Centre for International ePortfolio Development (CIEPD) :: Blog

The team (Kirstie & Stuart) are presenting a paper "Strategic implementation and pedagogical considerations of ePortfolios in FE" and the poster "Regional implementation of ePortfolios Pilot and beyond" at the ALT-C conference next week.

The handout accompanying the poster is here 0133_ALTC2009_Poster_Regional_implementation_of_epf_paper.pdf   and contains findings and recommendations from the LLN sponsored ePortfolio pilots in the region.

SAMSON
Shared Architecture for eMployer, Student and Organisational Networking

TAS3
Trusted Architecture for Securely Shared Services

XCRI
eXchanging Course Related Information - regional projects and implementation

LLN ePortfolios
About the ePortfolio regional pilots undertaken with the Lifelong Learning Network

JOSEPH
Joining up Organisations Supporting Engineering Pathways into Higher education

"Towards a Regional Ecosystem:-Portfolio Showcase, Streamlining Progression Pathways, 14-19 landscape"

A joint event between the Centre for International ePortfolio Development and Leap Ahead was held at the University of Nottingham's Jubilee campus on June 10th.

The aim was to present some of the Centre's project work in joining up systems and processes, in particular, recent partnership working with bodies such as Connexions and Aimhigher as well as the outcomes of recent work developing XCRI implentations in the East Midlands through Leap Ahead and JISC activity.

These projects were put into the context of a 'Regional Ecosystem' whereby an underlying infrastructure is beginning to be developed through linking services and disparate sources of learning information. Participants were asked for consultation and input into this concept from the particular view of their organisation or role.

Presentations:
Deborah Fraser, EMDA - The Regional Picture
Kirstie Coolin, University of Nottingham - What is a Regional Ecosystem
Neil Raven - Aimhigher East Midlands - Sharing Learning Opportunities using XCRI
Gill Coker - Connexions Nottinghamshire - The Regional Picture for 14-19 and Beyond

The second part of the event contained the 'ePortfolio Showcase'.  Five Leap Ahead sponsored ePortfolio projects demonstrated their pilot implementations in an 'interactive café' style presentation. 

Mike Smith, Chesterfield College
 - ePortfolio trials, organisational change and wider impact (handout doc)

Kat Wehrheim, SummitSkills
 - ePortfolios to ease working people into upskilling and progression (presentation ppt)

Phil Brown, New College Nottingham
 - Using digital media to collect evidence for a work-based learning ePortfolio

Linda Wright, South Nottingham College
  - Incorporating ePortfolio into teaching practices; challenges & recommendations (handout doc)

Neville Stankley, Nottingham Trent University
  -  Professional Development Planning in the Heritage Sector

View photos of this event:  

ePortfolio 2009

The Centre for International ePortfolio Development team have 4 papers accepted for the Eife-l ePortfolio Conference held in London on 22-24 June.

• "Easing people at work into self-directed learning: A new role for ePortfolios" (Kat Wehrheim - SummitSkills, Stuart Wood - University of Nottingham)
• "Sustainable eportfolio implementation through Information, Advice and Guidance services in a UK region: Developments towards a learner-centred ecosystem" (Angela Smallwood, Phil Harley - University of Nottingham, Gill Coker, Lucy Peck (Connexions Nottinghamshire)
• "Learner-Centred Strategies for informing Institutional Take-up of ePortfolios" (Kirstie Coolin, Phil Harley - University of Nottngham)
• "Breaking out of the bondage: SAMSON (Shared Architecture for eMployer, Student and Organisational Networking)" (Sandra Winfield, Tom Kirkham - University of Nottingham)

Kirstie Coolin and Stuart Wood are also involved with the JISC-CETIS interoperability plugfest.

ALT-C
Kirstie Coolin (University of Nottingham) and Adele Cushing (University of Plymouth) have a demonstration and poster accepted at ALT-C in September this year.

• Demonstration - "Strategic implementation and pedagogical considerations of e-portfolios in FE and HE"
• Poster - "Regional Implementation of  E-portfolio – Pilot and Beyond"

The Centre for International ePortfolio Development have a new and improved website.

www.nottingham.ac.uk/eportfolio - Find out about our projects, who we are and the latest news from the Centre.

We have a Twitter feed now set up. Follow ciepd at   http://twitter.com/ciepd

Practitioners within the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire area have been taking advantage of free ePortfolio licences available through Leap Ahead (Lifelong Learning Network for Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire).  A number of ePortfolio projects are currently running in a range of sectors and with over 500 learners at various levels.

A well attended ePortfolio showcase was held at the University of Nottingham on December 2nd where those involved presented aspects of their projects to an audience representing many regional educational institutions and bodies.

The programme consisted of:

• Introduction Kirstie Coolin (ePortfolio Showcase intro )
• Professional Development Planning in the Museum and Heritage Sector
    (Nottingham Trent University) Neville Stankley and Deb Skinner
  
• Comparison of ePortfolios at Chesterfield College (CeP@CC) - Foundation Degrees, work-based learners in IT Courses, Construction  Mike Smith and Joyce Drake (CeP@CC Project.ppt )
  
• South Nottingham College – various projects to include:
   Progress review and achievements – Hair & Beauty, Interactive Media, IT, Staff Training Adele Cushing, Linda Wright, Tracey Hardwick, Bob Tuckwood (South Nottingham College Presentation )
  
•  Derby City – ILPs for Engineering Diploma students Graeme Ferguson
• SummitSkills Sector Skills Council - Skills recognition and evidence building for those working in the Building Services sector Kat Wehrheim (SummitSkills presentation )

The Leap Ahead ePortfolio projects are being rolled out by the Centre for International ePortfolio Development as a part of the technical strand of the Lifelong Learning Network.

The CIePD are starting two new projects funded by JISC in the area of interoperability.

XCRI 14-19 Prospectus Pilot in the East Midlands
The CIePD are running the first national 14-19 Prospectus XCRI project which will aggregate 14-19 Area Prospectus course advertising information from at least four different areas as part of a wider project to amalgamate regional courses information.  Partners include the Area Prospectus leads, Aimhigher Progression Pathways and Leap Ahead Lifelong Learning Network. The project will report to JISC on the usage of XCRI for this purpose and will make wider recommendations in respect of using XCRI within the 14-19 Prospectus arena nationally.

Nottingham ePortfolio Interoperability
We have been successful in bidding for funding to build on previous ePortfolio interoperability prototyping work which will involve a pilot of the emerging LEAP2A XML standard wtih the regional Passportfolio system developed by Connexions Nottinghamshire. See the CETIS website for further details

The Centre for International ePortfolio Develoment are gearing up for the ePortfolio and Digital Identity 2008 annual conference held in Maastricht on 22 - 24 October.  Three of our members are presenting papers based around the 2008 regional theme.

For an update of our activities download our Autumn 2008 Newsletter 

On July 16, Leap Ahead, in conjunction with the Nottinghamshire Training Network and The Derbyshire Network held an event, "ePortfolios in Context" at the University of Nottingham.

This event was well attended by representatives of around 13 different organisations, predominantly private training providers and those supplying work-based training.

The focus of the event was to raise awareness about ePortfolios in general, and to engage local work-based trainers in the Leap Ahead ePortfolio pilots.

ePortfolios in Context  

Whilst most attendees were aware of (or using in a couple of cases) ePortfolios, these tend to be the single purpose 'checkbox' type, rather than a more flexible learner-owned multi-purpose ePortfolio.

There was some interest in looking at ePortfolios in a more sector specific context and to provide further information on Portfolios supporting NVQs.

Generally, this was a useful forum prompting some interesting discussion. Below is some of the feedback received which presents a snapshot of the diverse uses of ePortfolio considered by those who were present:

How might you use ePortfolios in the future?
Learner communication, evidence, Diploma support, Young Apprenticeships, apprenticeships, WBL'ers, reviews, IAG, IV process, NVQ assessment, staff development, CPD, appraisals, on-site working

What would you see as their primary purpose?
Pulling learning strands together, storing/recording/assessing evidence, communication, reflection, planning, IVs and Assessor access, tracking learners, reducing travel, tracking progression routes, the development process.

This event was jointly hosted by LEAP AHEAD, YHELLN and Higher Futures.

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