Developing a thin ePortfolio for lifelong learning in the eFramework

1. Developing a thin ePortfolio for lifelong learning in the eFramework Reducing complex requirements to simpler terms in which they become capable of implementation Peter Rees JonesCETIS ePortfolio feasibility study &Centre for International ePortfolio Development

2. 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.

3. ePortfolio Reference Model: Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) 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 Abstract Use Case: A chain of ePortfolio enabled Services produces an ILP.

4. ePortfolio: ILP Trigger • An assessment result • Mark+comments from formative assessment; • This requires an assessment interface (the hatpin)

5. ePortfolio: ILP 2. I call this information into an ePortfolio enabled Personal Development Service.

6. ePortfolio: ILP 3. I review the results against my goals...

7. ePortfolio: ILP 3. I review the results against my goals... 4. …in the context of past reflections… (saving my current reflections as I go)

8. ePortfolio: ILP 3. I review the results against my goals... 4. …in the context of past reflections… (saving my current reflections as I go) 5. …taking account of pathway information about the grades I need to meet my goals.

9. ePortfolio: ILP Comment: There is a major gap: 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 . When we use MSN or google groups on the kinds of university we want to go to .

10. ePortfolio: ILP Comment: Institutional Personal Development is focused on the individual But actual Personal Development is a lot about informal conversations IMS LIP reflects the institutional view & has no concept of “Group”

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

12. ePortfolio: ILP 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.)

13. ePortfolio: ILP Comment: - Pathway information is the subject of the XRCI Reference Model 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

14. ePortfolio: ILP 8. My dialogue with my advisor is recorded Comment I may may well be accessing other advice from other sources, like a google group Negotiating a plan may draw on the Action Workflow approach of Medina-Mora, Flores & Winograd 1992

15. ePortfolio: ILP 8. My dialogue with my advisor is recorded (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)

16. ePortfolio: ILP 8. My dialogue with my advisor is recorded 9. I negotiate a formal learning plan with my advisor 10. 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)

17. 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: ILP and a thin ePortfolio Comment:

18. 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: Just how thin is thin?

19. 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: Lifelong and Lifewide

20. Thin ePortfolio

21. Thin ePortfolio • 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

22. ePortfolio: The implications for specifications and standards • 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

23. eFramework: Types of Service • 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)

24. eFramework: Types of Service • 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)

25. eFramework: Types of Service • 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

26. eFramework: Types of Service • 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.

27. The eFramework: Provisional Conclusions • 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