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Learn more about how Serensoft makes ePortfolios easy for Faculty and for IT |
Ask 10 different people in higher education for their definition of an e-portfolio system, and what do you get? Ten different answers. Electronic Portfolios are not as clearly defined as say, Learning Management Systems (LMS) -- still, there are simple ways of looking at this complex topic.
Electronic Portfolios are considered by an institution for a number of reasons. The majority of the functionality of an e-Portfolio is designed from two perspectives — the student perspective and the institutional perspective. Virtually all of the functionality of an e-Portfolio falls into one or both of these two perspectives.
Let's explore this a bit. If an institution is simply looking at an Electronic Portfolio for how a student may use it to store 'artifacts' and present them in particular formats (like a resume), there are several commercial tools and services available for schools that charge a per-student monthly fee. These solutions look at e-portfolios from the student perspective only — which is incomplete. This puts all the control of the portfolio content and structure in the hands of the individual student, but is of limited or no value from an institutional perspective.
When an institution has more complex needs... needs that require a student to be able to demonstrate specific achievements or competencies relative to a customized set of standards (whether they be state, Federal or institutional standards), more robust capabilities are required. The academic departments need to be able to specify what those standards are and allow the individual to associate specific artifacts to specific standards set up and established by the faculty or department head.
Through a robust open source Electronic Portfolio tool like OSPortfolio (part of the Sakai Project), Serensoft will help you translate your standards into an e-Portfolio "Matrix". The goal will be to allow students in different programs or cohorts to demonstrate through artifacts, reflection, faculty and peer review the ability to demonstrate that they have met the established standards. This level of institutional control also fosters a 'cumulative learning' on the part of students — something that is much more difficult to achieve without an e-Portfolio. A single department may have many matrices customized to a specific pedagogy. OSP also allows students to offer the contents of their portfolio in different formats (or templates) to different audiences, but it links these capabilities with the institutional objectives through powerful tools of institutional value like the matrix.
