EPortfolio

An electronic portfolio or eportfolio is a generic term encompassing as wide a range of types and products as there are reasons for using them.

Wikipedia contributors (2009) suggest "There are three main types of e-portfolios, although they may be referred to using different terms: developmental (e.g., working), reflective (e.g., learning), and representational (e.g., showcase).

1. A developmental e-portfolio is a record of things that the owner has done over a period of time, and may be directly tied to learner outcomes or rubrics.
2. A reflective e-portfolio includes personal reflection on the content and what it means for the owner's development.
3. A representational e-portfolio shows the owner's achievements in relation to particular work or developmental goals and is, therefore, selective. When it is used for job application it is sometimes called Career portfolio.

These three main types may be mixed to achieve different learning, personal, or work-related outcomes with the e-portfolio owner usually being the person who determines access levels.

Drivers and Trends towards ePortfolios:

• widening participation
• supports lifelong learning
• employability and skills
• internationalisation
• retention

Purposes of ePortfolios:

• supports learning processes such as researching information presentation, reflection, collaboration, planning, compiling evidence and giving and receiving feedback.
• application is towards education and employment.
• assessment for work-based learning, for feedback and withing evidence-based disciplines.

Different perspectives of ePortfolios:

• learner perspectives
• practitioner perspectives
• employer perspectives
• professional body perspectives
• institutional perspectives including the role of the community practitioner

Great Links - worth a look:

ePortfolios Information Sheet for VET Teachers: http://www.eportfolios.net.au/images/VETbrochure_teachers.pdf

Effective practice with eportfolios:

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/themes/elearning/eportfolios/effectivepracticeeportfolios.aspx

Whats different about Mahara? (http://mahara.org/about)

A first guiding principle with the development of the Mahara ePortfolio system is that it is learner centred – a form of Personal Learning Environment. This is in contrast to the more institution-centric Learning Management System (LMS). Mahara is a stand-alone system that can be integrated into a wider virtual learning framework. Unlike some pundits, Mahara (2009)believe the Learning Management System remains a highly useful application for delivering learning. Mahara (2009) also believe the overall environment can be enhanced and complemented by a learner-centred personal learning environment such as Mahara. Pan-institutional learner communities can also be encouraged using Mahara. Mahara’s architecture is inspired by the modular, extensible architecture of Moodle. The Mahara team has also been heavily involved in the Moodle community, with recent work mostly focused on Moodle Networks. Similarly, Mahara systems can be networked together as well having single sign-on from Moodle 1.9 upwards. In a sense, we see Mahara as a ‘sister’ application although the two systems are not required to go together. Going forward, Mahara will continue to evolve as a ‘pluggable’, modular ePortfolio system designed to leverage Web 2.0 web services and built with interoperability in mind.

What makes Mahara different from other ePortfolio systems is that you control which items and what information (Artefacts) within your ePortfolio other users see. You can have as many views as you like, each with different Artefacts, and intended purposes and audience. Your audience, or the people you wish to give access to your View, can be added as individuals or as a member of a Group or Community.

Mahara features:

• File repository - allows users to create folder and sub folders, upload multiple files quickly and efficiently, give each file a name and description, manage thier file allocation quota, agree to copyright disclaimer.
• Blogs - A comprehensive blogging tool where blogs and blog postings are considered Artefacts and may be added to a View.
• Social Networking - Users can create and maintain a list of friends within the system.
• Resume Builder - Allows users to create digital CV's by entering information into a variety of optional fields.
• Profile Information - Allows users to share details through a variety of optional fields.
• Adminstration - Users are able to customise Mahara via a number of configuration settings.

Mahara would be a fantastic tool to facilitate all aspects of engagement - Engagement Theory (Kearsley & Sneiderman, 1999).