Helen L. Chen

Research Scientist

hlchen AT stanford DOT edu
650.924.0228
Idealogs and Folio Thinking Research Website

Academic Background

1998 PhD in Communication with a minor in Psychology, Stanford University

1993 - BA in Communication Studies, University of California, Los Angeles

Bio and Research Interests

Helen L. Chen is research scientist at Stanford University's Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning (SCIL). She earned her undergraduate degree in communication studies from UCLA and her PhD in communication with a minor in Psychology from Stanford University in 1998. Helen was the project director of the Learning Careers program, a five-year effort funded by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation exploring ways to support student integration of in-class and out-of-class learning experiences that are part of being an undergraduate at a research university.

Through collaborations with national and international portfolio researchers, she co-led the development of Folio Thinking, a reflective practice that situates and guides the effective use of learning portfolios. Helen is a founding member and co-facilitator of the Electronic Portfolio Action and Communication International (EPAC), a community of practice focusing on pedagogical and technological issues related to ePortfolios broadly defined. She also co-represents Stanford's participation in the National Coalition for Electronic Portfolio Re earch and is a contributing blogger and discussion leader for the Apple Digital Campus Exchange.

Helen's current research interests focus on the application of Folio Thinking pedagogy and practices in engineering education and the evaluation of eportfolios and other social software tools (wikis, weblogs, etc.) to facilitate teaching, learning, and assessment for students, faculty, departments, and institutions. In addition, she is also interested in the affordances and scalability of these kinds of tools and their implications for the design and evaluation of innovative learning spaces to support formal and informal learning.

Research Experience

• Research Associate, Institute for the Scholarship of Engineering Education, Center for the Advancement of Engineering Education, Stanford University, September 2005 to present
• Research Associate, Academic Pathways Study, Center for the Advancement of Engineering Education, Stanford University, September 2003 to present
• Project Manager and Evaluation Lead, Designing the Human Experience: Folio Thinking in Theory and Practice within a Freshman Engineering Seminar, January 2004 to present
• Research Associate, Evaluation of High Performance Learning Spaces, Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning, Stanford University, March 2005 to March 2006
• Project Manager and Evaluation Lead, PBL-X: Next Generation Product-Based-Learning with Corporate Partners and Learning Portfolios, Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning, Stanford University, September 2003 to January 2006
• Research Associate, Peer Assessment of Student Collaborative Processes, Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning, Stanford University, September 2003 to June 2005
• Research Associate and Project Manager, Learning Careers Program, Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning and the Stanford Learning Lab, Stanford University, September 1998 to September 2003

Professional Experience

• Contributing Blogger and Discussion Leader, Apple Digital Campus Exchange, May 2005 to present
• Faculty, Association of American Colleges and Universities, Institute on General Education, May 2005 to present
• Campus Lead, National Coalition on Electronic Portfolio Research, May 2004 to present
• Co-Facilitator, Electronic Portfolio Community of Practice - Organizer and moderator for webcasts and interactive discussions co-sponsored by EPAC and the Apple Digital Campus Exchange, 2003 to present
• Founding Member, Electronic Portfolio Action and Communication (EPAC), International, 2001 to present

Selected Presentations and Publications

Grimheden, M., Van der Loos, H.F.M., Chen, H.L., Cannon, D.M., & Leifer, L.J. (2006, October). Culture coaching: A model for facilitating globally distributed collaborative work. Paper presented at the 2006 ASEE/ISEE Frontiers in Education conference, San Diego, CA.

Chen, H.L., Penny-Light, T., Fournier, J. (2006, April). Disciplinary Approaches to Using ePortfolios to Advance Reflective Thinking and Integrative Learning. Concurrent session presented at the Association of American Colleges and Universitiesâ Network for Academic Renewal Conference -- Learning and Technology, Seattle, WA.

Chen, H.L., & Gilbert, D.G. (2006, April). Designing Learning Spaces to Support Liberal Education Outcomes. Roundtable discussion presented at the Association of American Colleges and Universitiesâ Network for Academic Renewal Conference -- Learning and Technology, Seattle, WA.

Chen, H.L. (March 3, 2006). Opportunities for Reflection and Community-Building Using ePortfolios. Teaching and Learning with Technology Series, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Penny-Light, T., Richardson, C., & Chen, H.L. (2006, January). Facilitating Deep Learning with E-Portfolios. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Educause Learning Initiative, San Diego, CA.

Tosh, D., Werdmuller, B., Chen, H.L., Penny Light, T., & Haywood, J. (2006). The learning landscape: A conceptual framework for ePortfolios. In A. Jafari & C.W. Kaufman (Eds.), Handbook of Research on ePortfolios. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Inc.

Chen, H.L. (October 7, 2005). Assessing Campus Readiness for ePortfolios. ePortfolio Day at San Jose State University, San Jose, CA.

Chen, H.L. (September 21, 2005). Reflection in an Always-on Learning Environment: Has It Been Turned Off? Campus Technology Newsletter: Technology-Enabled Teaching/eLearning Dialogue. http://www.campus-technology.com/news_article.asp?id=11802 &typeid=155

Chen, H.L., Cannon, D.M., Gabrio, J., & Leifer, L. (2005, June). Using Wikis and Weblogs to Support Reflective Learning in an Introductory Engineering Design Course. Paper presented at the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland Oregon. 2005 ASEE Design in Engineering Education Division Best Paper.

Eris, O., Chen, H.L., Bailey, T., Engerman, K., Loshbaugh, H., Griffin, A., Lichtenstein, G., & Cole, A. (2005, June). Development of the Persistence in Engineering (PIE) Survey Instrument. Paper presented at the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland Oregon.