e-Portfolios for Learning

There has been a lot happening with e-portfolios recently, and they are a great tool - quickly moving to becoming more than a store of artefacts and more like a living diary. Elgg (the Learning Landscape) and OSP are two open source options available and are very comprehensive. They give the user a place to gather and develop their own resources, as well as share and collaborate with others.

I liked the response by Helen Barratt in e-Portfolios for Learning to a question about assessing portfolios. She commented that "the portfolio should be theirs (the student's) to assess. If anything you (the teacher) assess their assessment." Students are encouraged to have goals for their portfolios, and therefore can learn how to rate them according to criteria that they develop individually or with other students.

An excellent article from Educause titled, 'Beyond the Electronic Portfolio: A Lifetime Personal Web Space' The writers' put the case for a model that provides "a personal Web space for everyone, for their lifetimes and beyond." I had begun to think about e-portfolios as more than documents for storing resume and artifacts, and as lifelong archives, to use, share and develop. Beyond this life, got me thinking about the importance of leaving an intellectual legacy of our ideas and personal records for others.

I noted too that there are many e-portfolio developments going on, including open source Sakai and a Blackboard version integrated into WebCT.

There seems to be divergent thinking between the institutional e-portfolios and the personal/educational portfolios over who should control them - institutions or the individual student. It must be the student, otherwise it becomes just another assessment instrument and loses the power to become a life-integrated communication tool.

Finally here is an excellent diagram from the Elgg people on the Conceptual Framework for E-Portfolios.

Keywords: e-portfolio, learning landscape, open source, personal web space, sakai