Lessons Learned

What are the lessons learned from the project?

Isolated or Independent Learners?

Discussion took place throughout the project on the term 'isolated' and although it was felt to be valid in terms of the different types of situations learners may be in, it was also considered to have negative connotations. An alternative suggestion may be 'independent learner'. No learners who took part in the project were directly referred to as 'isolated'.

Resource implications

A project such as this not only requires a multi-layered approach in terms of the roles involved (to best discuss the production and delivery of a learning technology), but must also have access to multi-skilled teaching staff who can understand the aim of the project, be able to build such a pilot scheme into the curriculum and learn to understand the technology within a short timescale. Relevant support within their institution at a senior level as well as relying on the goodwill of colleagues is critical. Institutions adopting e-portfolios should not underestimate the amount of teaching needed to support learners in their use of the tool. Clearly most partner institutions had put in extra resources to help learners engage with the e-portfolio.

The experience of the project for UCLAN led to the conclusion that considerable human resource needs to be allotted for any open source development, perhaps outweighing any financial advantage over commercially available software.

User Perspectives

The evaluation showed that few students find reflection easy. An e-portfolio tool can provide some support for reflection but is not, on its own, the answer to the problem. Most students are motivated by the presentational function of e-portfolios. This needs to be realistic, which implies that users need to be able to publish their presentations outside of the system itself. More mature students were generally easier to engage with the e-portfolio tool and its potential than younger learners needing more external motivation and structure.

Ownership of data was not as much of an issue with learners as anticipated as far as the project was concerned. This could reflect the expectation, particularly in FE, where the tutor has freer access to certain elements of portfolio for the purposes of assessment.

Language Barriers

Language barriers were a significant difficulty in terms of differences in FE and HE approaches to personal development planning. There were also 'cultural' differences in the Americanisms used in open source software which caused some interpretation difficulties.

Regional Partnership

The project showed how a regional partnership such as this can be successful. The partners welcomed the inclusive way the project was run and all have expressed interest in continuing to build on the links forged through formal project work and informal networking. The project team has drawn parallels in approach with the CAMEL project and commend it as a model.