The European Union has funded a three-year project called Europortfolio Network of ePortfolio Experts and Practitioners 2013-1015. EPNET is envisaged as establishing a European-wide community of practice and repository of information.This short presentation will describe the project, its aims, partners and key outputs.

1. Who am I?
• Educational Developer at the University of Liverpool, UK
• Senior Associate Director, Centre for Recording
Achievement (CRA)
EPNET kick-off meeting, 31 January - 1 February 2013

2. What is CRA?
• Educational charity, network organisation
• Established 1991 (as a two-year project!)
Its mission:
"we seek to develop and demonstrate the value of recording
achievement and action planning processes as an important element
in improving learning and progression throughout the world of
education, training and employment“…
… a set of values and interests which holds us together in the use of
the processes of review, reflection, recording and planning to enable
and facilitate the personal and professional development of us all.
• Since January 2013, partner in the EU-funded
Europortfolio project
EPNET kick-off meeting, 31 January - 1 February 2013

3. EUROPORTFOLIO: a European Network
of Eportfolio Experts and Practitioners
Project Europortfolio: a European Network of Eportfolio Experts and Practitioners (EPNET)
Ref. no. 531312-LLP-1-2012-1-HR-KA3-KA3NW, Agreement no. 2012-4138/001-001
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.

4. WHO ARE WE?
• EUROPORTFOLIO Project consortium (EUROPORTFOLIO CORE)
1. University of Zagreb, Faculty of Organization and Informatics,
Croatia (coordinator)
2. ADPIOS, France
3. Centre for Recording Achievement, UK
4. AGH University of Science and Technology Centre of e-Learning,
Poland
5. Danube University Krems, Austria
6. University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
7. Open University of Catalonia (UOC), Spain
8. TLT Group, USA
• Associated partners (21+)
• Global EUROPORTFOLIO (ePortfolio) community
327 registered members, 53 countries
EUROPORTFOLIO Open Seminar, Barcelona 2014

5. WHY EUROPORTFOLIO?
• Patchy ePortfolio-related work:
 Fragmentation of initiatives: Most occur at individual, local
and organisational levels, few at regional, national and
international levels.
 Fragmentation of technologies: despite work on
interoperability (e.g. IMS and LEAP 2A standards) ePortfolios are
not interoperable across ePortfolio platforms and information
systems in education, human resource development and
employment.
 Fragmentation of actors: distance, language and cultural
barriers affect the ability to share information and build
knowledge.
 Fragmentation of information: there is no single point from
which it is possible to find all relevant information on ePortfolio
initiatives, technologies, practice and actors.
EUROPORTFOLIO Open Seminar, Barcelona 2014

6. Our main goal is ...
... to establish a European Cooperation Network of experts
and practitioners from four sectors in the field of
ePortfolios:
 Further and Higher Education
 Vocational Education and Training
 Employment — human resources management, career
counsellors, etc.
 Lifelong Learning — all the actors of non-formal and informal
learning
EUROPORTFOLIO Open Seminar, Barcelona 2014

7. We will achieve that by...
• Defining a framework for the integration of ePortfolios in all 4 targeted
sectors
• Transferring crucial knowledge from early adopters of ePortfolio initiatives to
new ePortfolio initiatives
• Contributing to the definition and implementation of ePortfolio policies,
based upon evidence-informed practice, and a shared European perspective
• Raising awareness among educators, end-users and
employers/enterprises to promote technological innovation in education as
well as practices of reflective learning
• Encouraging the emergence of new ePortfolio initiatives to contribute to
innovative learning practices, transparency and quality assurance of educational
systems, formal and informal;
• Developing the Europortfolio Learning Community Portal as a self-sustainable
European ePortfolio information platform and social community of
actors with live stream of current practices
• Enhancing the dialogue with international research networks, policy
makers and educational leaders with the creation of an international network
of experts and practitioners
EUROPORTFOLIO Open Seminar, Barcelona 2014

8. BENEFITS?
• 1st group: EPortfolio experts
 Will particularly benefit from the ePortfolio inventory, and contacts
with other experts (creating research partnerships), exchanging
knowledge and experience, publish their own findings
• 2nd group: EPortfolio practitioners
 Will particularly benefit from the ePortfolio inventory, the maturity
matrix, online questionnaires for self-assessment, lessons learned,
open educational resources and white papers
• 3rd group: Policy makers and authorities
 Will particularly benefit from the ePortfolio framework, green and
white papers, etc.
• 4th group: Global ePortfolio Community
 Links to researchers, policy experts and practitioners outside of
Europe, e.g. Australia, Canada and USA, will be exploited
 Inter/Nation Coalition of Eportfolios across USA and Australia will
reference Europortfolio and disseminate information about European
ePortfolio network thus expanding the European ePortfolio vision and
enabling new, worldwide partnerships
EUROPORTFOLIO Open Seminar, Barcelona 2014

9. HOW DO WE WORK?
1. A wide network of committed stakeholders across
nations and sectors, including ePortfolio experts, researchers,
practitioners, educational institutions and leaders, employers,
policy experts and policy makers as well as interested
communities such as school networks
2. A fully self-sustainable Europortfolio Learning
Community Portal:
 ePortfolio Practices and Models
 series of National and Thematic Executive Reports
 Open Educational Resources
 a series of ePortfolio Implementation Guides (good practice, policies,
implementation strategies)
 an ePortfolio maturity matrix model (self-assessment, benchmarking,
further development)
 an evidence-based ePortfolio framework that contributes to the
recognition and accreditation of competencies within EU-27 countries
EUROPORTFOLIO Open Seminar, Barcelona 2014

10. EPORTFOLIO COMPETENCY RECOGNITION AND
ACCREDITATION FRAMEWORK
Deliverable 3.2
EPNET: Europortfolio Project

11. Key dimensions
• Trust (in the context of the
exchange of goods and services)
• Forms of evidence: ‘direct’ 
’proxy’
• Granularity
• Significance of development v.
‘snapshot’

12. Definition:
1. refers both to functional performance and
(over time) expert application, the latter
characterised by a capacity to integrate a range
of functions successfully to achieve high level
outcomes;
2. not passive knowledge; insofar as
knowledge is involved it is knowledge-in-use…to
demonstrate competencies there must be a
product (something the learner has made) or a
performance (something the learner does).

13. …. ‘competency refers to a complex set of actions
drawing on extensive knowledge, aligned with
values and involving creative problem-solving,
judgement and decision-making, often under
pressure.’

14. What ePortfolios offer to the
recognition of competencies
Technologies/tools for:
• the collection, organisation and presentation of
evidence;
• evidencing a process over time;
• supporting the self-assessment of competencies;
• supporting communication and review;
• supporting quality processes;
• recognising learning and achievement

15. Getting involved in building this new
‘community of practice’…
Europortfolio: a European network working to create a
sustainable online community of e-portfolio practitioners.
Open to all using, or wishing to use, technology effectively
and appropriately:
• to increase the potential for valuing learning and achievements
through greater visibility and transparency
• to capture, recognise, interpret and integrate learning and
achievements (both formal and non-formal) and
• thereby to allow learners to contextualise, develop and manage
their personal trajectories.
Sharing – learning – developing
EUROPORTFOLIO Open Seminar, Barcelona 2014

16. A ‘work in progress’, some options for
getting involved now…
• By expressing support – join by registering and
become a member by signing the Europortfolio
Charter at www.europortfolio.org
• By contributing your ideas and experiences, plus
information about publications and events you are
running, to the Europortfolio Portal and/or
Newsletter
• By joining - or leading – one of our Open Webinars
(four so far).
• By accessing/contributing to our Youtube
channel/other social network tools…
• By joining, or leading, a ‘chapter’ (local
Europortfolio group).
EUROPORTFOLIO Open Seminar, Barcelona 2014

17. And for the future:
• Developing the facility for practical collaboration
(soon to be implemented via the portal).
So far… 327 Members from 53 Countries!
Please join us at www.europortfolio.org
EPNET kick-off meeting, 31 January - 1 February 2013

18. Portal:
www.europortfolio.org
Eportfolio Maturity Matrix:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bxntz9IEOEzwSFVMZ0tyej
JqYkE/edit
Eportfolio Competency Recognition and Accreditation
Framework:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OEIHt9u1H6WtjHD
c1gZjOj58h4HsQtm4mRqemsj1cjs/edit
EPNET kick-off meeting, 31 January - 1 February 2013

19. EPNET kick-off meeting, 31 January - 1 February 2013