Towards the Next Revolution in Teaching and Learning

to boldly go...

I have long maintained that so-called disruptive technologies are only that for the slothful teacher who is not willing to recognise that Teaching andd Learning strategies are changing.  For those educationists who DO recognise that we must move on in terms of teaching styles, that learners my benefit from a different combination of learning styles on two different days then and only then can we move on. 

The wise teacher will recognise that mobile devices, self-paced learning, collaborative pedagogies, cloud-based systems and intelligent PLEs are but tools to assist their dreams.  I argue that the ePortfolio is the central hub that can make all of the potential changes in Teaching and Learning become effective. - And, I would suggest, within the next few years.

The paper briefly identifies some 25 aspects of Teaching and Learning which, when mixed together will combine to form an explosive mixture that is nothing short of revolutionary:

http://www.maximise-ict.co.uk/Towards_the_next_revolution_in_T&L.pdf

ePs for Engineering Students

A recent post by Ilona Buchem drew my attention to a review of the above erudite article which can be found here.  The 25-page .pdf is well worth reading.

The striking sentence of the review for me was near the end, "Participant comments such as “This {portfolio activity}allowed me to” or “this forced me to” suggest that the range of identity-related thinking prompted by the exercise was unprecedented or novel for many of these participants."

It remains a tragedy that students much earlier on in their school-days are still not being introduced to the ePortfolio concept and are not being encouraged to transition with their ePortfolio from one institution to the next.

It is very easy for even a 5-year old to discover that the ePortfolio IS their digital identity. They can proudly say, "This is ME!" and share and discuss their efforts etc.

Time flies but are we standing still?

For several business reasons I've not had the time to stop and think about writing constructively about ePortfolios in this blog for a few weeks. However, in regularly scanning the posts of others, reading expensive publications and reviewing repeated 'pilot studies' I wonder if we are getting anywhere very fast. Schools in the UK are still 'thinking about' ePortfolios. Otherwise intelligent graduates are still extolling the virtues of web sites or blogging tools such as Wordpress, Weebly, iWeb or Blackboard as if they are true ePortfolios - and this is where I must part company with them.

An ePortfolio is just not a glorified CV or Showcasing tool - although these are very valuable aspects of an ePortfolio. Perhaps, in one phrase, I would sum up a true ePortfolio as 'a place of conversation'. In its initial phase an ePortfolio might be little more than a collation of unfinished works, in any media format, that peers or mentors might have access rights to in order to discuss and collaborate upon. Feedback comments, star ratings or Likert scales etc are all part of the tool-set of the ePortfolio and should all be contained in the one place.

Secondly, reflection is an integral part of ePortolio growth. In the many examples that I have reviewed I see little request for feedback and certainly very little reflection about the contributions of others. There is a sense of arrogance about many so-called ePortfolios which promote the owner as the perfect potential employee who knows it all and never needs to listen to the ideas or advice of others.

Related to reflection is the whole concept of the 'Life Story' or at least the documentation of some part of the learner's progression, of their interests and evolving maturity. As much as the learner could explain 'Where I have come from' they should also be capable of describing 'Where I want to get to' and 'How I will attempt to get there'. The learner's teachers, mentors and peers can all provide a rich source of support if the ePortfolio tool allows.

And this, of course, is where eFolio can make a real contribution. Firstly it is easy to use - it must be if even our youngest pupils are expected to use it. It needs no great technical competency and 'writing frames' can be created for those who need them. Secondly, and this is most important, teachers should encourage active dialogue through the ePortfolio, anywhere, anytime. Thirdly, an understanding of the role of feedback is important, of constructive dialogue and reiteration. Teachers should no longer be seen as the despots of two centuries ago or 'The sage on the stage' but, through their ePortfolios learners should discover their teachers to be 'The guide by the side', or even their 'Friend to the end'.

And that, again, is where eFolio makes an outstanding contribution. Here in the UK eFolio is provided as an externally hosted facility and not embedded within an institution's VLE. I have written several times about the concept of transition or portability. If an ePortfolio is really for Lifelong Learning it should be 'lifelong' with the learner and not left behind, mouldering in an institution's archives, when needed in years to come.

What does it look like?

I am a member of a BSI (British Standards Institute) SIG working on ePortfolio specifications to include issues of interoperability and much more. On face value, as the Sth.Koreans presented it, the ePortfolio problem is all about interoperability and how far we are off coming to consensus. But, the further we get in discussing the details, the further away we depart from each other. There is no doubt that institutions around the world have all defined their own perceptions of what an ePortfolio is, what its purpose is, who should be using an ePortfolio, compulsory or voluntary, institutionally owned or learner owned, what does it feel like, what does it look like. Many of these issues I attempted to address several years ago. See ‘Who is hijacking our ePortfolios.’

However, one of the outcomes of the BSI SIG was to identify ‘Use Cases’ of which each country, and even institutions within any country had different opinions as to how an ePortfolio should be used. Can I ask you, therefore, if you would respond by completing the following headings as a comment or emailing to support@maximise-ict.co.uk

Age Range:
Institution:
Location:
Contact:
Application: (name of software)
Function: (30 – 100 words)
URL:

Open Leadership

I have just started to study Charlene Li's book - and am mightily impressed. Not that she addresses education as such nor that she even mentions ePortfolios. However, the sub-title to her book says it all:

"How social technology can transform
the way you lead."

Early on (p8) she says,

"The first step is recognising that you are not in control - your customers, employees, partners are. If you are among the many executives who long for the "good ol' days" when rules and roles were clear, indulge yourself in that kind of thinking for just a few more minutes - then it's time to get to work. This is a fad that will not fade, but will only grow stronger, with or without you."

For teachers wondering about all this 'Open Stuff' and Collaboration etc this book makes a very good read. Every page wants me to pause and think, 'Well how could what she says apply to me and my kids in the classroom?'

On the point of how classrooms have changed and how children are now given more control over their learning see my slideshare, Schools and Change.

What Charlene fails to mention is that teachers have been working towards this for the last 30-40 years (and even before ePortfolios!) I remember asking my class to form groups of 5-6 and, surrounding a large sheet of paper, to brain-storm or collaborate on a project or issue - and even to take away 'two good points and two bad points' from their activity to write up in their own notes.

Earlier on (p5) she identifies three trends that have brought this about this release of control; (1) more people on line, (2) Widespread use of social sites, and (3) the rise of sharing.

Perhaps we should recognise that it is the combination of the three trends above and an evolving expectation amongst teachers that Teaching and Learning MUST change that has brought about the phenomenon of Open Leadership not only in the workplace but also in the classroom. In the context of education, therefore, we can see Charlene Li's three trends as:

1) More people on line: Through many separate avenues including gaming, availability of hand-held devices, Building Schools for the Future, initiatives like Becta's Home Access Programme, governments' Broadband initiatives and the sheer advertising and peer-pressure, it is no wonder that the world-availability culture should pervade schools.

2) Social sites: or possibly more often repositories that have seen the commercial attraction of being social platforms have enhanced a social contagion which, whether for good or bad, cannot be put back inside Pandora's box.

3) The need to share: is part of our gregarious makeup. Educators of all categories have the opportunity to build upon a ready-made culture in order to exploit collaborative processes in teaching and learning as never before.

Yet again, I see the ePortfolio, and eFolio in particular, as the perfect solution to safely delivering all the aspects of teaching and learning or rather 'Open Teaching and Open Learning' that we may ever have dreamed of.

No longer can education be dominated by 'The Sage on the Stage', but, understanding its Latin root, assessment becomes 'The Guide by the Side', and even, in terms of Lifelong Learning, 'The Friend to the End'.

Attraction and Retention

I recently came across the following question:

"How can digital technologies help my institution recruit a wider mix of students?"

A challenging question to which I wanted to pour out my heart. Not so much for the obvious references to publicity and the support that can be provided by alumni. Not so much setting up a new culture of collaborative learning and 'dialogics' but rather, more specifically, how the ePortfolio can enhance both the attraction of learners from a wider field and secondly, how to retain their loyalty through to graduation. At a time when governments are tightening the purse-strings and yet demanding an increase of entrants this is particularly relevant.

Once I had started on my response I soon realised that there were so many influences, even within the narrow realm of the ePortfolio, that impinged on both the attraction of a wider and more diverse academic community and also the ability to retain our 'customers'.

For those who want to read on, the 3-page document is here.

Each of the points listed needs some thinking through as to whether they apply to your particular institution.

Graham Attwell on ePortfolios

Graham Attwell makes a masterful presentation (25 mins) describing the whole ePortfolio panorama. He starts by stating the classic opinion that there are just four different types of ePortfolio. However, he does not appear to come to the same conclusion as myself, that all these types, and more, can all be contained within the one system. Later on he does argue that there are many different uses of an ePortfolio which tend to contradict his arguments for four separate systems.

As regular readers of this blog will know, I argue for a single system with all artefacts uploaded once only but that they can then be re-purposed for several different and concurrent audiences. He raises the important question of ownership as an unresolvable conundrum: should the institution, the Local Authority or even Government own and supply the ePortfolio? Or should employers be required to provide the ePortfolio? And, as I have raised before, what happens when a learner is attending two or three concurrent institutions or is working for more than one employer? Graham continues to ask more challenging questions but without presenting the listener with constructive solutions.

My arguments for eFolio are quite simple. The ePortfolio should be learner owned and not embedded within a single institution. By being externally hosted it is freely portable - wherever the learner may go, and whatever various works they are doing. He hints at the possiblity of cloud-based systems but does not give any solution as to where the non-techie can get support. In contrast, eFolio has both excellent context-sensitive help designed for the young or inexperienced learner and also professional help-desk services - and all at extremely low cost.

ePortfolios and Market Traction

I recently came across this interesting blog - well, interesting in that the author appears to have opinions on so many different subjects.

However, he (she?) does raise some interesting points concerning ePortfolios that I felt I should respond to:

You say, “how many of the players of traditional portfolios were wondering why e-portfolios hadn’t had better market traction. I commented that it has been broadly accepted but it just isn’t called e-portfolios, it was simply people creating an online identity (not always positive unfortunately) with social media.”

Have you not in your statement summed up several of the reasons why the takeup of ePortfolios has been so slow?

Firstly “players of traditional portfolios” are certainly not the ones likely to extol the benefits of innovative digital systems. The driver for ePortfolios is certainly not traditional didactics but starts with a hunger within teachers and students alike for collaborative approaches to teaching and learning.

I fail to see that ePortfolios have been “broadly accepted”. I do agree that some institutions have established internal ‘Portfolios’ embedded within their VLE, but these hardly come under such criteria as ‘portability’, ‘ownership’, ‘Longevity’ or ‘Lifewide Learning’. Quite simply, these manifestations do not come under an enlightened view of what an ePortfolio can do. But more significantly, “most” teachers or Faculty that I speak to do not have a clue about what an ePortfolio can really do for their students or for their own delivery.

Thirdly, of course, just creating an on-line digital identity is hardly what an ePortfolio is about. As much as some social media might claim to be secure and can be presented to different audiences for different purposes, such sites lack the self-image or self-representation that a true ePortfolio can offer as part of a ‘digital identity’. And again, I cannot see solutions such as FaceBook providing the ability to ‘transmogrify’ from one persona to another in the same way as a good ePortfolio such as eFolio can offer.

I really feel that old assumptions about ePortfolios should be discarded and that we should come up with a clear set of ePortfolio definitions. Several years ago I published the following set of 10 criteria. Since then no-one has disagreed with them:
http://issuu.com/efoliouk/docs/ten_prime_directives (best read in FullScreen mode)

Effective Practice with ePortfolios

The above presentation, recently produced by JISC RSC Scotland South & West is an excellently crafted document which clearly articulates present thinking and concerns relating to ePortfolios. Click here to see for yourself.

However, yet again, this author appears to believe that the whole content delivery system, learning management and assessment, CPD and showcasing can all be crammed into what is essentially a private and learner-owned tool. As I tried to make clear, several years ago, (Who's Hijacking My ePortfolio - best read in Full Screen mode) institutions have their own individual agendas and appear to expect the ePortfolio to do all the conventional tasks of a VLE but without the expense! Admittedly, some VLEs are expensive as are assessment tools, plagiarism checkers etc.

As regular readers will know, one of my pervading mantras is "Let the VLE do what it does best and leave the ePortfolio to do what it can best do."

But, again, let me say, a good presentation which is worthy of further discussion.

A few questions...

Well, the full title should be, A few questions before you launch into implementing ePortfolios at your education institution.

For some time now, I have been following the adventures of Sarah Stewart and her application of ePortfolios to the work of midwives in New Zealand and Australia. Recently she posted some 10 questions which potential implementers of ePortfolios should ask themselves before taking such a leap of faith. With her permission I have duplicated her questions and provided some answers:

1. What are you wanting to achieve?
Does an ePortfolio system allow you to achieve that aim or would something else be more appropriate? For example, you would like to use an ePortfolio to allow a seamless submission of assignments by students...do you need an ePortfolio to do this, or can you achieve that function via your current learning/student management system?

Answer:
Any half-legitimate institution for teaching and learning should have its own VLE with a good range of resources including rubrics, rich media, archived materials, and powerful tools much broader than the standard syllabus in order to allow students to develop their own personalised learning environment. So, what we should be doing is looking at those aspects of an ePortfolio that a VLE cannot easily deliver.

2. Is what you are wanting to achieve pedagogically sound?
In other words, do you have a sound educational reason for implementing ePortfolio or are you attracted by the technology with all the latest bells and whistles?

Answer:
Introducing an ePortfolio system will not suddenly change teaching and learning strategies. Rather, a student-focussed approach should inevitably suggest that an ePortfolio is the best medium to manage a range of learning activities where peer-review, feedback in all its forms, use of alternative media, supplementary information about students etc is possible. Above all the ePortfolio should allow the ability to present selected artefacts to a variety of audiences, under controlled access.

3. What is the evidence about ePortfolio in your context?
Is there solid evidence that ePortfolio makes a difference to students' learning or is ePortfolio another fad you are following for the sake of it?

Answer:
There is a growing body of evidence from both students, teachers and administrative staff that ePortfolios have a demonstrable impact on both teaching and learning. However, this takes time for new-start institutions. It takes several years for most institutions to settle down to ePortfolio thinking. Until teachers have discovered what works/does not work for them, until exemplar materials related to ePortfolio processes are tried and tested, until an institution has a good body of alumni who understand ePortfolios, until a good cohort of mentors can advise from their own previous experiences, that evidence will be slow to materialise. Administrators, too, have noticed a significant increase in retention rates.

4. What ePortfolio tools best suit your students' needs?
Before you sign off on an expensive proprietary ePortfolio platform, is there an online tool already available that will better suit your students' needs? For instance, if you want your business students to be prepared to find a job, would they be better off developing a LinkedIn account? Would your carpentry students be better off uploading photos of their work to Flickr? Would a blog suit students' needs for a reflective ePortfolio?

Answer:
This question suggests a restrictive view of teaching and learning. All students should have access to a wide range of tools, such as they prefer to work with, such as Flickr, Prezie, PhotoPeach, Issuu or Audacity to name just a few. But these are NOT ePortfolio tools as such. ePortfolio tools consist of facilities such as making individual artefacts private, shareable or public. Tools such as polls, surveys or Likart scales as well as pre-set forms which can be ‘switched’ on or off all allow different methods of providing feedback. Similarly, blogs or wikis can be contained within the ePortfolio so as to create a private but collaborative community where students can work together with some confidence that their efforts and mistakes will not be seen by ‘outsiders’. - Anyway, who says a proprietary system has to be expensive? - eFolio certainly is not!

5. Who is in control of the ePortfolio?
If you dictate the ePortfolio to the students they are far less likely to engage with it than if they have total control over it. The ePortfolio must belong totally to the students so it can be developed to meet their needs, as opposed to your needs as lecturer and that of the institution.

Answer:
In many cases it might be better for the institution to provide the ePortfolio with some level of scaffolding to help students get off to a good start rather than having to build from a blank canvas. A range of good support features will enable the student to identify what things can be changed immediately and what things can be modified at a later date. It is up to the teacher to decide how much ePortfolio support each student may need, but, as when encouraging a baby to walk, there comes a time when hand-holding is not necessary. Control is a matter of gradual release.

6. Will the ePortfolio be integrated into the curriculum?
If the ePortfolio is an extra add-on to the students' work, they are unlikely to engage with it. Thus, you need to consider how you will integrate it into the curriculum and assessment. This may require a lot of work for faculty staff, so you have to decide if this effort is "worth it".

Answer:
This might create a bit of strain for those educators who have not made the transition to collaborative teaching and learning. However, having access 24/7 to a student’s ePortfolio means that monitoring progress is easier, particularly if you have a few students who need ‘prodding’ to get going. Similarly early intervention if a student is beginning to veer off course actually saves the teacher considerable work when students begin to get towards the date of submission. As mentioned previously, this can help retention rates.

7. How portable will the ePortfolio be?
What will happen to the ePortfolio when the students leave the institution? Portability is one argument for using the cloud such as Google Apps, as opposed to a platform that is restricted to student use only.

Answer:
Portability is a fundamental question and although questions about teaching and learning MUST come first, the issue of portability will actually influence teaching and learning strategies. I have heard too many HE students say “Why should I bother, I can’t take it with me!” If the ePortfolio is to be both Lifelong and Lifewide it MUST be capable of full portability without the destructive influences of extant interoperability systems. However, the rush to use cloud solutions is not without its drawbacks. A secure externally hosted system provides the best of both worlds. eFolio, for instance, is hosted externally in the UK and Europe. One of the significant drawbacks of a cloud-based solution is that of the lack of educational support whereas eFolio is provided primarily as a tool for learners.

8. Can the ePortfolio be integrated into the students' life as a professional tool once they have left university/college?
This is an especially important question for nurses and midwives who are required to have an ePortfolio as part of their statuary requirements for practice. There's little point in developing an ePortfolio platform that is different from one they will use once they are qualified. On the other hand, is this an opportunity to collaborate with hospitals and professional bodies to ensure there is a seamless integration of ePortfolio from life as a student into professional practice?

Answer:
Yes, it is ESSENTIAL that the principle of the ePortfolio as being Lifelong should enable the newly qualified professional, for instance, to use the ePortfolio for the continuation of one’s career and other interests and to share with new colleagues etc. In a new situation, the cosmetic display and layout of pages, the selection of relevant artefacts should be capable of matching one’s new image.

9. How will you evaluate the ePortfolio?
You must have a process for measuring the impact of the ePortfolio as opposed to implementing it without further follow up.

Answer:
Perhaps the most significant feature of evaluation is not that of the presentation of the ePortfolio nor of the artefacts contained within it and the temptation to think summatively, but rather to look at the reflections, the benefits of collaboration and the learning processes the student experienced that demonstrate an increased maturity of understanding rather than just a completed project.

10. Do you walk the talk?
Do you have an ePortfolio that models the process to both colleagues and students? How can you know the value of a pedagogical process if you do not engage with it yourself?

Answer:
Yes, every teacher is a learner, a collaborator, and, where necessary a bit of an exhibitionist. The ePortfolio should be seen as a tool for learners, teachers, departments and institutions. The same tool can be used for many different purposes and all sections of society.

Functionality for VET

I was recently asked to suggest what functionality I would expect for a VET (Vocational Education & Training) ePortfolio. Here is my revised list of suggestions. What do you think?

Ownership
Firstly, and most importantly, I see the ePortfolio as generating ‘Pride of Ownership’. The ePortfolio is a student directed self-representation and as such is a selection of those artefacts, reflections and opinions that the learner chooses to share. The ePortfolio is NOT therefore the totality of all learning experiences, resources and scrap exercises that one amasses in college. – Those are best stored for the duration of the course within the MLE. In terms of functionality, therefore, the ePortfolio allows the learner to select what they choose to present.

Organisation
Secondly, and related to the above, the student should be capable of organising the layout of pages in a logical order, of providing links to external repositories. Sometimes a recording of a dialogue as in an extended blogpost with comments might be in a linear or chronological order or sometimes by topics. Tagging should be appropriate to the learner’s needs.

Formatting
Related to #2, the templates, colour schemes, fonts and graphical features should be capable of being selected by the owner to further reflect the learner's style or self-image.

Rich Media
A good ePortfolio system should be capable of displaying any media type. If 'a picture is worth a thousand words' - how much more a video or an audio recording? The number of quality media formats increases almost week on week and thus the ePortfolio system should not be limited to conventional 'Office' stereotypes. The ePortfolio may not be allowed unlimited storage capacity for every single media-file that the student may possess, but these can always be linked from external repositories.

Widgets

Well, any lightweight tools that might assist productivity, such as a calendar or RSS feeds etc are useful. They also indicate something of the learner's approach to technology,

Security
Some VET students on some courses may be minors or at least ‘transitional’. It is therefore necessary for minors, and in some cases for ‘adults’, that the ePortfolio is capable of security and easy selection of audiences. It should be possible for different parts of the ePortfolio to be seen by different audiences and at controlled times.

Personal Data
Related to ‘Security’ is the whole matter of how much personal data the learner chooses to record within their ePortfolio. Certainly there is seen to be a great advantage if the student is encouraged to keep their own personal data up-to-date within their ePortfolio. Typically, change of address, contact numbers, change of name or next of kin, external qualifications etc can all be easily and immediately updated within their ePortfolio and appropriately exported to the institution’s MLE or MIS. Other background information about family commitments, travel arrangements, previous academic progress etc are also useful for a tutor or mentor to see – if the student chooses to give those permissions.

Collaboration
As part of the learning process, the ability to work in teams, to share ideas, and to benefit from peer-review and thus reflection, it is essential that, as above, the learner can choose who has access to pages within their ePortfolio for the purpose of mutual stimulus.

Feedback
Feedback should be at times fun, stimulating and yet at other times supportive. It is therefore essential that a number of feedback tools eg for polls, surveys, comments or Likert Scales are embedded within the ePortfolio.

Audit Log
Traceability or the possibility of tracking ‘who said what and when’ is a useful tool within the educational process. Not only should tutors be able to see the record of their feedback to the learner – and how they have responded to the comments - but similarly, learners should be capable of evidencing the actual comments from peers, warts ’n all, and record how they have reacted to advice given.

Scaffolding
The ePortfolio should be capable of scaffolding in terms of the degree of guidance tutors may wish to give their students. Admittedly a larger proportion of guidance, resources and assessment tools etc should be held within the MLE. However initial guidance and links to the MLE so as to get the student started can be embedded with the ePortfolio. As ‘scaffolding’ this can be dismounted as and when the student feels able to do without it.

A PLE (Personal Learning Environment) ?

For some students the functionality of the ePortfolio can be more closely related to their learning styles. Some may see the ePortfolio as a 'Planner', their 'to-do' lists or a 'scrapbook'. Others may be skilled enough to provoke and record multiple conversations related to different subjects within their course. Yet others will use the ePortfolio as a mobile desktop with all their favourites, links or family photos. In each case, the ePortfolio is their comfortable 'friend' or 'butler' (to quote from Helen Barrett's Metaphors).

Longevity
If the ePortfolio is to take off then there needs to be engendered some sense of ownership and purpose. Not only ‘showcasing’ whilst on a course of study, but also capable of being useful to the owner in years or decades to come. 'Lifelong Learning' is not just something lecturers talk about, it's something that students actually do! The collection and collation of artefacts lend themselves to building up an ever-expanding life-story which is an invaluable aid to reflection.

Flexibility

It is logical that a class, cohort or whole school would use the same ePortfolio - and yet any such scenario will include students having a range of abilities and needs. If the ePortfolio is to be truly 'Lifewide' it should meet the needs of all abilities, from the potential PhD student, to those with accessibility requirements or to the shop-floor assistant with special learning needs. Technically, therefore the ePortfolio should be simple to use and yet capable of 'advanced' features that the more curious can access.

Portability
Related to Longevity is the whole business of Portability, ie the ability for a student to ‘take their ePortfolio with them’ from one institution to another, and sometimes attending two or more institutions at the same time, moving on from one job to another and even ‘between jobs’.

Evolution
Well, it’s an easier word than ‘metamorphosis’ ! If ‘portability’ is added to ‘ownership’, ‘organisation’ and ‘formatting’, it therefore becomes obvious that the efforts and self-image of the owner will mature with age. – Certainly the ambitious imaginations of a teenager will mature into the more professional self-representation of an experienced adult. Another aspect of 'metamorphosis' that I sometimes use is that of the chameleon, not so much for 'camouflage' but rather that of adjusting to circumstances and audience. The 'view' I might present to a junior audience would inevitably be quite different to that which I might present to a professional interview panel.

Multiple Personas
Any learner has more than one side to their life. The student may choose to represent themselves to their friends as a fun-loving musician. To others, as a serious and sensitive craftsman. To others, a healthy sportsman and energetic worker. To others, a budding theologian or conservationist. Although there may be several areas of overlap, the way one chooses to represent him/herself to a selected audience is important. There is no value in throwing everything at a potential employer, for instance, who only wants to see a certain selection from the above list. The ePortfolio should therefore be capable of displaying these different ‘personas’ or ‘views’ using appropriate pages from the one bank of resources within the ePortfolio.

Support

Over and above educational support, a good ePortfolio system will have a range of support services including context sensitive help, on-line help, forums, hot-desk technical support and, where required, progressive upgrading without the usual demand to buy extra add-ons etc.

Interoperability
As yet this is not a realistic function in terms of all the above requirements. Far too many vendors of ‘in house’ systems claim that their product will export through IMS or Leap2A. However, such promises leave much to be desired. The export/import function only transfers a zip-file of pre-configured artefacts which are then dumped to the new system and the learner then has to start from scratch and re-build their new ePortfolio to the standards of layout and ‘cosmeticisation’ that the owner believes best represents themselves.

(Double-click on this image to get a larger view)

Facilitation and e-Portfolios

I recently attended a BILD seminar on Facilitation. It was a good day with a range of speakers, plenty of practical activities and time for networking with a wide variety of 'top people'.

I had not anticipated how clearly the aspects of Facilitation equated to some of the functions of an e-Portfolio. The photograph of Dr Carl Rogers - 'The Godfather of Facilitation Theory' was subtitled, 'The person-centred approach' - and this said it all for me.

The paper presented by Graeme l’Anson particularly excited me and, with his permission, I list some of the points that he made which equate with e-Portfolio thinking:

Facilitation Theory:

This theory emphasises the learner’s involvement in the learning process, and de-emphasises the trainer’s involvement.
It says that you are there to facilitate a learning process, not to teach.

It recognises:
•a belief that human beings have a natural eagerness to learn,
•there is some resistance to, and unpleasant consequences of, giving up what is currently held to be true,
•the most significant learning involves changing one's concept of oneself.

Benefits to the User of Facilitation:

•Better learning
•People more motivated to improve themselves
•More open to new ideas and change
•People learn to problem solve
•More effective meetings

Three telling quotations:

“A training course is not something you do TO people or even FOR people, but WITH people”

Dave Meier - The Centre for Accelerated Learning

“You cannot teach a man anything. You can only help him discover it within himself”

Anon

“My main job was developing talent. I was a gardener providing water and other nourishment to our top 750 people.”

Jack Welch (ret CEO of GE)

Some have argued that 'The Sage on the Stage' is dead and that 'The Guide by the Side' is the way forward in education. I would argue that there is still a place for both. The performer, the challenger, the provider of rare bits of knowledge or information that interest or provoke discussion or even argument still has a place in education. But so to does 'the Guide by the Side' who provides that 'still small voice' of reason and reassurance'. Whether asked for or not the mentor, counsellor, supervisor, peers and parents all have a place to add to one's learning and self-esteem.

So, my challenge in this post is aimed at all teachers, support staff and technicians, that they should reflect upon Graeme l’Anson's points as above and consider how the e-Portfolio can best be that 'Facilitator' of learning.

Second Generation ePortfolios?

For some time now I have been getting increasingly frustrated by the large number of mainly HE institutions who are continuing to promulgate e-Portfolio theory and practice which is increasingly looking some ten years out of date. I have therefore coined the hardly original acronym of 2G eP, pleading for a second generation approach to e-Portfolios, starting afresh from first principles rather than basing ideas on outmoded thinking.

Despite all the intelligence, wisdom and experience of our noble institutions it would appear that educationists are still saying, 'Here is a tool, what can we do with it?' rather than teachers saying to the developers, 'This is what we want to do, get on and give us what we want.' Quite frankly, eFolio can provide all the facilities that an e-Portfolio should deliver but, for now, let's just explore what we do really require.

Part 2

Perhaps the most immediate requirement is for some clarity. There is presently far too much confusion about the separate functions of a VLE and an e-Portfolio. Course management, and information about assessment criteria are surely the responsibility of the institution. Where helpful to the student one might accept that a copy of assessment criteria could be held within the e-Portfolio but with a good VLE that is hardly necessary. Otherwise, the e-Portfolio should be seen as learner-owned, separate to the VLE and the implications of this need to be fully explored.

The argument has been made that the e-Portfolio is inevitably institutionally based as it is designed to meet the needs of a particular course and even a function within that course. This again is 'tool thinking' rather than 'user-thinking' or 'meeting the variety of needs of each individual'. I raise these issues in my document, first published some two years ago: 'Who's hijacking our e-Portfolios?' To sum up a seven-page article in one sentence: e-Portfolio thinking should not be defined by conventional capabilities but by modern teaching and learning theory. In this regard, a better understanding of collaboration, of peer review and the general benefits of web2.0 will begin to influence the way staff manage formative assessments and the general monitoring of student progress.

Another challenge to take-up across all academic stages is that of the FE institutions. If HE can be seen as having a silo-mentality when it comes to e-Portfolios then FE must be considered as doubly disruptive. My paper, 'A Bridge too Far?' considers the whole situation in 6th-forms and FE colleges. It has been argued that FE has a higher percentage of older teachers and lecturers – this may be marginally true but is still no excuse for the serious lack of CPD supported in FE.

The beauty of eFolio is that different views can be presented concurrently to different audiences - and thus obviating the necessity to model one's e-Portfolio according to the needs of a particular course.

The issues of transition or portability appear to be incapable of meeting any satisfactory conclusion and thus the student is tempted to give up and accept that the e-Portfolio is owned by an institution. This inevitably means that as the learner moves on to another institution yet another different e-Portfolio tool may be required with repeated uploading of artefacts. The owner is therefore tempted not to invest any additional time or effort beyond the minimum required. Perhaps one of my main arguments about the ownership of eFolio is the very fact that through the provision of templates and the facility to change 'skins' and fonts etc not only the younger learner but all learners can create an environment that expresses 'This is ME' – that the learner is proud of and wishes to retain.

If HE has troubles concerning vision, if FE has troubles relating to staff training then Mainstream Education suffers from both of these and more. As much as teachers may expect autonomy within the classroom there is still a need for central advice and direction. For the last four years BECTA has been miserably silent on the issue of e-Portfolios and has utterly failed to provide the leadership and inspiration required for a national initiative. At the same time there is a growing demand from the 'Is it free?' brigade who seem to be unaware of the failure of basic DIY e-Portfolios to meet the strict requirements of e-safe management that schools are required to maintain. It is therefore time for some serious 2G thinking.

I can do no better than to refer back to my original criteria, my 'Ten Prime Directives'. But perhaps I can address these in a different order.

'Cosmeticisation' – an ugly word but essential. Users of any age, from the youngest to the oldest, from the most able to the least able all should be able to modify the templates, style, fonts and images which make up their own chosen self-representation. Note that there is a difference between this and 'personalisation' which, for me, suggests the functionality of the software to recognise one's personal learning styles and preferred software, including such t hings as diagnostic and predictive tools.

Lifelong Learning: can only really be an option if the one e-Portfolio can use the above options to 'transmogrify' or change according to one's maturity, culture, social perspective, course of study or even one's favourite football team or current pop-group. It should be capable of changing the organisation and naming of pages and the addition, editing or removal of artefacts.

'Lifewide' has two distinct meanings. It can refer to the range of users, ie the one tool should be capable of being used by a number of different abilities within one class or group. However, it more significantly refers to the fact that any one person has a number of different personas, any one of which the learner may wish to present to a specific audience. For example, I may wish to represent myself to one group as a competent technician, to another as an HR manager and yet to a third as an environmentalist wishing to do work for a charitable organisation.

Portability is an essential function if the e-Portfolio is to have any credibility as a lifelong tool. However, most e-Portfolio solutions are institutionally based and repeatedly I have heard tales of frustration that the work a student has done in college on their e-Portfolio cannot be taken with them to their next institution or place of employment. This has often led to older students doing as little as necessary or responding with exclamations such as 'Why should I bother?' However, portability is an essential feature of 'transition' and, from my own experience, can include many movements from one school to another and on to yet another.

When is an e-Portfolio not an e-Portfolio?

Nils Petersen on the AAEEBL forum recently pointed up this interesting example of what some were calling an 'e-Portfolio' where others were perhaps more correctly calling it her 'electronic reputation' or as Serge Ravet would say, 'her digital identity'.

The work of Margo Tamez as illustrated by the Touchgraph that she created hit the courts when litigation ensued as to the ownership rights of an e-Portfolio created as part of her academic work. This is a classic example of 'Cloud Computing' and raises the whole issue of 'who owns what'?

Traditionally, any work created in the workplace belonged to the owners of the company and similarly, any work created using the tools of the workplace, either on-site or off-site still belonged to the company. But that is not the point of this post.

Firstly, as I have stated before, the e-Portfolio should not be considered as a 'pantechnicon' of all that a student has ever produced. Rather, the e-Portfolio should be seen as that selection of appropriate artefacts, either work in progress or completed activities that the learner feels are the best exemplars of learning processes.

Secondly, the e-Portfolio should be that organised and well presented selection of artefacts supported by intelligent comment for a particlar audience. I cannot begin to think that Margo has a particular audience in mind for this tumble of evidences.

Thirdly, the technical competence required for this form of entertainment can only serve as a barrier to learning if others are tempted to emulate this form of bravado. As others have noted on the AAEEBL forum, the creation of an e-Portfolio should not be a measure of technical competence. Rather, an e-Portfolio (such as eFolio) should be a simple to use tool that enables all the positive things of e-Portfolio practice to happen naturally as part of reflection and showcasing.

Passion and Learning

I have just come back from 3 days of HE/FE conferences in which I heard repeated criticisms of VLEs and e-Portfolios as not meeting the needs of students. Discussions ranged from the sterility of the formats to the inability of lecturers and professors to actually understand the potential of the new technologies.

And then, next morning, I discovered this offering from Angela Maiers' presentation for K12OnlineConference09. What a refreshing change this was! This raised my spirits for the simple reason that this is what I see as the secret of eFolio. The reality of real involvement as opposed to the half-hearted efforts of our kids in the classroom that Angela refers to is at the heart of the child's ownership of learning.

As I said at one of the meetings, 'Unless all stakeholders are fully consulted before the implementation of a new technology (here talking about VLEs), unless the decision makers are educated as to the full potential of the new tools, unless they can then in turn decide how this will impact on teaching and learning, it is no wonder that the technology fails to meet expectations.'

And this is equally true of e-Portfolios. In all sectors of Education, it would appear, decision makers have failed to do the spadework of consulting with the whole range of stakeholders - and certainly do not appear to have explored how the e-Portfolio can change teaching and learning. Far too often it is the case that installations are managed by technicians who have little understanding of the future direction of education. It is essential, as Angela Maier clearly illustrates, that unless the e-Portfolio is designed (by educators) to adapt to the learner's individual passions there will be very little chance of its real takeup within education.

Successful student engagement using e-Portfolios

I was recently asked, “can anyone shed any light on the “theory” of successful student engagement using ePortfolios in the vocational area of learning?” And this was my reply:

This is not an uncommon problem, particularly with purpose-designed systems.

The issue, in my opinion is one of ‘ownership’.

1: If the system you are using is just a tool for subject delivery/assessment there is little motivation for the student to do yet more form-filling.

2: In some institutions the e-Portfolio is just used as a content delivery system as a substitution for a VLE which might not be capable of managing the tutor/mentor feedback and peer-review that an e-Portfolio should be capable of managing. And this is where, I suspect, that the popularity of Web2.0 has intruded itself.

3: It is an educationally recognised fact that the e-Portfolio needs to ‘belong’ to the learner. If there is no self-identity, no self-representation that shouts out “This is ME”, there is little chance that any but the most studious will invest time and effort in doing something that is obviously not ‘mine’ but the College’s.

4: The e-Portfolio should contain personal information that helps the tutor/mentor to better understand the learner and thus develops a better student-teacher relationship. The more information that the learner is allowed to include, including rich media, the better the relationship can become.

5: Of course, the organisation, layout and choice of pages and sub-pages, the templates chosen and colour-schemes, of avatars etc are all part of the psychology of ‘ownership’. It is quite often these very obvious presentation choices that immediately tell the experienced teacher much about their students than might be intended.

6: However, perhaps the most important aspect of the e-Portfolio is what tools are embedded to provide formative feedback, peer review, polls, surveys and comments that really begin to support the type of student activity we should be seeing in the classroom, with or without walls.

7: An obvious requirement of e-Portfolio functionality is that the learner needs to be able to control who-sees-what. A good e-Portfolio will allow the control of audiences so that, concurrently, different readers will see different ‘views’ of the one e-Portfolio.

I could go on for ages, but hope this is a start. Please check out my links on the sidebar:

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.

Moving House?

There comes a time in most people's lives when they have to move house and take all their loved possessions with them - and what an upheaval that can be! Unfortunately some people have a perception of the e-Portfolio as being that 'removal van' or 'pantechnicon' - which is used to transport every bit and piece of value or even no-value - just sentimental rubbish that one cannot throw away. However, the analogy gets worse! The learner decides that rather than unloading all their stuff, every bit of coursework, every idle amusement, every item of correspondence shall all be kept on board - because, after all, they are not stopping here but plan to move on again. And the effort of unloading and loading up again is just too much bother.

Others prefer to travel light, only carrying with them the immediate essential tools and equipment currently used in their studies. They have a more scatter-brained approach to learning - leaving a never-ending trail of artefacts scattered, on their academic travels, around the universe - sometimes called 'cloud computing'. The trouble with this approach, as any parent knows, is that things get far too easily misplaced or even lost for ever. For those who haven't read my previous jottings on 'transition' the potential amount of travelling the learner could experience is illustrated here.

As one gets older and possibly not much wiser there is the temptation to carry around even more clutter, 'just in case'. However, as we make our way to yet another presentation or job interview we begin to understand the need to cut our 'showcase' down to the bare minimum with which our audience can cope. And this is so true of our e-Portfolios. eFolio, in particular, is capable of displaying only what we want to show, uncluttered by ephemera or irrelevancies.

I have seen far too many blogs containing discussions about how much space on a school's servers their e-Portfolios should take. Similarly, there are debates about how long students' artefacts should remain on the school's servers once the students have left. Surely, these are all irrelevancies when considering the fundamental purposes of an e-Portfolio? It all comes down to an understanding of one of my several mantras:

"Let the VLE do what it does best and
leave the e-Portfolio to do what it can best do!"

This approach leaves all coursework, past and present, on the VLE's server alongside the specialist programs, assignment briefs, schemes of work, assessment tools, on-line reporting and all the other mechanics needed to run an effective 'electrified' school. How long these 'school owned' artefacts are kept is down to the institution's Policies.

The e-Portfolio, on the other hand, should be seen as belonging to the learner and need only contain those artefacts and tools that the student considers needful in their present circumstances. - Anything that rightfully belongs to the learner and is no longer immediately needed can be off-loaded to one's own PC or Tb backup for safe keeping.

Again, the e-Portfolio should be seen as a flexible and adaptable system. As much as any young adult may change friends or experience the coming and going of different teachers, the e-Portfolio should be flexible enough to adapt to the differing audiences who are permitted to share in the learner's activities. As children steadily mature into adulthood, so too, their affections and loyalties will change and their e-Portfolios should be capable of reflecting that change. It is not so much the opportunity to publicise one's avowed following of a film star, pop-group or football team so much as the fact that the e-Portfolio is capable of reflecting something of one's deeper self image.

The choice of media is so very important. Certainly we should avoid those e-Portfolio systems that are so heavily document-based as to provoke the audience to shout out, "I cannot understand what you are saying for the mass of words you write." The colour schemes, choice of fonts or avatars and the selection of recorded interviews, video-clips or SlideShares one may include will no doubt say more about a person than the text they write.

e-Portfolios - A Common Approach?

For some time now the e-Portfolio thinking and research in New Zealand has intrigued me. The clear thinking by such as Paul Seiler is enabling a 'greenshoot approach' to e-Portfolios not, as far as I am aware, seen in other countries. See, 'ePortfolios - Celebrating Learning'.

In this context I was very impressed by the clear logic of Jamin Lietze who in response to the report listed some interesting ideas about a whole country using a common approach to e-Portfolio practice:

"If we all used one tool then schools/teachers will have:

"1) Flexibility (They can use this one tool to add what they like into it to meet the individual needs and while maintaining student choice, voice and ownership.)

"2) Better communication (Students/Teachers would use "one language" and so work together easier across levels and ages developing their ePortfolios.)

"3) Efficiencey (Professional development is made easier because we are all using the same language and focusing on the one tool.)

"4) Better consistency (One school or teacher will not be considered lower than another because they did not have the expertise or financial support to develop superior ePortfolios. Everyone will have the same building blocks.) "

It should be noted that this was the very scenario in which the original Minnesota eFolio project developed over six years ago. In Minnesota everyone throughout the whole state has free access to eFolio. I just wonder if RBCs in the UK or even countries in Europe would dare to face this challenge and investigate the UK availability of eFolio?

What can we learn from others?

For quite some time I have been following Sarah Stewart's blog see:
http://sarah-stewart.blogspot.com/

She is a highly competent and adventurous New Zealander working in midwifery and has recently taken up a post in Australia where she is developing some astounding work in Second Life. However, I was very impressed by a recent SlideShare presentation:
http://www.slideshare.net/sarahs/eportfolio-for-health-professionals?

Apart from being a very useful presentation in its own right, I wonder how many other professionals in other fields are using some sort of e-Portfolio - and if they have presentations which might extend our thinking even further?

Coincidentally, I also read Kevin Brace's Midlands Eportfolio Group blog which adverted to a most interesting list of the perceptions of those involved in Work-Based Assessments:

http://rscwbl.jiscinvolve.org/files/2008/07/wbl-providers-eportfolios.doc
The document was produced by Carolyn Lewis (RSC National Work Based Learning Co-ordinator) with information sourced from feedback to RSCs, The Excellence Gateway, ALP and City and Guilds.

I am conscious of, nay humbled by, the fact that there are so many of you readers out there, over 1400, from 61 countries, and counting. It therefore strikes me that there could well be good examples of e-Portfolio practice that might help our understanding and application e-Portfolios in schools.

Please be so kind as to add any suggestions either as comments to this blog or directly to me at: support@maximise-ict.co.uk