Lessons Learned

What are the lessons learned from the project?

• Feedback indicated that further development work should involve professional body and employer engagement. Students and returners will give increased value to creating an e-portfolio when employers appear to endorse or demand them
• Speed and other technical limitations of MyStuff had acted as a barrier to greater uptake and 'stickiness'^*
• Feedback from stakeholders as well as discussions at our dissemination event also revealed growing discontent with the proliferation of different e-portfolio systems for specific user groups and the lack of transparency between them
• There is a need for systems that recognise the lifelong nature of learning and do not assume that each learning episode requires a new e-portfolio. This is especially important in the transitions between schools, further education colleges and universities
• Staff must engage fully if e-portfolios are going to be successful - this includes using them for staff appraisals, keeping e-portfolios themselves that they can use as model examples for students
• Employer/stakeholder engagement is also crucial for employability outcomes
• Standardisation/interoperability - there is a strong need to continue work in this area
• It should be a 'cradle to grave' project - work should continue on joining up e-portfolios that currently have specific target groups
• Need for work with professional bodies to promote e-portfolios
• Successful induction can help to increase uptake of the use of e-portfolios so this needs to be included in planning
• Importing/exporting contents between MyStuff and the Blackboard version used at Salford proved to be not as useful and successful as hoped for, however this had the positive effect of urging the team to look at alternative ways to host the e-portfolio data

^*'sticky' reference - Jalfari, Ali. (2004). The 'Sticky' ePortfolio System: Tackling Challenges and Identifying Attribute. EDUCAUSE Review, vol 39, No 4 (July/August), pp 38-49.