpose of LiveText

LiveText is an electronic portfolio system that is accessible through the internet.  It is a file cabinet system, with data mining capabilities.  Students are able to design portfolios to show their teaching abilities, and the College of Education is able to assess data to prove that students are able to do what they are supposed to do to become teachers.

An electronic portfolio system had to be adopted because of the new requirements set forth by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Educators (NCATE).  Accreditation requirements changed in 2002 where having certain objectives for specific courses was not enough, and proof that students meet those objectives had to be established by the university.  Arkansas State University is using electronic portfolios so that students are able to place the needed evidence into a portfolio system and it can be formally assessed used as proof that students are learning what they are supposed to be learning in the the Professional Education Program at Arkansas State University.

If the Teacher Education Program did not use an electronic portfolio system where data could be tabulated to show that students were able to do what they were supposed to, we would need 1:  many file cabinets to keep all the data, and 2:  a system to be able to quantify the numbers of students who could and could not perform the needed requirements for certification.

Teacher Education's Purpose for LiveText

Teacher Education now requires an electronic portfolio system in order to prove that students are learning what is expected in their classes. In order to continue accreditation with national and state agencies, Arkansas State is required to not only have objectives in coursework that meet required criteria, we are required to prove that our students are learning the given objectives. If the university fails to show that their students are meeting the requirements, we can no longer recommend students for teacher licensure. For this reason, Arkansas State, like many other teacher education programs in other universities, must have an electronic portfolio system in place.