A summary of the JISC funded projects working in the area of e-portfolios.

e-Portfolios: JISC projects

JISC projects are working on the use of e-portfolio tools and systems to support a range of purposes (see all projects listed at the bottom of the page). This page provides links to projects who have completed, or are currently working in particular areas.

Supporting application

A number of projects are investigating issues around application to University, including:

Other projects are investigating the use of e-portfolios for applying for jobs or work placements and for building CVs (myWorld, EELLS, SOLVS, Shibboleth-based CV Builder).

Projects are exploring the use of portfolios to showcase work in a range of disciplines, including creative industries (PDP4Life, PDP4XL2, SOLVS), teacher training (ePISTLE) and health (ELP, SOLVS, HeLM).

Supporting transition

Projects exploring how learners can be supported through transitions have worked on areas such as the use of an electronic Personal Development Planning (PDP) system to support students as they move from a high support environment (further education (FE) college) to a low support environment (higher education (HE) institution) ( TransPortALL), around supporting the development of key skills and study skills on transfer to higher education (PLPP, ELP, Learning Matrix and ELP2), and around supporting learners as they transition into employment in the context of women returning to work after a career break (eReturn).  

Supporting learning, teaching and assessment

  Projects working in the area of supporting reflective learning, supporting formative assessment, and presenting evidence for assessment and formal qualifications are:

  • Exploring the use of mobile devices to reflect and collect evidence for assessment ( WOLF, EPICS2)
  • Investigating tools to support learners and advisers during the Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) process ( SPaCE-FD and e-APEL)
  • Exploring the use of portfolios in traditionally reflective/evidence-based disciplines such as education (ePISTLE) and healthcare (MANSLE, ELP, PDP4XL2, SOLVS, HeLM)
  • Supporting vocational and work-based learners, including supporting learners to reflecting on progress and achievement (EWE), supporting the sharing of reflections with mentors and peers (ELP, WOLF, SPaCE-FD and HELPP) and supporting the processes of information, advice and guidance provision to learners (JOSEPH).

Supporting PDP and Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

 Many JISC projects have been working in this important area of supporting PDP through using e-portfolio related tools and systems. This work includes:

Technical development

Interoperability and data transfer

Many projects have investigated issues around the transfer of learner data between institutions to ease transition for learners. One project (SHELL) has developed a middleware solution to enable the transfer of learner data between otherwise incompatible systems, a solution that has been developed further through other projects in a range of contexts (PDP4Life, PDP4XL2, EELLS, Learning Matrix, ioNW2); others used Enterprise web services to draw down learner data from a range of institutions into a learner portal (NIIMLE), e-portfolio system (Lipid), or CV ( Shibboleth-based CV builder).

Other projects have successfully piloted the transfer of standards compliant learner data between HE and FE PDP/e-portfolio systems ( Developing Learning and Teaching Aspects of Progress File and PDPs Across HE and FE, EPICS, EPICS2), between schools and colleges (RIPPLL) and between the national UCAS entry system and an institution ( Specifiying an e-Portfolio). However, it has emerged that the technical standards require further rationalisation in order to achieve wider take-up. The continued development of technical standards for the learner information held within an e-portfolio is being coordinated by JISC Centre for Educational Technology and Interoperability Standards (CETIS) through the Portfolio Special Interest Group (SIG).

As existing standards were found to be unwieldy, JISC funded 7 6-month projects (PIOP) which completed in March 2009, which developed, implemented and tested a new lightweight specification, LEAP 2A,

Security

Three projects investigated the provision of Shibboleth-based authentication for e-portfolio systems (ePISTLE, Kent PLPP, RIPPLL).

e-Framework and e-portfolio

The JISC e-Portfolio Reference Model (domain map) project has scoped the e-portfolio domain (with a focus on transition) and has made a number of recommendations for working towards a lightweight service-oriented approach, an approach enabled by the JISC e-Framework. A range of projects have been working to develop web services in the e-portfolio domain within the e-Framework (MANSLE, Shibboleth-based CV builder, JOSEPH, PortisHEad, DELIA).

Guidance for institutions

A project ( Legal Study) exploring the legal issues surrounding e-portfolios and lifelong learner records has produced a range of guidance on issues such as data protection and Intellectual Property Rights.

Others (ELP, MLEs for Lifelong Learning Support Project) have produced guidance for institutions and specific staff groups aiming to help them make informed choices about e-portfolio systems and governance ( EPICS). A video case study has been produced of two learners experiences ( Jenny and Emma's video) of using an e-portfolio tool during their teacher training.

Work was also undertaken with the Higher Education Academy Subject Centres around subject specific approaches to e-portfolio use (e.g. the Escalate project), Lifelong Learning Networks (MANSLE , RIPPLL, EELLS, Learning Matrix, SOLVS, JOSEPH, myPlan, PDP4XL2), professional bodies (Flourish), employers and sector skills councils ( ioNW2, PDP4XL2).

Documents & Multimedia

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