Delivered at AAEEBL 2013

1. Lifelong ePortfolios
Cruel Illusion
or Emerging Vision?
AAEEBL Boston Conference
July 30, 2013

2. Learning Agents
ePortfolio, eLearning, eMedia
http://bit.ly/DonPresant_ePortfolio

3. My viewpoint
• Starting outside the institution
• Adult learning principles
• Access to education
– Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition
• Employability
• Sustainability

4. 21st Century Skills and Learning
http://barwellroades.wcpss.net/mediatech.html

5. Archive, reflect and project
http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/e-portfolios

6. Benefits of “e”
Virtual Binder for 21C
• Information Management capabilities
– Collecting, archiving, sharing, making different versions
– Multimedia evidence
• Digital technology, Internet literacy
• Learning and collaboration integration
– Online research: documents, networks
– Easy to add comments, edit, mentor, coach
• Digital Identity
– Professional Profile, Personal network
• Measurement, alignment
– Link to frameworks, rubrics, track learning over time
• Systems integration and interoperability
– Learning management systems, HRIS

7. University President’s Vision
Alan Davis, President, Kwantlen Polytechnic University
BC RPL Summit presentation March 2013

8. Genesis of the Vision
Alan Davis, President, SUNY Empire State College
“Open SUNY” planning document 2012 p. 8
“Design your own degree”

9. But what is an ePortfolio?
Who gets the final word?
The University of Nottingham

10. Tales from the trenches

11. Naysayers
What one contentious Scotsman says
E-portfolios – 7 reasons why I don’t want my life
in a shoebox:
1. Uninteroperable
2. Institutionalised
3. Human nature
4. People are not learners
5. Boundary problems
6. Plus ca change
7. Recruitment myth
DONALD CLARK PLAN B

12. Lessons learned
• Faculty were not included in initial focus groups
and did not want to learn another technology
tool; Blackboard was enough
• Should have identified some faculty promoters
• Underestimated the time to implement and
technology problems, don’t choose vendor with
most bells and whistles, simple is better
• Students did not see the value of the eportfolio
• Should have had students pay for eportfolio
Lessons Learned from a Failed ePortfolio Pilot Project for Student Assessment
Sue Lawler, Rush University

13. Making it Fail
How to effectively screw-up an eportfolio implementation
http://www.slideshare.net/eportfoliosaustralia/making-it-fail-how-to-effectively-screwup-an-eportfolio-implementation

14. Making it Fail
How to effectively screw-up an eportfolio implementation
http://www.slideshare.net/eportfoliosaustralia/making-it-fail-how-to-effectively-screwup-an-eportfolio-implementation

15. Big Data
ePortfolios & Learning Analytics
Linking up Innovations in Assessment: Eportfolios, Open Badges, and
Learning Analytics - Darren Cambridge, ePIC 2013
http://t.co/PISRi5mFdo

16. Questions that need asking
• Do you have an ePortfolio?
• Is an ePortfolio just another way of getting a grade?
• Is ePortfolio just another way of “reporting up”?
• If ePortfolios are used for learning assessment, are you
prepared to assess for prior learning?
• If it is a tool for transition:
– What happens when a student brings an ePortfolio to your
institution, say from high school?
– Will your students want to keep their ePortfolios after they
graduate?
– If they do, can they? Is this a favour from you, or a deliberate
strategy?

17. Key Question
• Why do 52% of undergraduates have
an ePortfolio?

18. BACK TO THE
EMERGING VISION

19. ePIC 2013
http://bit.ly/13bb38D
www.epforum.eu/

20. 10 ePortfolio Challenges
Serge Ravet 2009
1. Universal ePortfolio Repository (aggregator)
2. Universal Competency Identifiers
3. ePortfolio social (PLN)
4. ePortfolio semantic editors (automated)
5. Universal ePortfolio Readers
6. Open & Trusted Service Architecture
7. ePortfolio-based performance support system
8. ePortfolio discovery mechanism
9. URIs as tags
10. Universal Metadata
http://www.learningfutures.eu/2009/09/10-eportfolio-challenges.html

21. ePortfolios and MOOCs

22. ePortfolios and MOOCs

23. ePortfolios and MOOCs

24. Open Badges
Coming fast down the pike

25. Rapidly Evolving Ecosystem
Open Badge Factory – LMS independence

26. University President’s Vision 1
Alan Davis, Kwantlen Polytechnic University
BC RPL Summit presentation March 2013

27. What is ePortfolio?
Virtual learning companion
http://www.slideshare.net/4nitsirk/mahara-open-source-eportfolio-application

28. Digital Identity
Shareski, Couros
http://www.slideshare.net/shareski/identity-management-project
http://www.slideshare.net/courosa/developing-digital-citizens

29. ePortfolios and PLEs
http://www.edtechpost.ca/ple_diagrams/index.php/2314107350_b5a5339dba_m

30. Learner controlled assessment
Skill/Outcome Match Summary Example

31. Success Factors
Organizational perspective
• Burning platform?
– Program outcomes > institutional accreditation
• Principles of change management
– Accelerating vs. accepting the maxim: “change
happens one retirement at a time”
• Faculty portfolios (“eportfolio is good for you”)
– Graduate portfolios
– Hiring Portfolios
– Continuing Professional Development
• Department portfolio to support accreditation
– But don’t let this need “drive the bus”

32. Success Factors
Student perspective
• Watch the frame of reference
– Emphasize “internal” (personal values & interests) over “external”
(expectations of employers & recruiters)
• Focus on learning, not just assessment
– PLE, lifelong companion, personal narrative
– Private, shared and public space
• Start early and monitor progress
• Emphasize content over technology
• Opportunities for peer interaction
– Peer review, brainstorming, portfolio buddies, presenting portfolios
• Take small steps with lots of scaffolding
– Simple tasks to begin, provide examples
– Provide technical and content support and feedback
• Eat your own dog food (i.e. build your own eportfolio)

33. Future State: the Open ePortfolio
“Small pieces, loosely joined”
Student
Records
Online
Credential
Verification
Job Boards,
Recruitment
Sites
Personal
Networks,
Communities
Online
Mentoring
Services
Localized
Labour Market
Information
Employer HR
Management
Systems
Government
Information
Portals
ePortfolio
Web 2.0
YouTube
LinkedIn
Twitter…
eLearning
LMS
Moodle,
D2L, etc.

34. Options for Lifelong Access
(not exhaustive, remixable)
• Export and import to free provider (Mahara)
• Free account supported by state (eFolio MN)
• Free account supported by vendor (D2L*)
• Individual subscription administered by vendor
(PebblePad)
• Individual subscription administered by
institution (?)
• Online community supported by institution’s
marketing budgets (?)
– Con Ed and/or Alumni Association

35. Would student take their
ePortfolios lifelong?
• YES, because:
• NO, because:

36. Learner-owned Lifelong ePortfolio
Summary thoughts
• ePortfolio as a lens for the world
– Personal Learning Environment
– Performance support platform
– Recursive assessment platform
• ePortfolio as a dialogue
– Group ePortfolios, PLNs, learning communities
– Multiple tools, aggregated by need
– Simplify/standardize the touch points
• Destination vs. journey

37. Final thought
The future is already
here; it’s just not very
evenly distributed.
William Gibson
Creative Commons http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Gibson

38. This presentation
http://bit.ly/lifelongep
More about ePortfolios and Higher Ed
http://bit.ly/eP4HigherEd

39. don@learningagents.ca
Twitter: donpresant
ePortfolio: bit.ly/DonPresant_ePortfolio