Briefing Paper e-Portfolios: Key issues and challenges

While the requirement to implement HE Progress Files by 2005/06 suggests a pragmatic approach based on current systems and practice, the recommendations from the MLEs for Lifelong Learning Programme point to the need to prepare for a rather different technological context in further and higher education:

• Current implementations of e-portfolios within single institutions already lend themselves to integration with major institutional systems, including VLEs, student records and finance systems. This integration may extend to course and module information for the identification and provision of pathways and guidance for personal development planning. It may also extend to human resources systems, given the usefulness of e-portfolios for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for staff and the prospect of students graduating with e-portfolios and moving to employment in colleges and universities
• The effective use of e-portfolios for transition between and across institutions requires the use of standards and specifications for systems interoperability and the transfer of learner information
• The development of e-portfolios for lifelong learning has implications for institutional strategies for the provision of mobile and wireless technologies
• As long as individual institutions provide their own e-portfolio systems, there will be issues of:
  • broadband availability and data storage capacity, including catering for the increased demand for space for sound and video material
  • security, privacy, ownership and authentication of the personal information that is stored
• The use of e-portfolios to support the widening participation agenda can only work effectively when safeguards are in place to ensure that all students have equal access to technologies that help them to enhance their capabilities and reach their individual potential as reflective lifelong learners