e-Portfolios in successful HE admissions
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This project implemented the integration of an e-Portfolio system in the UCAS-based Higher Education admissions process, as an example of the ‘thin ePortfolio model’ recommended by the ePortfolio for Lifelong Learning Reference Model project.
Executive Summary
The next logical step in this development was to implement a practical application of the model using an existing ePortfolio system, with a view to learning lessons from a state-of-the-art implementation. The project developed additional functionality in the PebblePad system to permit learners to choose courses to apply to, to create new applications against course advertising material, to edit the applications and to submit them to UCAS. We reviewed and amended existing business processes, so that the learner’s ePortfolio could be placed at the centre of the process.
The project addressed the Schwartz report [1] recommendations:
| 'To produce a more integrated service for applicants and specifically to facilitate … Transfer of information from applicants; … Structuring the personal statement and reference, in particular through the insertion of course-specific prompts; … Providing feedback to applicants …' |
The project team was a partnership between the University to Wolverhampton (lead institution), Pebble Learning Ltd, UCAS and APS Ltd. It also involved staff and students from Kingsmead Technology College.
The project initially attempted to use a case study approach with real applicants. However, owing to organisational and technical difficulties it did not prove possible to transfer ePortfolio data into live UCAS systems and beyond, and the project scaled back its scope to cover processes and supporting software development up to the point of connection with the UCAS application system. A small number of ePortfolio-based Personal Statements was completed. Process models for the whole revised process were drawn up.
The project was able to produce two demonstrators:
- PortisHEad ePortfolio-based Personal Statement Interface (PePPSI)
- PortisHEad Interoperable Form Fill (PIFF)
PePPSI demonstrates how an applicant can use an ePortfolio system to create and send to UCAS a significant proportion of a UCAS application, including a short textual Personal Statement mapped against the requirements for a course advertised through an Entry Profile, and a web-based Personal Statement that the selector could use to gain a more holistic view of the applicant. PIFF is a generic form-fill toolkit that can be deployed alongside any web form to allow the learner to populate it with personal data from an HR-XML enabled repository.
The project was able to demonstrate a step forward, providing practical evidence and experience of working with ePortfolio tools in HE admissions and illustrating the types of problems that need to be overcome for full scale implementation. It was also able to show the usefulness of the emerging XCRI-CAP standard for the transformation and mapping of UCAS Entry Profile and other courses data. Although interoperability with the UCAS admissions system was not achieved, the project shows how this could be done once technical interfacing and organisational difficulties have been overcome. The PIFF toolkit is a tangible benefit in terms of a software deliverable with a potentially wide usage, and the project partners, in particular the University and Pebble Learning, are actively seeking real uses of this toolkit.