JISC

Links

PETAL Project Web Site 

PETAL CETIS Development Page 

Distributed eLearning - eTools Page

Software Description

Petal will:

• produce a General e-Portfolio Tool based on the Open Source Portfolio Initiative (OSPI - http://www.theospi.org/)
• instantiate the Certified Member of ALT scheme (CMALT - http://www.ucl.ac.uk/epd/alt-accreditation/) as the first prototype use-case of the General e-Portfolio tool
• provide appropriate OS License agreements to the software based on the OSPI licence,  which is itself is based on the Jabber Open Source License Version 1.0 and complies with the Open Source Definition.
• produce up to 8 use-case scenarios for the application of the general e-portfolio tool in four post compulsory education sectors
• produce UML descriptions of the learning design and processes underlying CMALT and general e-portfolio tool
• produce a general template for building use-case scenarios for e-portfolios in various educational and professional contexts
• produce an Interim Report and a Final Report
• provide a development environment on K-Int’s servers, and a user acceptance test environment and a public release environment on ALT’s servers.

Aims and Objectives

Petal addresses the lack of open source tools designed to build ePortfolios in the UK context.  It will build on good practice and re-use existing open source software wherever appropriate.

1. The Petal Project aims to  produce a general e-portfolio tool for lifelong learning which will address the following needs
   
   
   • a tool that is explicitly dialogic
   • a tool that might be used in any post-compulsory, adult education scenario and is not biased towards undergraduate university education
   • a tool that is not biased towards the US education system
   • a tool that is based on open-source software available to the UK education community
   • a tool that is compatible with UKLeaP and the Lifelong Learning Record
     
2. The Petal Project aims to produce a formal description conforming to the IMS-LD standard of the use of the e-Portfolio tool in teaching situations.
   
3. The Petal Project aims to produce 8 use-case scenarios of the application of the tool in different post compulsory educational contexts: HE, FE, ACE, Professional Institutes.

Specifically, Petal will:

• implement CMALT as an instantiation of a general e-portfolio tool for personal and lifelong learning based on the Open Source Portfolio Initiative (OSPI).
• pilot the general e-portfolio tool for personal and lifelong learning with a small cohort of eight learning technologists from four different post-compulsory education sectors: FE, HE, ACL, and Professional Institutes
• develop 8 more use-case scenarios for the application of the e-portfolio tool.
• describe the processes involved in the creation and applications of a general e-portfolio tool for personal and lifelong learning using IMS LD
• create a template for the production of further use-cases of the e-portfolio tool
• disseminate knowledge, experience and applications of the general e-portfolio tool for personal and lifelong learning to the JISC community.