My previous post appears to have exposed concerns shared by others about the way in which VLEs/LMSs etc are being integrated and used within our schools. The idea that the “promise” of these systems has yet to be realised is due in part to the change in pedagogical practice that is required of those using them, and in part also beacuse of the rapid changes in the technologies upon which these systems are built. As we see a move away from a ‘walled garden‘ approach to a more open and configurable concept of a learning management system (or any system … Continue reading Supporting interoperability…
JISC (UK) has recently released ‘Effective Practice with e-Portfolios’, the newest guide in the JISC Effective Practice series. (PDF download here). The publication explores good practice in the use of e-portfolios as a support for learning. It is being launched in conjunction with an e-portfolios infoKit which covers the main drivers, purposes, processes, perspectives and issues around e-portfolio use. For anyone interested in understanding what ePortfolios are, and what some of the different conceptual understandings of them might be, this is well worth a read. So to is the infoKit, which contains links to some great case studies, as well as … Continue reading Conceptualising ePortfolios
We’ve added a new logo on the right hand side of the CORE website -titled CORE’s Ten Trends for 2007 Clicking on this logo will take you to a list of ten trends that we’ve identified as being particularly important in 2007. The aim is to create some dialogue around some of the things that are happening in the NZ context regarding the use of ICT in education. The emphasis is on looking at the bigger picture, rather than the things absorb our time every day at the “coal face”. I will be using these ten trends as the focus … Continue reading Ten Trends for 2007
The latest edition of ‘innovate’ has just been released, and this edition focuses on online assessment and effective course design, the value of e-portfolios as dynamic records of academic and professional development, and the creative use of synchronous communication tools for online tutorials. This issue is very timely, with the upcoming EiFEL e-portfolio conference happening in Wellington at the end of March where we’ll get an update on Mahara, an open source e-portfolio product that has been developed here in NZ with money from the eLearning Collaborative Development Fund (eCDF). (See details in a previous entry) I enjoyed the article … Continue reading e-Portfolios and assessment strategies
ePortfolios are a hot item in the news this week with several items worth noting. One is the posting of the ePortfolio Project and Mahara Update No.3 on eduforge which got a mention by Stephen Downes who also points to a powerpoint presentation you can download for more information. Mahara is is a collaborative venture funded by New Zealand???s Tertiary Education Commission???s e-learning Collaborative Development Fund (eCDF), involving Massey University (lead provider), Auckland University of Technology, The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, and Victoria University of Wellington. The project is charged with developing an open source ePortfolio application and to … Continue reading ePortfolio roundup
Helen Barrett recently posted a number of new articles about e-portfolios on her blog, one of which is Becta’s View: E-assessment and e-portfolios (pdf). It’s an interesting read, with relevance to many of the educational issues that we’re confronted with here in NZ, including personalising learning and life-long learning. The paper intro reads: Within a few years,e-assessment and e-portfolios will be integral parts of modern learning and teaching.They are vital elements for personalising learning,with benefits for both learner and practitioner.E-assessment provides the flexibility for learners to strengthen their understanding of key concepts,and to formally demonstrate that understanding at a time … Continue reading e-assessment and e-portfolios
Interesting entry from Helen Barrett on her e-portfolios for learning blog in which she introduces a model of portfolio differences. The model is a response to what she sees as a lack of understanding between the use of portfolios for learning and for accountability. The model stems from the work of Dr. Evangeline Harris Stefanakis in her book, Multiple Intelligences and Portfolios, which contains a diagram placing portfolios along a continuum of Learning and Accountability. The model combines Stefanakis’s diagram and some of Barrett’s work, and is called the Stefanakis-Barrett Model of Portfolio Differences (PDF) I rather like what the … Continue reading Model of portfolio differences
Thursday at the Alt-i-lab conference in Sheffield Today I’m attending a full day of workshops on ePortfolios – this morning is with the team from the Open Source Portfolio Initiative (OPSI) who are sharing where they’re at with the development of the Open Source Portolio product. It was useful to work through the online demo of the OSP to be able to visualise the way this product works – this demo is available for anyone to access and work through, providing you with a number of demo logins that have been populated to represent the view of different individuals. The … Continue reading ePortfolio Workshop
Something that I found really useful was Helen’s empahsis on the role of reflection, and her comment that “portfolios without reflection are simply a digital scrapbook.” Further, Helen distinguishes between the creation of a digital archive, and drawing from that archive to create portfolios for different purposes (eg. to document a learning journey, to provide evidence for assessment, or to support a job application.)
The other thing Helen does so capably is weave the practice of digital storytelling into the preparation of electronic portfolios – linking this in both practical and theoretical ways. The power of some of her digital stories had the group at our workshop really engrossed.
A key issue that arose in our workshop was the observation that there is an increased interest in portfolios for assessment, and that they are being used in ways that are not consistent with the ‘learner-owned’ models of self-review and self-reflection being promoted in Helen’s workshop. We discussed the tension between those who are wanting to use portfolios in a “positivist” way, where they have really been developed from within a “constructivist” paradigm.
I’ve added more of my reflections/notes from her presentation in my extended entry.
I’ve just come from a most enlighttening morning of workshops with