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ePortfolios >> Hi-Octane Assessment
8/16/2005
According to Treuer, the UMD “Portfolio” project began in 1995 as an effort to complement a PeopleSoft (www.peoplesoft.com) database. After three years of hardcore coding, the first iteration was available for campuswide rollout. The goal of this first system: to create an integrated portfolio system that would allow students to digitally post documents and other curriculum-related “artifacts” such as audio files, images, and in later years, video files and more.
At first, administrators decried the idea as somewhat superfluous—beyond the data-gathering capabilities of the new and pricey enterprise resource planning (ERP) system from PeopleSoft, which is now owned by Oracle. Treuer recalls that impression changed rapidly when UMD technologists saw how powerful ePortfolio technology could be.
“We realized quickly that every individual can and should be enabled to manage, distribute, and control his or her own personal digital information,” he says. “This is the future of individual records management; this is the future of knowledge management; and the ePortfolio provides the technology for that future.”
Capturing Student History
Today, UMD’s ePortfolio system is all about flexibility. Educators encourage students to upload into their portfolio every document and file they create, and use the portfolio as a kind of personal storage center. Technologists at the institution have set up the database in such a way that any one (or more) of the artifacts can be repurposed for multiple activities such as different classes, various types of exams, job-related portfolios, etc. With this in mind, when it comes time for assessment, students and other users can take certain files and move them into a public section of the portfolio, for sharing.
| ePORTFOLIO POWER |
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| Univeristy of Minnesota-Duluth invested in a 1.74-terabyte SAN used, in part, to maintain ePortfolios well after students graduate. Students can build their ePortfolios while at UMD, then sharpen and augment them throughout their careers as alumni, shifting the portfolio from an assessment enabler to employment enhancers and more. |
When Treuer sets up interviews with journalists, for instance, he elects to share information about his kayak and his travels to Croatia. The portfolio creates a secure environment in which visitors can view artifacts when they want to, through a standard Web browser. It is unlike e-mail, which cannot guarantee secure transmission of attached files. Treuer and other UMD technologists are so pleased with their ePortfolio system that they recently moved to make it available for students indefinitely. Under an initiative dubbed Technology for Life, the school invested in a 1.74-terabyte storage area network (SAN) that is used in part to maintain ePortfolios well after students graduate. Inspired by an international movement to create electronic portfolios for all (see "Different Strokes" box below), UMD administrators are betting that students will incorporate the tools into their lives well beyond graduation. As Treuer explains it, students can build their ePortfolios while at UMD, then sharpen and augment them throughout their careers as alumni, shifting the portfolio from an assessment enabler to employment enhancer, and more.
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