Providence College Implements iWebfolio in Ongoing Pursuit of Individual and Institutional Improvement
Early Adopter of Institutional Assessment Solution TracDat
Adds Electronic Portfolio to Collect Evidence of Achievement

PITTSBURGH, PA, January 31, 2007 – Nuventive, a leading provider of individual and institutional assessment solutions, today announced that Providence College will implement iWebfolio, a leading electronic portfolio management system for managing the process of individual and institutional assessment and continuous improvement. Providence intends to use iWebfolio to enhance the institutional assessment initiative that was launched in 1999 and led to the 2000 implementation of Nuventive TracDat, an enterprise assessment management solution to manage the process of institution-wide strategic planning and student learning outcomes assessment..

Providence College, established in 1917 and located in Rhode Island’s capital city, is a Catholic, Dominican, liberal arts college which has earned a national reputation for providing a -distinctive education for its undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education student population, now numbering approximately 5,500. Noted by U.S. News and World Report as one of the top two master’s level colleges and universities in the North for ten consecutive years, Providence also listed among the top 20 schools recognized for academic excellence in the "peer assessment" survey completed by presidents, provosts, and deans of admission at similar institutions nationwide in 2006.

Providence College will use iWebfolio to demonstrate evidence of progressive learning and competency by building and managing a structured repository of artifacts. Students will share activities and achievements, educational, professional and personal goals, and reflections of the learning experience. Providence anticipates that student portfolios will be used to demonstrate and assess core curriculum and program specific outcomes as well as to present skills and accomplishments in the employment or graduate school application process. The college also plans to use iWebfolio at the institutional level to create portfolios focused on specific topics and designed for selected audiences, such as selected areas of assessment and regional accreditation.

One of the more valued features of iWebfolio enables faculty to easily develop and share templates and provide guidelines to enable a consistent portfolio structure that will accomplish the specific intended objectives. Providence anticipates developing program and/or institutional outcomes and employment/graduate school presentation templates that the entire institution will utilize. In addition, the college believes that faculty and staff may wish to create their own professional portfolios. The college will begin its implementation of iWebfolio with accounts for students and faculty in selected departments/programs who are currently using portfolios or have expressed a strong interest in adopting the solution. Providence expects iWebfolio to provide additional direct evidence of student, program, and institutional outcomes. Individual departments and programs will be encouraged to utilize iWebfolio for assessment.

The college selected iWebfolio after a broadly representative committee was constituted to research e-portfolio vendors and products, assess the viability of specific solutions for use on campus, and recommend a preferred vendor. Providence was familiar with Nuventive from its implementation of TracDat in early 2000. The solution was a component of Providence’s formal assessment program initiated in 1999 as a response to feedback from its accrediting body. TracDat enables a more structured approach to assessment than had previously been in place at the college. The application serves as the repository for institution-wide assessment data and tracks progress against defined assessment goals and objectives. The college anticipates that the empirical assessment data provided by iWebfolio will supplement the existing assessment information currently collected in TracDat to establish an enhanced assessment approach.

“Electronic Portfolios provide an outstanding platform for engaging in authentic assessment. After reviewing several solutions thoroughly, we chose iWebfolio because it offered the functionality we valued. Nuventive has always provided the service we desired so we were very comfortable that the complete solution would meet our expectations,” said Brian Bartolini, Ed.D, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs.

“Providence College, one of our earliest relationships, recognizes that continuous improvement and student achievement are the characteristics of leading institutions”, said Dr. David Raney, Nuventive CEO. We are very pleased that as an early adopter of advanced solutions for institutional assessment, Providence College continues to expand their vision for continuous improvement. We look forward to our continued partnership as we help the college meet the goals and objectives of institution.”

About Providence College
Providence College is liberal arts, Catholic, Dominican institution of higher education. It has earned a national reputation for providing a distinctive education that challenges and transforms students. Committed to fostering academic excellence through the sciences and humanities, the College provides a variety of opportunities for intellectual, social, moral, and spiritual growth in a supportive environment.
http://www.providence.edu/

About Nuventive
Nuventive is a leading provider of comprehensive, integrated real-time solutions that enable its customers to support the continuous process of assessing, managing and improving learning. Nuventive customers are institutions, faculty, administrators, students and private sector users in over 20 countries. Institutional customers include Western Michigan University, the 14 campus Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, Delgado Community College and Providence College. Nuventive maintains strategic partnerships with industry leaders such as the European Institute for E-Learning (EIfEL).Thousands of users around the world have licensed Nuventive products and the Company has received industry as well as customer recognition for its innovative solutions.

Nuventive is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with distribution in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific regions. For more information, please visit www.nuventive.com or call +1.412.847.0280 or 1.877.366.8700.

Nuventive, the Nuventive logo, and the marks relating to other Nuventive products and services referenced herein are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Nuventive LLC. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.