Lessons Learned

What are the lessons learned from the project?

The EELLS demonstrator of an e-portfolio service which is independent of institutional systems has generated a lot of interest from teaching staff and from the learners. While the numbers involved are not significant they are an indication that such a service would be viable and used.

EELLS was a technical success but the project raised a large number of issues that will need to be addressed as the service grows. Most of these relate to the process of changing from a small scale research project to a service potentially used by a large number of learners.

The aim was to develop a demonstrator for a regional service but the EELLS services have potential uses within an institutional context. The potential for utilising the EELLS system to facilitate the continuation of postgraduate studies and for services to alumni was raised on many occasions during the project.

A number of implications have been identified. These include:

• Hardware and software - integration; server performance and storage; plug-ins, file formats and browsers required; offline, portable e-portfolio technologies available; service level agreements for future software releases; backup systems
• Support and scalability - impact of usage/storage growth; staff requirements; training and support infrastructure
• Security and privacy - governance policies, data protection issues; issues associated with Pre-18 year olds using the system; progress of national unique identification number; local security issues with institutions allowing access to MIS/VLEs for learner records.
• Ownership and intellectual property - authentication; data ownership; protection of intellectual property
• Adoption - acceptance/usage by learners, institutions, administrators and employers; usability
• Long-term Maintenance - records/information management policies for maintaining/storing/deleting data
• Interoperability and standards - repurposing of data; standards adopted into a system that is being developed before robust standards are established.