The Future of e-Portfolios

'e-Portfolios might evolve into something unrecognisable today or they might become yesterday's unsuccessful idea'

Stefani et al (2007), p1

To be successful, e-portfolios in the future will need to address key issues such as who is going to provide the learner's lifewide and lifelong e-portfolio. This infoKit has focused on e-portfolios provided by the academic institution. However, national trends regarding the management of data, may lead to a more centralised repository of learner information. Therefore, lifelong learners may find that e-portfolios are provided at a national or regional level. An issue raised with learners in the ePISTLE project was who should provide e-portfolios, for example, an independent body or agency could be responsible for this. The EELLS project found that there was a market for an e-portfolio service that 'transcends institutional boundaries and is available throughout the life of a learner'. However, learners may be reluctant to use a system for the disclosure of personal reflection in a system which is remote from them (FILE-PASS) and may feel that 'Big Brother' is watching over their e-portfolios (PDP4Life).

Some future possibilities...

National provision..? e-Portfolios may be provided at a national level. The Welsh Assembly has acknowledged that keeping an e-portfolio and having the skills to maintain an e-portfolio would be highly beneficial for its citizens. The Welsh assembly is currently embarking on an initiative to provide all Welsh citizens with an e-portfolio. This development may also become attractive based on any expansion of the current MIAP personal learner record.

Regional provision..? JISC has already funded several regional projects encouraging and supporting the use of e-portfolios, such as: The Nottingham Passport is local authority hosted e-portfolio and is recognised throughout Nottingham. The EELLS project explored the issues and benefits of setting up a regional e-portfolio for lifelong learning. The e-portfolio created by the project is now available to learners studying in the Region within schools and colleges to document their educational and other achievements through the Lifelong Learning Network of the East of England, MOVE.

Wherever and whoever provides the system, e-portfolios are certainly challenging especially for higher education when they are 'being introduced into a climate of rapid technical and pedagogical innovation. The introduction of many new technologies leaves any one of them competing for limited learner and teacher time and tolerance. In some communities (art and design) the keeping of portfolios is widespread, but the practice of reflective learning is novel. In other communities (nursing and social care) the practice of reflective learning is familiar... but the use of ICT in teaching and learning may be novel.' (taken from the myWORLD final report).

Interoperability, Leap 2.0 and PIOP (Portfolio Interoperability Prototyping)

When discussing which e-portfolio system to implement at an institutional level, it may be found that not one system meets a given a set of requirements or purposes. For example a system that meets the needs of CPD may not be suitable for skills assessment. This leads to more than one system being implemented which brings interoperability to the fore; reusing information across a number of systems (e.g. VLE, Student Record Systems) and enabling a more learner-centred approach to sharing and reuse of personal-related information. JISC-CETIS lead in this area and their website is a source of useful information on interoperability, in particular the section on LEAP 2.0 and PIOP developments.

A good deal of research across the globe is still being undertaken to help inform implementation of e-portfolios:

The Australian e-portfolio initiative is a large-scale project being conducted across four universities (Queensland University of Technology; The University of Melbourne; The University of New England and University of Wollongong) investigating current e-portfolio practice in Australia and seeking to provide practical and strategic guidance to institutions.

The International Coalition for Electronic Portfolio Research brings together researchers and practitioners who are interested and want to explore the effect of e-portfolios in the learning environment. A group of approximately ten institutions are chosen to research a specific area of interest in e-portfolios.

If e-portfolios are really successful, and learners recognise their importance, they could be provided in an analogous manner to email today: learners/people will make a choice between (perhaps) a state-provided 'bare bones' system, or free commercial services (with banner ads or whatever), or a system offered by an institution they're connected with, or a commercial system they really like and are willing to pay a small fee for. This will pose challenges for institutions on whether they want to insist that learners use their institutionally-provided systems or have a wider choice.

Ongoing JISC work in the e-portfolios activity area crosses a number of innovation programmes. You can download our master catalogue of JISC projects past and present for more information.