The New Literacy?

Thanks to a brief post from Leigh Blackall I read this eloquent item from Rachel McAlpine. It talks of young people enthusiastically writing away on their netbooks or laptops - and that whilst they were away on holiday! If ever there was an example of learning taking place outside of the classroom, I think that this is it!

Writing, however reflective, can still be very introspective and misses something of the point of learning as far as I understand it. Even some three hundred years ago we read of Isaac Watts putting together his great works on Logic etc by comparing the writings of two or three others and compiling a single work from the synthesis of both the other writers and his own perceptions. Perhaps, although not interactive, this could be seen as a form of collaboration?

Certainly, for today's learners, Rachel McAlpine's observations are but just the beginings of e-Portfolios as the store of fond and sometimes private memories only to be trusted by a select few. I wonder how many of Rachel's holiday writers will publish their rich gems of observation, refined by the collaboration or peer-review of others.

e-Portfolios? Let's get going!

The Australian ePortfolio Toolkit

In trying to under-stand the state of e-Portfolios around the world, I rediscovered the Australian ePortfolio Project Report of August 2008 that I'd neatly stored away and then forgot! As they state:

"The AeP project team has developed the Australian ePortfolio Toolkit for use by ePortfolio practitioners in their institutions. The ePortfolio Toolkit comprises a series of ePortfolio Concept Guides designed to inform the diverse stakeholders in higher education about issues and opportunities associated with ePortfolio learning."

However in re-visiting their site I found it refreshing to study their 'Concept Guides'. To my mind they are one of the clearest expressions of JISC advice. However, they are just that, advice for HE and VET students, staff, technicians and employers of graduates. What we now need to do is translate these excellent documents into exemplar materials for the rest of the 90% population who are not on the HE conveyor-belt.

Excellent as the advice is, I cannot see much evidence of what is actually happening in the classroom or late at night between peers reviewing each other's work or collaborating in larger projects.

So, good as the Australian venture is, whatever nationality you belong to, please come back to me with examples of the work done in your country - and let me 'wave the flag' for your nation.

Crystal ball gazing?

Serge Ravet posts some tough lines of enquiry as to the future of e-Portfolios. The question therefore comes to mind, quite simply, where shall we be in ten years time? The answer does not come from Doris Day's rendering of 'que sera, sera - whatever will be will be'. Rather, the future of e-Portfolios is what we make it. We are now well passed the position of 'This looks like a good idea.' It's now time to get down to some serious business!

Serge writes a post entitled '10 ePortfolio Challenges' the opening paragraph sets the scene for some hard questioning:

"For the 7th ePortfolio conference, and in order to give directions to our work towards our 2010 goal (ePortfolio for all), EIfEL decided to address a number of challenges to the ePortfolio community and beyond —many of the problems the ePortfolio community faces today will not be resolved if they are not addressed beyond the ePortfolio silo. The goal of these challenges is to move beyond the current state of ePortfolio development, in particular in the field of interoperability as interoperability is not just a technical issue, but a means to enable new practices and the emergence of truly lifelong and life wide ePortfolios."

Another challenging paper by Serge must be studied: 'What is the problem with personal data today?' I quote the opening paragraph:

"Digitised personal data records now play a central role in our life, from the record of a birth at a hospital (and the photos of the new born!) to the delivery of a death certificate at the registrar. The increasing number of digital data, by and about ourselves, lead to the emergence of what is now referred to as 'digital identity', i.e. all the attributes and digital production by and about a person —school records, health records, employment records, business records, credit records, surveillance records etc."

Where in the world are we?

The recent post from John Pallister set me to think, Is it not time that we had a world-wide audit of the current usage of e-Portfolios?

I am aware that there are some 2,500+ readers from 77 countries visiting this blog, some on an almost daily basis.

Can I ask, therefore, that you all tell me your opinion of what is happening in terms of e-Portfolio usage where you are? If you can collect any local data all the better. Short articles that I can publish a link to would also be helpful.

In the next day or two I will set up a simple questionnaire to collate your responses, but meanwhile, any comments or e-mails to me will be helpful.

Thanks in advance.

Web2.0 & e-Portfolios

If you need a strong argument for introducing e-Portfolios into the classroom, and more importantly, into the wider experience of your students, look no further than the reality of being able to use Web2.0 tools within an e-safe environmet such as eFolio.

For some time now I have been considering the benefits of Web2.0 ever since Terry Freedman published his first book on Web2.0. His website and newsletter are well worth following. However, in thinking how things have progressed in terms of e-Portfolios over the last two years in schools, we might say 'Not a lot!' It seems to me that not only are teachers afraid of being accused of being members of a '5th column' but that technicians and Network Managers in particular are not keen to incorporate every different configuration of a very fluid Web2.0 supply. And, of course, as students mature, they will want an ever-increasing set of tools not available on their school's VLE.

What I am trying to underline is that there is a lot of progress being made in Web2.0, whether it be for 'free tools' for the Home Access netbooks or advanced tools for personal development (see my post on Chan Sook). However, I feel that these tools are not being successfully embedded within our classroom culture.

MY solution, as the title of this post implies, is that the e-Portfolio is that place where students can embed their own personal preferences of Web2.0 tools, as and when they are ready for them, without any intrusion into the 'high-security' domain of the VLE.

Thinking Differently in a Digital World

I had thought of a more slick title such as 'Get Real, man!' - but thought better of it. However, the principle still stands. Two different posts recently reminded me of the vast gulf which still remains fixed between those in their ivory palaces of academia and the real world of day-to-day learning and living. How we can best use the communication systems that we have and how we relate to one-another in the digital world still needs to be understood.

The first post, from Wayne Mackintosh in New Zealand, mentions an incident which is quite common, that of moving house, and even, in this case, from one country to another. He writes:

We have recently relocated back home to New Zealand after working a few years in Canada. My son is in Year 11, and due to curriculum differences between the two countries, in some subjects he had already covered aspects of the NZ curriculum in Canada. He had an assignment to write a book review and had already done one in Canada. So he simply copied the digital version of the book review for submission here in NZ. Educational issues aside -- he was able to reuse his efforts and investment in learning from a previous learning experience.

Similarly, in subjects areas which adopt a concentric curriculum design on increasing levels of difficulty a student may want to rework last year's assignment covering the same topic. Part of our responsibilities as educators is to prepare our students for a changing digital future .... This may place interesting challenges on traditional notions of property and ownership of learning outputs.

In a completely different scenario the writer, Julian Beckton, was extolling the virtues of a rendering of Mahara into which, credit where it's due, he has put a lot of work. However, it appeared to be a very introspective HE solution and lacked little reference to the wider world. I responded somewhat critically but, I hope, constructively:

If you can consider that an e-Portfolio is ‘for life’, or ‘from 5-95′ or as Dr Barrett says, ‘from sperm to worm’, you will appreciate that the one tool must be far more user-friendly than your somewhat technical solution suggests.

Secondly, the e-Portfolio is the centre for all sorts of learning external to ’school’ or ‘college’ and as such must have within it a number of e-safe tools which allow peer-review, collaboration, polls, surveys and questionnaires etc.

Thirdly, within the context of the percieved audiences, there must be simple tools to control who sees what and when.

Fourthly, and this is my chief complaint with Mahara, the e-Portfolio tool must be capable of using a number of templates, colour schemes and fonts which allow some degree of personal self-representation.

Fifthly, you mention nothing as far as I can see, about ‘transition’. Although there are ‘fixes’ for allowing some level of interoperability with Mahara, you do not warn people that the Mahara solution will probably not be of any use to learners once they move on from their present institution.

So, the bottom line is still the question that I often ask, 'How can we use e-Portfolios to enhance or even revolutionise Teaching and Learning in a Digital World?'

Clouds in the Sky?

I'm not the most enthusiastic user of 'Cloud Computing' but I have genuinely tried to understand the mind-set of those who are. Perhaps, the cry of 'Is it free?' does not naturally burst from my lips. Perhaps I never did belong to the 'hippy-generation' and I very rarely get impressed with the Graffiti artists who ply their trade on every brick wall available. Perhaps my well-earnt salary makes me feel a bit more comfortable with paying for a product that is backed-up with a solid and free support service. Or perhaps it is my somewhat cautious fear of leaving my muddy footprints all over the ether.

However, I have recently been quite impressed with the thinking of others on this subject. Firstly, I came across Hazel Owen's blog. Her post on the hypothetical Chan Sook paints a very clear picture of the mindset of our young (and possibly not-so-young) students. Probably others could add equally competitive Web2.0 applications to her list, impressive as it already is. Her mindmeister mind-map is really something to browse. However, I took the liberty of producing an A4 'compression' of her map which is just about readable.

At the other end of the spectrum, I am very grateful to Paul (see comment on 'Cloud Computing?', below) for the link to a most comprehensive 26-page document from Sun Microsystems. If other readers have good documentation or links please respond by commenting.