E-portfolios: National policy and local practice

1. E-portfolios: National policy and local practice E-portfolios: Mapping the Future, University of Nottingham – May 8th 2006 Phil Harley 14-19 Transition Strategy Manager City of Nottingham Local Authority, UK

2. National Policies • DfES Five Year Strategy • 14-19: Education and Skills White Paper • Youth Matters Green Paper • DfES e-Strategy Harnessing Technology • Skills Strategy • Framework for Achievement • QCA blueprint for e-assessment

3. Priorities (1) • Personalised Learning • Putting the learner at the heart of the education system • Not a new concept but technology offers a means to realise the aim

4. Personalised learning and e-learning • Learning platforms as a tool to personalise learning experience and provide personalised learning space as a route to an e-portfolio • A way to personalise content • Support individual learning styles and needs

5. Priorities (2) • Improve advice and guidance • Services do not utilise new technology • Ensure integrated online personal support for learners • Good, impartial and accessible advice and guidance free from stereotyping • 14-19 prospectus • Individual Learning Plans

6. Priorities (3) • Progression • Schools need to track student achievement at levels 2 and 3 beyond their institution • “a system where the individual learner can demonstrate to another institution, an employer, or to a parent, what they have done, how they are succeeding and who they are” Michael Stevenson DfES

7. Priorities (4) • Partnership • Education Improvement Partnerships, 14-19 Area Strategy groups only way to deliver 14-19 agenda • “management of increasingly individualised learning, in a variety of institutions and the workplace through e-learning and other methods” 14-19 White Paper

8. Priorities (5) • Achievement • A pupil profile recording achievement • Unitisation of qualifications, credit framework to ‘bank’ over time – will need accurate tracking • Strengthening of vocational skills programmes • Integration of e-assessment into public exam system

9. Priorities (6) • Improving transition • More ongoing transitions as personalisation takes effect • Government targets for recruitment and retention • 90% of 17 year olds in education by 2015 • 75% more young people completing apprenticeships by 2007/08 • 72% achieving level 2 qualifications by 2008

10. E-portfolios • Definitions • Not a new product or process • Vary greatly, from an electronic file store to a virtual model of the learning process • Usually relate to a learning process e.g. transition, personalisation, accreditation, reflection • Ties other functions and systems together

11. E-portfolio BECTA Definition • The electronic process and services through which outcomes of learning and assessment are recorded • The process and services through which outcomes and evidence are used to support transitions between phases of learning and career development across a lifetime

12. E-portfolio BECTA Definition • A process of presenting digital evidence of progress and achievement to self and others • A process to support reflection on learning through creating a personal narrative of progress

13. Functional Definition • A collection of authentic and diverse evidence (drawn from a larger archive) • Representing what a person/organisation has learned over time (after reflection) • Designed for presentation to one or more audiences for a particular purpose Process and Product

14. The Vision • A Passport designed to fit and influence national context but created through local partnership • An electronic Passport for Progression managed by the student • A Passport which supports individual planning and achievement across the curriculum • The beginnings of a lifelong e-portfolio used to make applications electronically at key transition points

15. Passportfolio • Learners • Achievement Zone • Reviewing Zone • Presenting Zone Teachers Information Zone Monitoring Zone

16. L I F E L O N G Achievement Zone Personal data Work Related Curriculum Work Experience Achievement Transcript Reviewing Zone Student Self Review CEG Programme Skills Assessment Individual learning plan L I F E W I D E Presenting Zone Application forms Transcript Curriculum Vitae Enquiry Application Induction

17. Passportfolio • Messages • Work • Diary • Research • Reminders • Ask Aardvark

22. Reviewing Zone STEP 7: Setting Goals STEP 6: Getting There STEP 5: Getting Started STEP 4: My Ambitions STEP 3: My Learning Styles STEP 2: My Skills STEP 1: About Me Individual Learning Plan

24. Interoperability • The application form is marked up as UKLeaP (UKLeaP is a relational XML format, British Standard BS8788) • The local PDP system connects to the Web Service on the destination system • The data is transferred • The destination system parses and stores the data

25. Success factors • Identifying institutional priorities and offering to solve problems • Recognising cultural differences • Championing and enabling partnership and collaboration within an independent framework • Supporting the varying levels ofawareness and technical knowledge

26. Current thinking • Nottingham Reference Model • A modular model to deliver the personalisation agenda • A thin e-portfolio drawing on a range of expanding web services • Orchestrated and prioritised by the learner?

27. ePortfolio: ILP

28. References • The original e-portfolio can be found at www.cityofnottinghampassport.com • Details of the Centre for International e-portfolio Development at Nottingham at www.nottingham.ac.uk/eportfolio • An article giving more detail on Passportfolio ferl.becta.org.uk/ • www.becta.org.uk • National policies at www.dfes.gov.uk • Definition at www.eife.l.org