Pedagogical impact :: Forum
| From |
Eportfolio use - where, how, why? |
|
It would be interesting to get a range of international views on the uptake of eportfolios – is it happening? for what reasons? what is driving it? From the UK it seems (to me) that the US is the only place with widespread use.
In the UK, the Dearing Report was the driver in HE for the PDP – Personal Development Portfolio (or Progress File). Paragraph 43 includes the statement “We envisage individuals building up a portfolio of achievements at a range of levels over a working lifetime”. Pertinent to the discussion on the uptake of technology is the later paragraph (66) which states “The full exploitation of C&IT by higher education institutions will require senior management to take an imaginative leap in devising a strategy for their institutions which can bring about this change.
The PDP seems to be a significant factor for those institutions that have adopted an e-portfolio. Lancaster University is developing an in-house electronic PDP (some areas are available for browsing as a guest) and as it states, it is a “private and confidential means for you to plan and keep an on-going record of your achievements, interests, skills and experiences while you study for your degree.”
PebblePAD (associated with Wolverhampton Uni) states “PDP stands for Personal Development Planning and is going to be an essential component of every student's university experience. PDP is concerned with providing opportunities for students to "reflect upon their own learning and achievements and to plan for their own personal, educational and career development " (QAA).
PebblePAD was originally developed as a system for supporting PDP and the wider requirements of Progress Files.”
Helen Barrett highlights the differences between these attainment / competency based models of eportfolios and the learner owned, constructivist models that (could) encourage reflection and deep learning. She also illustrates a possible method to combine these two models and some similarity will be seen with the slides I’ve seen by Dave Tosh (can’t find link! Essentially same as next …) and Scott Wilson (Slides 18 & 21).
Sharon Hamilton gives an update (PPT) on what appears to be the philosophy underpinning the latest version of the Open Source Portfolio (OSPI v2) and whilst it recognises a need to reflect on learning and achievement, there still seems to be a disconnect between reflecting on achievements (basically another competency) and the development of a reflective practitioner where the learner will analyse and synthesise from a wide range of available materials, thoughts, other reflections, etc. in order to construct new knowledge and understanding that is meaningful for themselves.
Ben and Dave actually cover much of this ground relating to the assessment versus reflection question here - perhaps I should have read that earlier! Dave also has a comparison between OSPI and Elgg which again flags this discord.
Returning to the effects of Dearing, we are now engaged in the lifelong learning agenda. The (e)portfolio is again seen as a tool to support this. JISC is supporting work in this area and Grant et al give a good overview of this and other UK aspects of eportfolio developments.
In summary, I would say that although many eportfolio products claim to support reflection, most seem to focus on reflecting on achievements and competencies. Unfortunately it is reflection for knowledge construction that is of most benefit to a learner and few eportfolios are focussed on this. Elgg does appear to be the exception with no structured focus on achievements, instead providing a tool that can support learners in their reflections, can support social constructivism through group and community interactions and then, through social networking, support social constructivism at its broadest.
|
| Your link "electronic PDP" has a problem. | | I would agree that the UK (due to PDP requirements) and the US (focus on higher education) are probably leading the way in e-portfolio uptake, however, usage is worldwide.
In Canada you have some excellent work going on in a few universities most notably:
UBC e-portfolio and the University of Waterloo.
Interestingly this initiative decided to cancel their program: ePortfolio @ York * although this project is no longer running the blog still has some excellent information.
Other Canadian Universities include: SFU, Dalhousie, Concordia, University of Manitoba
There is also Lifia – which has affiliation with Eifel here in Europe – they look to promote e-portfolio use in Canada and the US.
In Europe there is a fair bit of e-portfolio work going on in Finland, The Netherlands, Denmark and France.
There are also some initiatives in Australia and Hong Kong.
Plus here in the UK outside the PDP and of higher education there is the Royal College of Nursing and the Wales initiative plus a lot of work going on in secondary schools in both England and Scotland.
Last year I put together a searchable list. It is a little outdated and some links may not work but you might find something interesting in there. | | OK - Lancaster Uni electronic PDP link should be sorted. If there are continuing problems with it, the address is http://lupdp.lancs.ac.uk
Alternatively, there is a link on the Lancaster Uni home page http://www.lancs.ac.uk bottom right side. | | Thanks for all the links Dave. There are several here that I hadn't picked up on yet.
It would also be good to get some informal perspectives from people in different places too. | | reflection is not a method. it's a way of life.
how to foster it? make it valuable, easy, social, pervasive. ELGG might be able to do that for some learners. | | With PebblePAD we have very much built around a open reflective model rather than a competency based format.
Whilst PebblePAD does have specific categories for entries such as achievements and abilities these are open entries that are not simply ticked off a long list. There are also other options such as thoughts and experiences which may or may not be related to studies.
Every item added to the system prompts the user for reflection after the initial details are entered. Users are prompted with Describe what you have learnt from having this experience or from thinking and writing about it.
For more info take a look at http://www.pebblepad.co.uk | | There's been a steady stream of talk around the idea of ePortfolios. I've been watching, interested in how the name alone is a good way to get people who are opposed to blogging, interested in what amounts to ... blogging! Amazing what a word can do...
more | Add new comment...
|
|
