The Perfect Example?

Following my last post, Barbara Nicholls asked the challenging question concerning the 'Perfect ePortfolio'. Let me start by repeating my belief that an ePortfolio should be 'Lifelong, Lifewide and for Learning and Leisure'. Secondly, my observation upon studying many hundreds of ePortfolios is that they generally appear to ignore many principles of constructivism - of team working, responding to a mentor's advice, of asking for feedback. Is it that institutions are trying to bolt on new technologies onto traditional pedagogies?

Firstly, it is probably the institution that introduces the eP concept and that generally based upon one discipline or subject. BUT, as soon as the eP is controlled by a single discipline it will tend to be little more than an assessment tool and preclude all the other exciting things that a young student is capable of doing.

On the other hand, the 'learner owned' eP could contain little more than the confused renderings of a Facebook account or the directionless accounts of a 'Dear Diary' blog.

By the time that the eP becomes the showcasing pride and joy of the young graduate looking for employment, some of the earlier peer to peer classroom stuff might well be considered a bit immature and the learner may not include evidences of such nascent learning, valuable as it might well be.

And then, again, as is the case with some of my examples by older professionals, they tend to display a very polished if somewhat conservative presentation which can provoke nothing but awe and admiration.

Recognising, therefore, that the eP is invariably engineered for a single audience, we might never see the "perfect eP". However, we, as teachers, ARE interested in the learner's Life Story, of the 'multiple metamorphoses' of the eP from cradle to grave - and this is a 'big ask'.

Maturely constructed ePortfolios that include all of the above are probably impossible to find. Even if teachers in Primary schools had the right software and vision many years ago, and even if numerous institutions later the learner’s ePortfolio had survived multiple transitions with various interoperability standards it would be rare for a mature learner to display all the hidden pages of an ‘evolutionary’ ePortfolio. Unfortunately, this may be the reason why we rarely see 'long-term reflection'.

The only way to encourage learners to demonstrate this sort of ePortfolio longevity would be through the establishment of some sort of competition – but even then people might be too shy to step forward.

I think, therefore, that at any stage of a learner’s career their ePortfolio should demonstrate as many ePortfolio ‘skills’ as possible. What is evident in my selected Scoop.it examples is that no one example includes ALL the potential skills for that context. As alluded to in my opening paragraph, it may be that we will not see the 'perfect ePortfolio' until we acquire a completely new cohort of teachers capable of creating a 'whole-school' constructivist culture.

The potential total of ‘skills’ for any stage throughout lifelong and Lifewide learning would make an interesting matrix – but that might be another post!

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.

Susie's Journey Revisited

It is now some years ago (circa 2006) that I first saw the above graphic by JISC (and was recently reminded of it by 'Coach Carol'). BTW - better to load the original which has some useful links. At the time it first looked exciting, but on closer examination it painted the scenario of Susie having to change her ePortfolio as she moved from one institution to another.

This impractical solution was not in line with my thinking, whereby the learner would have to rebuild their ePortfolio upon each transition. See second paragraph of my article Interoperability and Leap2A. Even at that time (some 6 years ago!) I was convinced that the only realistic solution for any user would have to be that of owning the one ePortfolio for life, and that it would therefore have to be externally hosted as is eFolio.

Unfortunately some six years later litttle progress has been made. Most ePortfolio systems are still very much institutionalised or designed for one sort of assessment and some still insist on performing as a content delivery system owned by the institution. As long as institutions continue to misappropriate the ePortfolio concept it is no wonder that learners are resorting to blogs and collaborative tools such as Facebook or Bebo.

Readers of this blog would do well to contact me in order to understand more of the advantages of eFolio

ePortfolios – still trialling? Why?

Darren Lott recently raised the above question in his blog. Funnily enough, the questions that he raises are very similar to the issues that I tried to address at both the EIfEL and AAEEBL conferences earlier this month.

However, Darren's enthusiasm for wanting to get going highlights a recurring issue, that of individual organisations 'doing their own thing'. It is essential that if a true Lifelong and Lifewide ePortfolio is to continue throughout life, 'From cradle to grave' then the practicalities of how that ePortfolio can evolve with the maturing lifestyle and interests of the learner need to be explored.

Firstly, all of the ePortfolio 'pages', the welcome page in particular, should be capable of repeated re-formatting with appropriate graphics, colour schemes, fonts and widgets etc. As I have said before, the immediate impact that an 11yr-old (or even a 5yr-old) may wish to convey will be quite different to that of a young professional trying to get on in the world. It is similarly true for the teenager whose overriding passion is for a particular football team or pop group - and what happens when they change their loyalties?

Secondly, and following on from the first point, I believe that a good ePortfolio should be capable of presenting different views or 'personas' to different audiences. Using the one ePortfolio and dipping into a common set of artefacts, which have been stored once, the owner can represent him/herself in different ways to different audiences. How I represent myself to my pupils at school or to my professional colleagues, to my church group or to a charitable organisation might all be very different. Should I therefore be using four or more different ePortfolios in order to present each persona?

Thirdly, as I have said many times before, the ePortfolio is Learner Owned. It is appreciated that initially the ePortfolio may be provided by an institution and even fitted out with some appropriate level of scaffolding. However, like an exercise book, once the learner has used the exercise book, or decided to use a ring-file etc, it inherently becomes the property of the learner and is kept for perpetuity. (How many of us still have some of our old exercise books stored away in the attic?)

Fourthly, the question of 'transition' must be addressed. One of the reasons for so many pilots and reports of mixed feelings towards adoption arises when the student leaves their school or college to join another academic institution. It is a common experience that the 'new' school will have a different ePortfolio system. They get to the new institution only to find that the promised 'interoperability' does not deliver the student's anticipated ePortfolio intact but rather find it 'broken' into a number of separate files, some unrecogniseable. The student is then faced with the unenviable task of having to re-build their lovingly crafted ePortfolio all over again. I can just imagine the feelings of rebellion that some of my more rebellious teenagers or 'neets' would think! But even worse still, what would happen to the child's work when moving from Primary school to Secondary school? Who would do the exporting and who would do the importing? Who would do the re-building and having to learn a new ePortfolio system?

Following on from the above is the slightly different aspect of 'portability', ie where the learner has possession of their ePortfolio and wishes to show it to others. Many institutions are not willing to host their alumnis' ePortfolios for perpetuity and thus the whole arguments concerning PDP and showcasing fall down. Many graduates, for instance, may not move seemlesly from University straight into employment, they may choose a 'gap-year' or take on some part-time work whilst they get their social life sorted out. Others may be 'between jobs' for a considerable period of time - all when they might want to work on their ePortfolios but not be part of an academic institution willing to host their work. Please see the example of an eFolio student who graduated several years ago. Her eFolio remains intact and up-to-date as it is hosted externally to any institution and certainly external to her present place of work. It is completely 'mobile' and is accessible from anywhere in the world.

Finally, there is the whole question of Assessment. There are a number of good assessment tools that work very well when attached to the MIS of the VLE or LMS - and that, in my opinion is where they should be kept. Unfortuanately there has become established a tradition that particular subject-specific training organisations provide their students with an on-line learning pack which is a combination of a course management tool, a personal log, a collaboration tool, a sophisticated testing and assessment tool, all rolled into one and called an 'ePortfolio'. Such a tool is hardly 'learner owned' and has little value as a showcasing or reflection tool for lifelong learning.

So, in response to Darren's enthusiasm, I would suggest that we look more carefully at the long-term expectations one may have of an ePortfolio before committing to a product which is bound to fail several criteria.

Reasons why our graduates need an e-Portfolio

I always enjoy reading Karen Barnstable's blog. She lists three very clear reasons for graduates taking their e-Portfolio with them once they have left uni and found employment, moved on to further study, or still job-hunting.

However, I would add a fourth point, assuming that you have a good e-Portfolio system. When introducing an e-Portfolio to novices in your new-found place of work it could be a bit overwhelming if the essential tools for collaboration, peer review, mentoring etc are not in place within the e-Portfolio system and need to be found elsewhere. And what of on-line help? Does the system provide support for the new user?

If the adult novice can be introduced to an e-Portfolio system such as eFolio all the feedback tools, templates and formatting menus are together in an integrated system designed for both Lifelong and Lifewide Learning and Leisure. What's more, because eFolio is designed by educationists to provide the support for learners of all ages, from 5-95, (and even younger) support is always at hand.

Example from HE

I have just come across this example of an e-Portfolio which clearly represents my approach to e-Portfolios in HE. It's a wonderful example that all my readers should thoroughly explore.

Obviously I must congratulate Pedro Arista for the quality of his eFolio but more than that, it shows just how professional an eFolio can be and how it can evolve over a period of time.

Pedro, if you read this perhaps you can get in touch with me?

ascilite 2009

An impressive paper by Gordon Joyes and Lisa Gray(In Same places, different spaces. Proceedings ascilite Auckland2009) entitled, 'Effective practice with e-portfolios: How can the UK experience inform practice?' makes a good read, even if only 10 pages. As Lisa Gray reports, '... Gordon Joyes, myself (Lisa) and Elizabeth Hartnell-Young presented on our work at the Ascilite conference in Auckland in December, and won an 'outstanding paper award' for it .'

Under the heading 'Why is JISC exploring e-Portfolios' the following extract should be noted:

"Before learners enter higher education,within schools and 14-19 sectors, there has been an increasing focus on a national curriculum that values skills. A new qualification, the Diploma has emerged, with the development of personal, learning and thinking skills (PLTS) at its core. e-Portfolio technologies provide ways in which these skills can be evidenced. But perhaps the most important reason for considering the potential of e-portfolios to support learning and teaching is the emerging evidence from practitioners and learners of the value of developing e-portfolios, not only to support more profound forms of learning, adding value to personalised and reflective models of learning, but also facilitating the transition between institutions and stages of education, supporting application to education and employment, staff appraisal and applications for professional accreditation, and supporting learners based in the workplace. "

However, many of the points referring to mainstream education remain undeveloped. As part of my ‘evangelical’ efforts to promote e-Portfolios in mainstream education, therefore, I wonder if we should be creating a paper entitled,

‘Effective practice with e-portfolios: How can the UK HE experience inform practice in mainstream education?

To this end I would dearly like to discuss with practitioners (possibly at Cumbria?) how the lessons learnt in HE can be developed for a nationwide and all-age implementation.

Creating future-proofed graduates

On the RSC-West Midlands blog, Kevin Brace reports back on the recent BCU conference. What he reports makes good sense as far as Higher Education is concerned.

But is this not also true for all sectors of society? Should we not already be doing this with our youngsters aged 5-16? Is this not the purpose of our 14-19 Diploma courses? Is this not what we should be doing in Adult Education? Even those anticipating retirement may still have some 20-30 years of a future to look forwards to. Just because we might have retired from full-time employment does not mean that we have rejected all chances of further employment or productivity.

Whatever education sector(s) we may belong to we need to look more carefully at the implications of Kevin's report. For instance, if blended learning is seen to be more effective, should we not be looking at ways of delivering this within Secondary education? Should not Employers be looking more carefully at how their VLEs or e-Portfolio systems support CPD or re-location etc? Should not e-Portfolios become mandatory for examining student suitability for courses even before interview? Should not Primary schools be looking more closely at how an e-Portfolio system can enhance transition to Secondary schools?

Is it not time that, even if Becta cannot get its act together concerning e-Portfolios, the DCSF and JISC got together to constructively resolve this present debacle. Surely it is time for the e-Portfolio to be seen as a Lifelong and Lifewide facility, and even centrally funded as in parts of the Netherlands? - Or even state-wide as in Minnesota or New Zealand?

The end of the BB e-Portfolio?

A recent post from Mr Woo identified one of the weaknesses of how many young learners see the e-Portfolio. But perhaps, as other Blackboard users have commented about their difficulties in using BB in a liberated teaching & learning environment, I should not be surprised.

I immediately thought of several previous posts I had written on the subject of the storage of artefacts. (see 'Ethics or common sense?' and 'Moving House?') I would not wish to say outright, "I told you so!" but I fear that in far too many cases the designers of so-called e-Portfolio systems are not thinking through the implications of their work, nor are course designers spelling out the practicalities of their strategies.

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.

Informal Adult Learning

This new .ning site addresses yet another area in which an easily 'portable' e-Portfolio can meet a wide variety of needs. The thread started by Christine Lewis needs serious attention. I quote her opening challenge:

"Chapter 4 of the Learning Revolution white paper states that Local Authorities will work with others to provide five core elements to underpin a strong local offer of informal learning:

• Innovation: public funds used flexibly, complementing private and third sector investment effectively, enabling learning opportunities to thrive by building new partnerships and connections;
  
• Universal access: all adults able to shape and access the learning activities they want for personal development and fulfilment wherever they live, whatever their qualifications and income;
  
• Targeted support: those in most financial need given greatest support. In relation to taught courses, most adults should contribute in part or in full to the cost of their learning wherever it is provided, and local areas should actively use fee collection to reinvest in extending the reach of what’s on offer;
  
• Collaboration: a wide range of partners and services working in partnership, aligning funds where appropriate, to maximise the scope for offering high quality, inspiring learning opportunities, increasing choice and helping adults move from one learning opportunity to another;
  
• Promotion: the maintenance of good, up-to-date information on informal learning opportunities to be freely and openly available to local communities.

Am I the only one who believes that a good e-Portfolio is the only real solution to this present debacle? It seems that Local Authorities in particular are failing to recognise that a tool such as eFolio in the UK can meet all of the above criteria. eFolio, in particular can meet the needs of those who may not be so ICT 'savy' and yet at the same time lends itself to any level of sophistication that a learner may wish for.

If any Local Authority staff are reading this, I challenge them to come up with a solution that is more cost effective than eFolio! Or better still, come back at me at:

support@maximise-ict.co.uk

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.

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?'

Economies of Scale?

Congratulations are in order to the NZ Ministry of Education for their brave decision to provide an impressive Software Agreement for the next three years. Click to see announcement.

Cynics may suggest that in providing something 'for free' it creates a lock-in which is hard to resist. Of course, as the statement says, "Schools will still be free to use any product they wish to. A number of schools are using open source software or browser based alternatives and they will continue to have this choice." But, as the graphic attempts to illustrate, 'Who wouldn't chase after free software?'

The whole point for e-Portfolio watchers, as I referred to before, see post - 'A Common Approach?, is that I am impressed with Local Authorities, Districts, States or even whole countries that see the benefits of the economies of scale and are willing to take up the challenge.

Again, some will be aware of the far-sighted vision of those in Minnesota who established a State-wide free e-Portfolio facility for all residents. This has proved without doubt that, without the 'holy grail' of perfect interoperability, eFolio is the best solution for portability or transition that anyone has thought possible.

In the UK, despite all our impressive programmes for 'Home Access' and a 'Digital Britain' the Government's present approach to e-Portfolios is particularly tardy. Yes, individual schools are developing their own in-house e-Portfolios and we have some good work going on in the careers service, 'Connexions'. However, what with 35 or so VLE suppliers offering various attempts at e-Portfolio solutions and a few commercial free-standing systems, it would appear that 'everybody does that which is right in their own eyes.'

The point of this post, therefore, is to ask if UK readers in particular agree with my proposition that whole-school or Local Authority-wide provisions of an e-Portfolio system such as eFolio, which is both Lifelong and Lifewide, is the logical solution. Economy of scale is essential at the present time. I just wonder when our mandarins will wake up to this fact!

Adult Edn & e-Portfolios

I've just come across a most impressive set of handouts relating to Adult Learning in Australia. The blog and associated links by ALA give a very clear and up-to-date picture of many of the aspects of an e-Portfolio and is well worth reading through carefully.

The 'Concept Guides' are the recent outcome of a report completed in August 2008, 'The Australian ePortfolio Project'. The encouraging thing, for me, is that two of the members represented on the Australian board are from the UK: Rob Ward, Director of the Centre for Recording Achievement, UK, and Associate Professor Angela Smallwood, Director International Centre for ePortfolio Research, UK . The leaflets also refer to JISC materials elsewhere referenced in their research. Support for the original work was provided by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, an initiative of the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.

Also see the AFLF e-Portfolios blog

However, yet again, the emphasis appears to be just on Higher Education, I quote, "The overarching aim of the research project, which was given the working title of the Australian ePortfolio Project, was to examine the current levels of ePortfolio practice in Australian higher education. " This has been my complaint all along with the UK Higher Ed scenario. There the traditional teaching and learning styles are generally still the de facto delivery system of 'I teach, you learn'. We really need to understand how e-Portfolios can dramatically enhance, if not actually revolutionise, teaching and learning in HE. It's beginning to happen in our Primary and Secondary schools - so why not in HE?

Another concern raised by these documents is that of defining 'adult'. The very attractive 'Concept Guides' portray near-teenage students and young executives. But what of those who might be called 'Middle Aged' or even the 'Grey Brigade'. As one belonging to the latter group I just wonder if those who dwell in the luxury of academia are actually thinking of 'real' adults when discussing e-Portfolio implementations. The real world is full of those who are fearing the next job-cut, the less able, those recently made redundant, the long-term unemployed, those frustratedly seeking alternative employment or actually trying to better themselves.

However, offsetting the above criticisms, there is also another Australian report well worth reading 'E-portfolios beyond education and training' As Jen Miller reports, 'the report provides case studies of a number of international examples of the use of e-portfolios to assist people in the workforce and in career development. It makes recommendations that include enhancing current national infrastructure to enable Australians to use an e-portfolio to enhance career development, lifelong learning, and workforce participation.' Well - this looks better, but it is still primarily research - what we now need to do is translate aspiration into inspiration!

Some nice examples and quotations referring to the work of eFolio in Minnesota - Next year, let's hope that they can include the all-age approach of the work of eFolio in the UK!

Progress in NZ

For quite some time now I have been enthralled by the activities in New Zealand concerning their Digital Strategy. Perhaps it is the combination of the size of the population of the country and its scattered townships and diversity of cultures, but it seems to me that the country is peculiarly ready for digital change.

See 41 page .pdf report: ePortfolios - Celebrating Learning

Also see Milestone Report on the Otago Schools Virtualisation Project

As a 'world-watcher' in terms of e-Portfolio developments I have inevitably been a bit more 'vocal' than other observers or 'lurkers' and have more than once been known to chip in a few ideas of my own. Certainly, for some time their MLE Reference group has had some interesting conversations which are worth reading.

However, one such contribution by Peter Hills, in particular, is worth relaying here and, with his permission, I have interspersed a few observations of my own:

"We are part of a Collaborative schools project involving ALL year 7 - 10 schools in our city (all 4 intermediates and all 10 High Schools). 3 years ago all city schools shared the desire to make it easier for a student to go from Year 8 to Year 9 - wherever that might be. Real Collaboration in a tomorrows schools context!! Quite a coup to get all schools to agree on that as a project - and actively commit to it.

Yes, this certainly seems to be the best way to get things going - a 'shared desire' is something that I have not yet heard of in the UK!

"One of the first things bought up by the leadership group was to investigate a method to allow a student to take with them a portable set of data - so that a student could capture what they wanted from their year 8 environment (and before) and therefore go from any contributing school to any of the high schools in the city - and take the relevant information with them - eg their class books, as TTle results, samples of work, qualifications (yes some had them), videos etc etc

Sounds like the Middle School to High School transition issues we have in some parts of the UK, but Great! This is just the vision that that we need - not so much about 'data', that is already cared for by our Local Authorities - but the portability of artefacts and supporting narrative etc.

"This project has continued on for 2 years - with all schools meeting regularly to share the focus areas each is taking.

Yes, 'Rome was not built in a day' and neither can an e-Portfolio be bought in 'Just like that!'

"We used ePortfolios (part of the Editure suite) - at our high school. But students came with a mixture of stuff - some with huge amounts - some with none or little - of which most was unuseable or able to be imported. Too hard. The idea of gathering what students wanted to bring electronically was way too hard. We immediately went back to paper and dropped the formal ePortfolio idea. This was never going to work fast enough for us or effectively or equitably. Dreamers we thought.

I cannot dare to criticize the vendors of this particular MLE or VLE but is this not the sort of experience that many schools around the world have gone through? Salesmen telling us one thing but we assuming that they meant something else?

"Not wanting to be quitters we started gazing forward. Google Education Apps (documents/websites) in combination with Moodle was our winner - and we can sync them all in with our SMS/AD/LDAP etc etc. Simple. All schools in our city agreed to use Moodle as the preferred environment for students and teachers etc - and we are now running classes and mentoring programmes via Video Conferences from and for all high schools small subjects. It works.

Well, I have my own reasons for not going down the Google Apps route, but, as with the impressive work of Helen Barrett, we can only wait and see what the outcome will be.

"We are dealing with vendors, ECE, Year 0-6 and Year 7-8 and high schools, area schools PTE, Tertiaries ....and the students, whanau, families... not to mention an ageing workforce.

A class book in my day was bound blank pages - that later developed into lined pages.

Yes, I remember it well! School is just not about teaching and learning but about so many other stakeholders who need to be considered all at the same time. I just wonder how many UK institutions have considered the whole host of their stakeholders - and even involved them - when considering the introduction of an e-Portfolio system.

BUT, as Peter remarks, will the e-Portfolio be just an improvement on the blank exercise-book or will the e-Portfolio actually change how we teach and learn?

Thanks Peter!

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?

When do we start with an e-Portfolio?

For some years, now, I have repeatedly used the image of 'the Seven Ages of Man' to try and explain something of the problem of 'multiple transitions' and have invariably used the phrase 'from 5 to 95'. Even within the 5-19 age range there are many potential transitions that can befall the learner.

However, I was recently reprimanded by one who is responsible for 'Early Years Foundation Stage' learning. He pointed out that staff in 'Early Years' had to cope with reporting on some 119 criteria as and when instances occurred - and I can see the common sense in using an e-portfolio for this type of recording. - Possibly even parents could complete instances as well as education staff?

Once on this train of thought, I reflected on Dr Helen Barrett's suggestion that Lifelong Learning is actually from cradle to grave. And one of her suggestions was that at the 'Baby Shower' party celebrating the birth of the child one of the gifts to the babe would be an e-Portfolio wherein all the milestones of baby's progress would be recorded with photographs and a checklist of dates/occurrences etc. So, which County Registrar is going to be the first to recommend instituting e-Portfolios for babies?

Primary Schools to celebrate Graduation?

Has no one in education circles heard of the e-Portfolio? Has no one read the definitive work of Evangeline Stefanakis, 'Multiple Intelligences and Portfolios'? Does no one in the ivory towers of government know anything about how Primary Schools operate?

It is well known that for decades children have celebrated their 'best' work and have taken folders of work off to their next school in the hope that someone will admire their achivements.

Well, now that e-Portfolios are capable of celebrating these 'capstone events' even at Primary level, is it not time that someone in government circles spoke up for the e-Portfolio as being that modern and universal solution to a whole range of issues related to pupil-transfer?

It made my blood boil to read the Guardian Article of 11th Feb, 'Primary School Graduation Ceremonies Proposed' I quote an extract:

"Primary schools should host graduation ceremonies where teachers tell children which 'special talents' they possess, a leading government adviser recommended today. Sir Tim Brighouse said too many 11-year-olds were leaving primary school thinking they were not good at anything.

"The former London schools tsar, who was made a deputy headteacher at 26, told a teachers' union conference that schools should tell children they were 'brilliant' singers, writers or inventors at the graduation ceremonies.

" 'Why on earth don't we have primary graduation? Why not celebrate what the children are good at?' he asked a conference on assessment organised by the National Union of Teachers and the National Association of Head Teachers, which are both campaigning for the abolition of the national tests (Sats) for 11-year-olds in England.

"Brighouse wants children to sit the tests at age 11 but to be told about their special talents as well just being given their results. The ceremonies should be locally organised rather than 'nationally prescribed', said Brighouse, who said too many children left primary school simply with a tag of '2a' or '3b', their level in national tests.

" 'I want kids to go into secondary schools with the confidence that they are good at something. At the moment they are going thinking they aren't good at anything,' he said."

My blood boiled, not so much that Sir Tim was asking the questions but rather that no one seemed capable of telling him that the solution is already here in the shape of the e-Portfolio. Perhaps no one dared tell him about his invisible clothes?

What do employers think?

Electronic portfolios can help applicants stand out.

This was the title of a blog that Google found for me today. Short and sweet, it's worth looking at, but then... it set me thinking. How many employers in the UK have even heard of an e-Portfolio?

I've already referred to the fact in other posts that the very institutions that might be using e-Portfolios (ie HE) in general have not even considered requesting the e-Portfolios of potential entrants.

As much as I believe that the Government should be explaining to all parents what the benefits to their child(ren)'s learning are concerning VLEs, Home Access, Real Time Reporting and e-Portfolios, surely it is time for Government to get off its backside and explain to employers what are the benefits of e-Portfolios?

We have a real chicken and egg or push/pull scenario here. Schools don't even begin to see the point of e-Portfolios if employers don't demand them. As long as employers don't see the point why should schools begin to demand them - and in the process discover the real educational benefits as well?

If anyone can suggest employers' organisations that might be willing to discuss this, please let me know!