Engineers talking about ePortfolios

Nice one!  From LaGuardia, a good clear report on ePortfolios in college, as far as it goes.

Those of you that follow this blog will note that I haven't made any comments about their ePortfolios coming with them from Junior High, or for that matter taking their ePortfolios on with them throughout life.

Two new documents have been published by JISC and prepared by an illustrious team headed up by Janet Strivens of the Centre for Recording Achievement, dated August 2009.

The first, entitled, 'The role of e-portfolios in formative and summative assessment practices', at 66 pages is both a helpful and informative document, despite it being published in Word format. The second, entitled, 'The Role of e-Portfolios in Formative and Summative Assessment: Case Studies of Practice' at a staggering 175 pages takes a bit of time to digest!

The two documents together make a good presentation of the state of e-Portfolios in the UK within the HE sector. The combined wisdom of the team presents a picture that cannot be ignored.

However, there are still too many anomalies and areas which need to be addressed, such as the time needed to train staff and enable them to be comfortable with this medium that might be quite different to anything that they have experienced before.

My main frustration is that over the last few years little has changed in as much as some so-called e-Portfolios still appear to be little more than a substitutionary VLE, delivering both content and in some cases assessment tools built into the e-Portfolio. Again, some institutions' criteria for assessment are more concerned with the skills required for the construction of the e-Portfolio rather than assessing the content and processes demonstrated and the attitude of the student. Questions relating to the use of Macromedia or any web-tool service, for instance, should be irrelevant to the purpose of assessment for which the tool is to be used.

The fact that most of the e-Portfolio systems are still an embedded part of the institutions' delivery is a serious cause for concern and fundamental to issues of portability and student 'ownership'. One emergent problem is that of security, whereby assessors could remotely gain access to parts of the VLE which was not necessarily part of a student's e-Portfolio. Similarly, (an old 'hobby-horse' of mine) there is some discussion about using different e-Portfolios for different purposes, whereas I would suggest that a good e-Portfolio system such as eFolio can deliver different 'views' to different audiences, concurrently, using much of the same content for different purposes.

Perhaps the key-word relating to the functionality of any e-Portfolio is 'interoperability' - and yet the topic does not appear to be mentioned anywhere in the report. Again, the report and case-studies reflect, in my opinion, a significant lack of acceptance of 'transition' and lifelong, lifewide learning as being an important part of the e-Portfolio concept.

Small-Group Collaboration

I have just come across a very useful article on teaching and learning with a particular emphasis on collaboration from eSchoolNEWS. The article is well worth reading with the proviso that one can think in terms of on-line learning instead of the scenario depicted of US schools still living in the 20th Century.

Almost every single point could be translated into 21st Century Virtual Learning using a good e-Portfolio system such as eFolio. The Author, Ellie Ashford writes:

"Everyone needs to be able to collaborate in a group, because that's how things are done in the real world. No one sits alone and works by themselves any more," said Stan Silverman, director of technology-based learning systems at the New York Institute of Technology.

Some educators believe students gain a deeper understanding when they participate in group projects.

Lance Sutton, a teacher at Westview Elementary School in Goose Creek, S.C., said: "When a teacher lectures to them, they forget; when you have kids help design something, they will remember for a lifetime."

Sutton said collaboration is "a more positive way of teaching" and addresses the needs of students who learn best in different ways, such as those who are visual learners or auditory learners. He uses an interactive whiteboard and Interwrite Workspace software from eInstruction to facilitate small-group instruction with his fifth-graders."

As much as I agree with the teaching and learning style eloquently put in this extensive article, surely it is time to encourage, even at this young age, that students work on computers attached to a VLE or at least the Internet. This way all the exciting discussions, and activities, the artefacts produced etc are recorded for the teacher to assess or for the pupils to collaborate even more effectively, to reflect upon, access from home or present to an audience.

Everything Ellie Ashford says is true, but how much more effective can collaboration be through the use of e-Portfolios!

Ethics or Common Sense?

I recently came across a very sensible question on a NZ forum which needs a response. The original question I quote:

May I start a new discussion on the ethics of digital media and how we deal with it currently in our schools?
What are some of your guidelines on student-teacher confidentiality and rights in your school handbooks?
I am concerned on the behalf of students who have 100's of photo's from school camps, balls and sports days placed on a shared network drive for the whole school to access, or even worse, on a webpage.
Has the permission of the students or the caregivers of these students been sought for this exposure and is it any different to displaying the pictures on the school notice board?
Another ethical issue that concerns me about Eportfolios is the hosting and integrity of the host sites on the cloud, for example, there are rumours that Facebook is
selling your public profile pictures to advertisers to use without your expressed permission.
Could this happen to other information on the cloud? I suggest not, if it was hosted by the MOE.
What other ethical views are there on this?
* Video Evidence
* Photo Storage
* Blogs - Access levels
* Cloud Data integrity

One answer came back fairly promptly:

It's all very well suggesting that people should store their data in the cloud, but when you do this you partially lose control over them, in ways that aren't necessarily in your interest.

For example, data stored in a foreign country is subject to the data protection laws of that country. I'm pretty sure the NZ government doesn't allow its data to be stored overseas for this reason.

Also, you can't just count on the good will of these "cloud services" to keep on running - or even working in your interest. For example, Facebook has absolutely no incentive to help you extract your data from it - "why would we let you do that, are you thinking of leaving Facebook?" This even applies to the Google's of this world. At the end of the day, they exist to make money - not store your data for you forever.

To me, it would make sense if a user's portfolio data was stored somewhere that at least has a partial interest in it staying around.

The answers make good sense but, as far as I am concerned, there are four very simple answers to all of this:

1. An e-Portfolio is not very different to any other website or school intranet or VLE. There are usually clearly stated policies about the disclosure of personal data - in particular that photographs should not identify named individuals. Children should be encouraged to use avatars or pseudonyms on any public pages of their e-Portfolio. However, in encouraging children to feel that they 'own' their e-Portfolio they need to be more aware of these issues, or of revealing private family matters. Teachers, parents and carers need therefore to help their charges in these responsibilities.
   
   
2. We do not know how information about us might be used in the future. The skills of target advertising, for instance, are not going to get blunted. In years to come it might be quite possible for an automated process to access an old photograph placed on a repository to identify that we are an animal lover for instance. My simple solution is not to risk the placing of anything of a personal nature in the hands of unknown or unvetted 'guardians'.
   
   
3. The functionality of an e-Portfolio can get seriously confusing if different artefacts are stored in a variety of different repositories. Grown intelligent adults might be able to manage a whole set of artefacts 'scattered around the universe' - but this is not the case for most of our children in schools, the slow learner, the elderly or even those who just don't want the hassle of keeping a log of where everything is. The solution, keep everything to be used in the e-Portfolio in one place where links can easily be established and where the same artefacts can be used possibly several times for different purposes.
   
   
4. Having said keep everything together - that is with one reservation. The e-Portfolio is not a substitute for a VLE - or even one's own PC. The e-Portfolio is not a pantechnicon to move around every single jotting, practice exercise or classroom test. From one's PLE, VLE workspace or laptop items which are of some significance can be copied to the e-Portfolio for specific e-Portfolio purposes. So again, use the e-Portfolio for the purposes for which it is intended - and not as a general dumping ground.
   

So, at whatever age or ability, I would just suggest use a bit of common sense!

Post Script:

For those wanting to further consider the ethics of ICT and in particular relation to e-Portfolios, I thoroughly commend Simon Grant's book, "Electronic Portfolios: Personal information, personal development and personal values".

21st Century Schools

Since its publication in June of this year I have struggled to understand the implications of this White Paper.

It sounds good, is full of promises and some fine examples from outstanding schools. However, it seems to be propounding 'more of the same' rather than looking to new approaches. I cannot see throughout the document how 21st Century Schools will be any different to what we have NOW, nevermind in the future.

For some time now we have understood the implications of a 'flat world' and that has been developed further in Peter Bradwell's paper, 'The Edgeless University'.

I therefore see schools in a similar light. We have discussed the inestimable merits of formative assessment through the e-Portfolio many times. Along with the Home Access Programme we will soon have a near 100% on-line access for all our learners. In schools I see the 'expert' teacher not only being called upon by students in their own class, but also from other classes and other year-groups and even from other schools, 24/7/365. And why stop there? What about adult learners or collaboration with colleagues or professionals around the world? Perhaps the whole issue of contracts and conditions of service needs to be re-appriased in the light of on-line learning communities?

Adult ICT users

You may or may not have been aware that John Denham recently asked Baroness Estelle Morris to carry out an independent review of ICT user skills. She has now published her report.

The BIS website gives a synopsis which may be worth reading first.

Even at a cursory glance it appears to be saying all the right things. However, I am flabberghasted in that although written by the highest authorities in the land it makes no mention of e-Portfolios!

Is there nobody who actually advises these lofty oracles who knows anything about the value of e-Portfolios in any form of learning, however old the learner or whatever their previous abilities?

Surely, the motivation to get on and learn anything to do with ICT starts by having some sense of pride of ownership and self-representation. What tool is better able to provide planning, collaboration, peer-review, formative assessment and the final showcasing of a student's work than the e-Portfolio?

Having marked adult learners' paper-based portfolios before I cannot understand why anyone can even dream of not using a simple e-Portfolio system. eFolio, for instance, is a low-cost product, simple to use and maintain and, what's more, can be kept with pride, for life!