Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
Article
The ePortfolio Hijacked
12/12/2007
But don't call them "ePortfolios." They are assessment management systems, or what a friend said really should be called "accreditation management systems," and most likely they are not designed to support the learning values traditionally associated with portfolios.
Therefore, to live within this reality, but to revive the learning portfolio interest on campus, think of having multiple kinds of ePortfolios, managed in different ways, and with different constituencies.
A faculty member could use a learning portfolio in class and still enter results from that portfolio into the campus assessment management system.
The learning portfolio -- emphasizing student ownership of their own work over their time in college -- will find champions in writing programs, art departments, schools of architecture, music departments, and others. Student development offices or advising centers have also shown great interest in ePortfolios. Medical schools now have patient portfolios. ePortfolios can be applied in many fields and administrative offices. The days when we all talked about a single ePortfolio platform are over.
And let us hope that the days of confusing the term "ePortfolio" with "assessment management system" are also numbered.
[Editor's note: Trent Batson will be the editor of "Web 2.0," a new e-newsletter from Campus Technology. Watch for the first issue in mid-January, 2008.]
Trent Batson, Ph.D. has served as an English professor, director of academic computing, and has been an IT leader since the mid-1980s. He is currently a Communication Strategist in the Office of Educational Innovation and Technology at MIT. batsontr@mit.edu
Cite this Site
copy text (above) for proper citation
Recommended Reading
- Sentrigo Offers Help for Database Patching Woes
Sentrigo Inc. released its new Hedgehog vPatch database security software product Tuesday. The product addresses patching inconsistencies that seem to affect busy Oracle database administrators (DBAs), who don't always have time to test and patch. However, users of Microsoft SQL Server database in the enterprise can take a lesson here too.
- Starfish Launches Higher Ed Retention Solution
Software provider Starfish Retention Solutions has announced the upcoming launch of its first product, Starfish Office Hours. The company said this will be the first in a series of products intended to help higher education institutions improve retention and graduation rates by aiding in the delivery of programs designed to help at-risk student populations.
- Unisys Offers Free Unified Communications Trial
Unisys announced Monday that it is offering companies a free 30-day unified communications trial using Microsoft solutions. The offer is currently available through Microsoft's sales personnel.
- New Mexico Launches Statewide eLearning Initiative
As part of its Innovative Digital Education and Learning initiative (IDEAL-NM), New Mexico is launching a statewide program to standardize on a single electronic learning platform--Blackboard--spanning K-12, higher education, adult education, and government. The initiative will also support a new statewide virtual high school.
- North Carolina Adopts Blackboard for Higher Ed
The University of North Carolina and the North Carolina Community College System have signed on with Blackboard to deploy that company's electronic learning platform across 68 individual campuses.
- Semantic Search: Could the Web Think?
Semantics is a sub-field of linguistics that focuses on meaning making in language. Therefore, the Semantic Web we're still reaching for will be based on a set of definitions, languages, and standards that can base a search on the detection of meaning and not just on a simple character string. The Semantic Web will at least be smarter than the current Web.
