Monday, October 16, 2006

EIFE-L Conference 2006

I just left the fourth annual EuroPortfolio conference sponsored by EIFE-L. My keynote presentation on the second morning was entitled, Voice and Interactivity in ePortfolios: Digital Stories and Web 2.0. It was based on two articles that I have on my website: Authentic Assessment with Electronic Portfolios using Common Software and Web 2.0 Tools and Purposes of Digital Stories in ePortfolios. I will post the podcast of my presentation here when I finish editing it, adding my slides.

One of the things I emphasized was the need for “every day-ness” or how we can make ePortfolio development a natural process integrated into everyday life supporting Lifelong and Life Wide Learning. I also mentioned Social Learning, or how we can integrate ePortfolio development with what Vygotsky told us about learning as an interactive social activity. I also mentioned that the Architecture of Interaction (Web 2.0) allows a Pedagogy of Interaction (ePortfolio 2.0).

I took the opportunity to create a new graphic that describes a "mash-up" of different Web 2.0 tools that could be combined together for a powerful ePortfolio system, using a variety of online tools that students might already be using. These are generic tools or types of digital documents that can be created by any system. The important components are interactivity and multimedia.
ePortfolio Mash-Up

I discussed three emerging Models for Portfolios
mPortfolios (Mobility)
iPortfolios (Interactivity)
Digital Stories (Voice) facilitating Individual Identity, Reflection, and Meaning Making.

Thanks to my friend Evangeline Stefanakis, I showed that Portfolios are Lived Stories and that the real power of the portfolio is personal by showing the story that I am currently living. It was a risk, but the response was gratifying.

There are some exciting developments and new tools that were shown at this conference. Every year the field matures. I did not have a chance to attend the "plug-fest" on the first day, so I was limited in my observation of the technical developments. Elizabeth Hartnell-Young will be researching the use of Nokia mobile phones in ePortfolio development in schools. I also learned that there is another ePortfolio conference planned for Asia in March. Here is the schedule:
March 19-20, 2007 - Hong Kong
March 26-27, 2007 - Melbourne, Australia
March 29-30, 2007 - Wellington, N.Z.

4 comments:

Alan said...

Looks somewhat like the PLE diagram by Scott Wilson:
http://www.cetis.ac.uk/members/scott/blogview?entry=20050125170206

And suggests to me that there need not be a "whole lot in the middle"; in a way the portfolio is an aggregator of stuff from elsewhere, and that it should not be the locus and focus.

eportfolios said...

I think there are times when the portfolio is the locus and focus: when there is a presentation to be made to demonstrate a particular goal or outcome. But most of the work is in the collection (archive), reflection (blog), and interaction or conversation about learning (wiki). Thanks for commenting.

Carole @ Wodonga said...

Hi Helen, Your new papers on DST in eportfolios are once again very timely for us here in Australia. I would really like to use your new diagram for some school students I am introducing DST and eportfolios to. I think the simplicity of it will appeal.
Regards from Carole

DIsplay Name said...

Don't forget the free tools like NanoLearning and SkillsFeed that allow for rapid creation of interactive learning, plus community aspects like reviews of microlearning, what else does this person recommend, what other things they have created, etc.