eFolio MinnesotaTM – A Project at the Crossroads

Reflections on leading (or “surviving”) the country’s first electronic portfolio infrastructure

April 2005

Did you know this about MnSCU, at least at the start of this project? That the Minnesota State Colleges and

Universities (MnSCU) invented the electronic portfolio.

That MnSCU is an international leader in electronic portfolio research.

That national and state education standards drove the design of eFolio Minnesota.

That eFolio Minnesota’s project manager was a recognized leader in the portfolio community.

April 2005

What is true then when we started this effort ... MnSCU is one of the larger

public higher education systems in the country and is well positioned to work with K-12 and workforce partners.

There was interest in and resources for investing in an electronic portfolio project.

The project manager had managed both education and workforce technology projects but none involving electronic portfolios.

April 2005

eFolio Minnesota today Based on research and

numbers eFolio Minnesota is one of the premier electronic portfolio projects in the world.

As of the beginning of March 2005 there are over 28,000 registered users.

“Adoption” of eFolio Minnesota by K-12, higher education, and workforce organizations.

Addition project resources being provided by other public organizations to use eFolio Minnesota to complement and support their work efforts.

Growth in Users

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Time

Number

s

Student

Worker

Educator

Total

April 2005

Examples of eFolio Minnesota Uses St. Louis Park Intermediate School (K-12) Inver Hills Community College Urban Teache

r Program Two-year and four-year nursing cooperative p

rogram Partnership with the State’s career and

education portal (ISEEK) Use by “coparts” (competitors/partners) –

Hamline University and U of M

April 2005

The journey to eFolio Minnesota was actually fun (really!)

Trip checklistResources (about $500k)

Project definitions / assumptions

Project teams

Project leadership / sponsorship

Flexible contracting

Sense of humor

April 2005

Project resources

Funding for this effort came through a FIPSE administered Congressional Award that was intended to ramp up e-learning efforts within the Minnesota State College and University system (MnSCU). The funding was split into two pools: Curriculum – support for on-line courses

and programs Student services – web-enabled student

services including eFolio Minnesota

April 2005

Project definition

Design, develop, and deploy a statewide electronic portfolio tool kit that would support Minnesota residents and students in their individual career and education goals…..

Make it lifelong, and keep it free!

April 2005

Project assumptions

April 2005

Key assumptions

About the portfolio user (customer) Assume the value of portfolios within an

education and workforce setting. One size does NOT fit all – personal

customization key. Owned by the individual and not by the

institution - learner driven (sidestep the question of K-12 graduation standards)

Need to accommodate reflections for a lifetime worth of learning and work.

April 2005

Key assumptionsAbout the technology “Word processor” technology literacy for users. “Nothing but net!” Everything should be web

based. “KISS – keep it simple stupid” If a simple

alternative presents itself - take it! Accommodate our multi-media world. Provide for help tools and templates to assist

users. Provide for security mechanisms that keep the

user in control. Take the data security / privacy issue head on.

April 2005

Project structure Leadership and commitment to the needs of

the 21st century learner provided by: Linda Baer – Sr. Vice Chancellor Gary Langer – Assoc. Vice Chancellor

Four project teams focused on unique needs: Worker / professional Student requirements Educator uses look-and-feel

April 2005

Contracting – keeping it flexible Developed and issued an RFP

(request for proposal); both custom build and licensed products were eligible responses.

Decided to go with a proposal submitted by Avenet, Inc. Proposal offered a lifetime, in perpetuity license for Minnesota (key given the “dot-bust” problems).

Neither party expected the huge success of the project.

April 2005

Keeping a sense of humor Dealing with the “what if” questions

What if someone dies and their relatives want to keep their site?

What if a site is an porn site? What if someone lies about their eligibility? What if the Internet changes? What if…….

Dealing with terms of use issues Commercial sites Organizational sites Classroom management sites

April 2005

Timelines

April 2005

Summer 2001 – Summer 2004 Summer 2001 – Project kick-off, establish project

structure, release RFP August 2001 – Contract with Avenet, Inc. is executed Winter 2001-2002 – Project teams work through designs Spring 2002 – Alpha testing begins Summer 2002 – Beta testing begins and infrastructure

installed August 2002 – eFolio Minnesota goes live (soft launch) May 2003 – Revamped “portal” site is released at a

public launch Summer 2004 – Work starts on research project with

Darren Cambridge; establish Advisory Committee

April 2005

What does the future hold?

Fame

Fortune

Glory

April 2005

The known future! Enhancements

Courtesy of our state agency partners we are developing tools to support interview interfaces, structured data tools, opt-in / grouping methodology, tools to support links to standards and/or competencies, and IMS compatibility (working on testing this with the U of M).

State Summit We are developing (thank you Karen Thoms and group)

plans for an eFolio Minnesota Summit in November. New communication tools

New brochures and start-up guides are in the works. Research

Darren Cambridge’s research will be finalized within a couple of weeks.

April 2005

The slightly less well know future… Life cycle costs

Base budgets are part of the costs for Minnesota Online but there is always a need for more resources. We have launched a value-added service (“buy more space”) with some success which provides a potential model for other services.

Partnership with Avenet eFolio Minnesota was the first statewide effort within MnSCU

to establish a public-private agreement with a private company. We are still exploring ways that this can mature.

Future partnerships A number of organizations have approached us about

possible partnerships (accreditation, economic development, licensing, medical, etc). How these mature has yet to be decided.

April 2005

“But are you successful?”

Two measures of success: Formal – structured

research Informal – word of mouth,

numbers of users, web trends, etc.

April 2005

Informal measures of success Numbers look solid – 100% growth last year (2004). Web traffic is up – 2.9 million hits in December. Other agencies have provided fiscal and staffing

resources (the help desk services have been provided by our workforce agency at no charge to the project).

Asked to make presentations at various state and national workforce and education conferences.

Feedback from various training/orientation sessions has been VERY positive – “this is way cool”, “great idea”, “YES!”, etc.

April 2005

Formal measures of success Research will be released in late April of 2005. Preliminary

results are included in the April 14th international satellite broadcast.

Some preliminary research results of note include: eFolio Minnesota users are likely to be women; Top three uses are documenting KSA’s , educational

planning, and finding work (the greatest percent of satisfied users are those using it for educational planning);

1/3 of the survey respondents use eFolio in a role other than that which they signed up for;

Ownership is a key factor for users along with ease of use; Giving a chance for users to experiment on their web self

is vital. 18% of the respondents report that eFolio had a

substantial impact on their learning and development.

April 2005

A few great quotes “Training faculty on eFolio is like passing out

ice cream to kids.” – Lynde Milne, MnSCU Director – Center for Teaching and Learning

“eFolio [Minnesota] is the best US example of a portfolio project addressing lifelong and lifewide learning.” – Darren Cambridge, George Mason University

"Minnesota is leading the world in the ePortfolio Movement.  You are the pioneers."- David Brown Wake Forest University

April 2005

Seeing is believing

Sample sites Student Worker Educator

Educator resources “Portal”

April 2005

Questions

Contact information:

Paul Waskopaul.wasko@so.mnscu.edu

651-649-5956

www.paulwasko.efoliomn1.com

April 2005

Thanks!!!Merci!!!Grazias!!!

April 2005

Copies of brochures

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