Aalderink and Veugelers (2005) describe a framework for describing and planning e-portfolio implementation.
They make a valid point when they argue that there is an educational shift towards student centered education. The role of the tutor is changing; he becomes a facilitator of learning processes.
Students therefore have to take greater responsibility for their learning, therefore “students must be supported by a powerful learning environment, in which competences, process steering and co-operation, are the pillars at which the concept of education is build and IT helps meeting their demands”.
The project provided an integrated learning management system (LMS) and an e-portfolio system (N@tschool). 7 Universities in the Netherlands worked together on a toolkit (website) with information and documents to be used at the start of portfolio implementation. Different scenarios are described to carry out the implementation (scenario 1 is not involving all teachers in the implementation process but in scenario 2 they do...the aim is to measure the impact)
Unfortunately they don’t describe the advantages of this approach but I guess the more Universities are involved, the more data become available to evaluate and most of all...can they work towards a system which is inter-exchangeable??
Two Universities are highlighted in this paper: Amsterdam University & Windesheim University
Amsterdam
Aim: 40% of the 22000 students should be working with an e-portfolio by 2005.
Processes: making academic training and skills visible in an e-portfolio, collective concept of education and study career counselling.
Approaches:
- Attention for creating a support base / sharing views / involving the context
- A study career-counselling route with checklists for the managers to steer the pilots and new initiatives
- Stimulating and encouraging teachers to grow in their changing role from expert to coach via a professionalization route
Windesheim
Approach: “it should be a fundamental cornerstone for the pedagogical process on the one hand and the educational institute’s administrative processes on the other. When implemented in the heart of both, an e-portfolio should make learning and teaching more efficient and effective. It should support and improve students’ acquisition of competencies and it should also bring about and support a more transparent and flexible workflow for the different stakeholders involved”.
In the picture below it is clear to see how the e-portfolio has a central role in student’s processes:
They continue to describe various challenges which both Universities have experienced along the way, the one that caught my eye was the one about the conditions of the technology used in the implementing process: “In most cases e-portfolio is not just a single tool (one piece of software), it is more often part of a larger technical configuration, in which the required functionality may be met by the interoperation of different hard- and software tools.”.
I believe the issue of various different systems operating with each other is raised here as well…
Conclusion: “Together the models, cases and examples described above make it clear that ‘folio thinking’ is and will remain a strong trend for the coming years in the Netherlands. It is at the same time a result of and a stimulus for both the development and implementation of e-learning and that of pedagogical change across educational sectors and potentially also through working life of our citizens”.
All together an interesting paper if you want to know how to implement an e-portfolio system. Personally I would like to know more about how exactly e-portfolio systems are benefitting students’ educational careers. Does it have an effect on their learning? Most of all, who are we to decide that an e-portfolio is useful for students’ future…..just questions that popped up whilst reading this paper.
I guess I still have a lot to learn about this subject.