I’ve been thinking about eportfolios a lot lately and thought it may be time to write of recent developments that have encouraged me to keep up the momentum in getting them into the mainstream at my institution.
It’s already over a week ago that I was fortunate enough to attend the VET E-portfolio showcase, and as well as catching up with friends from across education sectors, I was able to listen to a number of excellent presentations. Visit the E-portfolios blog to read about updates to the showcase and to find links to the Elluminate recording of five of the sessions that were presented at the VET E-portfolio Showcase.
Amongst other presentations, I was taken by Hazels Owen’s metaphor of eportfolio as ‘performance’, with a backstage (for collecting, development and assembly), a stage (for showcasing or testing work), & an audience (range of presentations or views) that was part of a comprehensive overview of the uses of eportfolios. See her presentation, Web 2.0 ePortfolios that work for both students and educators: Strategies and recommendations on slideshare.
I’ve also noted in a recent blog post on using portfolios for assessment, Limitations of Portfolios that Helen Barrett has added a dimension to her suggestion that an eportfolio can be both a ‘product’ and a ‘process’, she also speaks of portfolio as ‘workspace’ and portfolio as ‘showcase’.
It’s all good grist for the mill that is helping me improve the narrative I tell academic staff at my institution when suggesting they should be using eportfolios to support their students’ learning. Our current review of the university LMS will include a requirement that an eportfolio be part of the package – all good signs for the future. I’ve really come to believe that eportfolios are one of the best tools that we might have to help students engage more with their learning. The challenge for us to make them ubiquitous, persistent, transferable, and life-long, but more on that in a future post.
Hi Colin, it was great to meet you face to face and spend time with you at LT2009 conference in Mooloolaba. Thanks for helping me with my modem problems. They finally got sorted out after 30 mins on hold!!
ePortfolios are something that I have been trying to work with my students over the last 5 years. As they all have blogs, I am encouraging them to add a lot of their material in there – including images, movies, podcasts, extra curricular involvement etc. If they do this year, they will have a wonderful digital footprint for future reference.