Developing a thin ePortfolio for lifelong learning in the eFramework Peter Rees Jones CETIS ePortfolio feasibility study & Centre for International ePortfolio

Developing a thin ePortfolio for lifelong learning in the

eFramework

Peter Rees JonesCETIS ePortfolio feasibility study &

Centre for International ePortfolio Development

Reducing complex requirements to simpler terms in which they become capable of

implementation

ePortfolio Reference Model

• This paper exemplifies how the service oriented approach of the eFramework helps reduce a complex problem to simpler terms,

• identifies how the work of other Reference Model Projects within the eFramework supports the ePortfolio Reference Model, and how our work could support them.

• The services on the diagrams are processes supporting a learner which may (or may not) involve another person but will require one or more webservices.

• The Reference Model is reviewing these chains of domain services, identifying gaps and priorities for the development of ePortfolio enabled webservices,

• which specifies the outlines of the interfaces required between ePortfolio and the domain services

• and has significant implications for specifications, standards and architectures for report to the June 2006 meeting of IMS;

The key deliverable: - a set of profiles from which a lightweight specifications can then be built.

ePortfolio

LearningPlans

Abstract Use Case: A chain of ePortfolio enabled Services produces an ILP.

ILPs are common in schools, colleges & some universities;

customising learning to the individual;

potentially allowing an individual to personalise learning.

Also used for planning application to employment and University

ePortfolio Reference Model: Individual Learning Plans (ILPs)

ePortfolio

Assessment Results & comments

Assessment Service

LearningPlans

1.

Trigger

1. An assessment result

• Mark+comments from formative assessment;

• This requires an assessment interface (the hatpin)

ePortfolio: ILP

ePortfolio


Assessment Service

Personal Development Service

LearningPlans

1.

2.2. I call this information into an ePortfolio enabled Personal Development Service.

ePortfolio: ILP

ePortfolio


Assessment Service


LearningPlans

Learner Goals

1.

2.

3.

3. I review the results against my goals...

ePortfolio: ILP

ePortfolio


Assessment Service

Learner Reflections


LearningPlans

Learner Goals

1.

2.

3.

4.


4. …in the context of past reflections…

(saving my current reflections as I go)

ePortfolio: ILP

ePortfolio


Assessment Service

Learner Reflections


Pathway Information Service

LearningPlans

Learner Goals

1.

2.

3.

4. 5.

5. …taking account of pathway information about the grades I need to meet my goals.


4. …in the context of past reflections…

(saving my current reflections as I go)

ePortfolio: ILP

ePortfolio


Assessment Service

Learner Reflections



LearningPlans

Learner Goals

1.

2.

3.

4. 5.

Comment: There is a major gap:

When we use MSN or google groups on the kinds of university we want to go to .

ePortfolio: ILP

At this point I will chat informally with my friends.

When we use MSN or google groups on the kinds of university we want to go to .

ePortfolio


Assessment Service

Learner Reflections



LearningPlans

Learner Goals

1.

2.

3.

4. 5.

Institutional Personal Development is focused on the individual

But actual Personal Development is a lot about informal conversations

Comment:

IMS LIP reflects the institutional view & has no concept of “Group”

ePortfolio: ILP

ePortfolio


Assessment Service

Learner Reflections



IAG planning Service

LearningPlans

Learner Goals

1.

2.

3.

4.

6.

5.

6. I make available some of my reflections to my formal advisor in an Information Advice Guidance Planning Service

ePortfolio: ILP

ePortfolio


Assessment Service

Learner Reflections




LearningPlans

Learner Goals

1.

2.

3.

4.

6.

7.

5.

6. I make available some of my reflections to my advisor in an Information Advice Guidance Planning Service

7. Formal Pathway Info is called (mainly by the advisor; I now have loads of formal & informal stuff.)

ePortfolio: ILP

ePortfolio


Assessment Service

Learner Reflections




LearningPlans

Learner Goals

1.

2.

3.

4.

6.

7.

5.

Pathway information is the subject of the XRCI Reference Model

Comment: -

Although PDP has been core to JISC, little work has been done on planning.

IMS LIP could support some aspects of planning but the best way of rendering a plan may be Learning Design

ePortfolio: ILP

ePortfolio


Assessment Service

Learner Reflections

Dialogues



IAG planning Service8.

LearningPlans

Learner Goals

1.

2.

3.

4.

6.

7.

5.

8. My dialogue with my advisor is recorded

CommentI may may well be accessing other advice from other sources, like a google group

ePortfolio: ILP

Negotiating a plan may draw on the Action Workflow approach of Medina-Mora, Flores & Winograd 1992

ePortfolio


Assessment Service

Learner Reflections

Dialogues




LearningPlans

Learner Goals

1.

2.

3.

4.

6.

7.

5.


(but what about the other informal conversations?)

9. I negotiate a formal learning plan with my advisor

(The plan is a further chain of services containing sequences of activities, perhaps rendered as LD)

ePortfolio: ILP

ePortfolio


Assessment Service

Learner Reflections

Dialogues




LearningPlans

9.

Learner Goals

1.

2.

3.

4.

6.

7.

5.

10.

Enrolment Service


9. I negotiate a formal learning plan with my advisor10. The first action is to enrol on a new set of classes(In another use case I change the plan in the light of my experience)

ePortfolio: ILP

• Some ePortfolio systems contain some of these services.

• It is to the advantage of the learner if any variant of any service can be plugged into any ePortfolio.

• A modular approach aids implementation

• because it permits prioritisation• A thin, web based ePortfolio

drawing on rapidly developing webservices.

ePortfolio


Assessment Service

Learner Reflections

Dialogues




LearningPlans

9.

Learner Goals

1.

2.

3.

4.

6.

7.

5.

10.

Enrolment Service

ePortfolio: ILP and a thin ePortfolio

Comment:

• All the services to the right could be contained within ePortfolio;

• BUT is the ePortfolio the repository for this information?

• Over time I replace my school ePortfolio with a college and a University ePortfolio

• When I apply to work I need a transcript of all my qualifications

• In my job I need to join up the ePortfolio for my part time MBA with my staff development review.

ePortfolio


Assessment Service

Learner Reflections

Dialogues




LearningPlans

9.

Learner Goals

1.

2.

3.

4.

6.

7.

5.

10.

Enrolment Service

ePortfolio: Just how thin is thin?

• The use of ePortfolio to support Lifelong and Lifewide learning is a complex problem; how do we reduce it to simpler terms?

• An obvious solution, a single ePortfolio for every citizen raises major problems of its own

• How do we put the learners in control of their own information?

• JISC is beginning a scoping study of repositories

• Is an ePortfolio a repository or a thin service that links to many ePortfolio enabled repositories?

ePortfolio


Assessment Service

Learner Reflections

Dialogues




LearningPlans

9.

Learner Goals

1.

2.

3.

4.

6.

7.

5.

10.

Enrolment Service

ePortfolio: Lifelong and Lifewide

Thin ePortfolio

ePortfolio


Learner Reflections

Dialogues

LearningPlans

Learner Goals

Assessment Service




7.

10.

Enrolment Service

8.

9.

1.

2.

3.

4.

College Repository

University Repository

Exam Board Repository

Thin ePortfolio

ePortfolio


Learner Reflections

Dialogues

LearningPlans

Learner Goals

Assessment Service




7.

10.

Enrolment Service

8.

9.

1.

2.

3.

4.

College Repository

University Repository

Exam Board Repository

• The proposition is that there is no need for 2 repositories to speak to one another directly

• A thin ePortfolio service could significantly reduce costs

• This is something that we would like the JISC repository scoping study to explore

• ePortfolio looks like a very thin service providing the learner with a coordinated view of all their information

• permitting the learner to integrate what they have learned in different contexts at different times

• The interfaces with ePortfolio enabled services allow this key “ePortfolio application” to pass information between ePortfolio enabled repositories

• Each interface represents a profile of a specification or standard and the sum of interfaces will require use of many existing and some new specifications

• Monolithic specifications need to be reconfigured to enable their effective use in this modular environment

ePortfolio: The implications for specifications and standards

• This presentation has focused on a learning flow

• Course information is an administrative service

• Suppose the ILP was supporting a learner’s application to HE (or a job)

eFramework: Types of Service

ePortfolio



Guidance and Planning Service

Scenario A Phase 3bFeedback: Application to University at age 18

Other Personal ePortfolio domains

(2) applicant reflects

Applicant

Advisor

(3) applicant meets advisor

Learning Services :

“Admin” Services :

• This presentation has focused on a learning flow

• Course information is an administrative service

• Suppose the ILP was supporting a learner’s application to HE (or a job)

• By using the ILP the learner develops a Presentational eP for the application

• (This work is the subject of a major UK project)


ePortfolio







Presentational ePortfolio

Links to Qualificactions

Personal Statement

Links to Evidence

Links to Contextual Information

Applicant

Advisor


Learning Services :


ePortfolio









Personal Statement

Links to Evidence


Admissions Service

(1) feedback to the applicant

Applicant

Advisor

Admissions Officer


Learning Services :



• An admissions officer reviews the presentational ePortfolio

• But processes of this kind must be quality assured

• And Govt needs to know how far key policies, such as social inclusion are being met

ePortfolio

Scenario A Phase 3cFeedback: Application to University at age 18




Personal Statement

Links to Evidence


Admissions Service

College Manager

Admissions Officer

Learning Services :


Analytic Services :

Analytic Services

college Advisors

Continuous improvement

Analytic Services

PVC

admissions staff

Uni advisors

• Universities have a need for analytic data to assess how effective recruitment is

• And the ways in which a university needs to adapt to its students to enhance retention

• The same data are required to assess the effectiveness of reformed admission processes by Govt.


• At the macro level, processes like application to employment or University require the integration of different kinds of learning, administrative and analytic services which the eFramework is designed to facilitate

• At the median level the eFramework suggests ways of simplifying a complex problem to simpler terms: - a thin ePortfolio service centred on the learner

• At the micro level the eFramework allows webservices developed for one domain service to be adapted for another

• Without an approach like that of the eFramework it is not clear the ePortfolio for Lifelong Learning is feasible

The eFramework: Provisional Conclusions

Documents

Developing a thin ePortfolio for lifelong learning in the eFramework Peter Rees Jones CETIS ePortfolio feasibility study & Centre for International ePortfolio