The ePortfolio Trial Why doesn't everyone have an ePortfolio?

Serge Ravet

The projects Europortfolio and Badge Europe are funded with the support of the European Commission

Plymouth, April 16ieth, in the year of Our Lord MMXV

Why doesn't everyone have an ePortfolio?Maybe they have good reasons!

You have been invited today to judge whether the hope we invested 12 years ago in the ePortfolio as an instrument of change in the learning landscape has been fulfilled. Which journeys have been most affected: the learning journeys or the conference circuit journeys?

ScriptIntroduction - 1 minPresentation of the Prosecutor, Judge and Lawyers - 4 minsSelection of the Jury Members - 5 minsReading of the Accusation Act - 5 minsResponse from the Lawyers - 10 minsCalling of the Witnesses - 20 minsJury Deliberation - 10 mins

CastJudgeProsecutorDefense LawyersJuryWitnesses

Guilty or not Guilty?The Charges are as follows:

ePortfolios have failed to be the Authentic Voice of the Empowered Learner and Citizen. They have not contributed to overcoming the Institutional and Social Demands for Compliance, if not Subservience. The Power Asymmetry has not been reduced.ePortfolio Platforms have failed to produce any valuable technical Innovation over the last 10 years.

The Prosecution

The lack of ePortfolios is more likely to be the consequence of an impoverished, unauthentic learning environment, than its cause.It is the transformation of learning and teaching that might lead to the emergence of ePortfolios as a natural expression of deep meaningful learningWhy bother with ePortfolios if only grades are valued? They are one more constraint on top of all the already existing ones!Too many ePortfolios do not convey the authentic voice of the learner; they are more like the ventriloquist’s puppets, an illusion of an independent life.For an authentic voice to emerge in an unauthentic learning environment, this voice is likely to be that of a reflective rebel.

There is no space for collective ePortfolios in a society where competition and individual performance is more highly valued than cooperation and collective performance.When facing a poor institutional learning environment, the only worthwhile ePortfolio might be the collective narration of the battle to create an authentic learning environment.To recreate an existing ePortfolio management system, take a regular content management system, remove 99% of its functionalities and lock it so that learners will not be able to add any of their own.The introduction of ePortfolios will only have a chance to foster creativity and innovation if ePortfolios are simultaneously the place where the narratives of learners’ empowerment and the battles against compliance are captured.

The Defense

We take an Appreciative Inquiry approach to this defence – that is, we are putting forward as evidence knowledge from research and practice that identifies the positive features of the e-portfolio learning process

The macro perspectiveWe know through research that:

Subjective awareness is as (or more) valuable in the learning process as objective assessmentE-p learning deepens learners’ ability to learn and to know themselves as learnersStrategies have been identified for scaling up‘Movements’ take time to transform: there are indicators on the way but the process is never complete

The micro perspectiveWe know through research that:

Capturing evidence of learning to revisit and reflect on increases both confidence and ability to discriminateLearning to use an analytic framework for thinking (scaffolding) is a transferable processThe capacity to hyperlink expands one’s ability to connect, integrate and generate knowledgeAny form of assessment can feed information to the learner on how to improve – it depends on the appropriateness of the feedback and the learner’s willingness to engage with it

In summaryNot all practice needs to be ‘transformatory’ - a better judgement might be, ‘Does it improve learning?’Transformational practices do exist – for students, teaching and institutionsStudents do learn to value authentic learning and its representation in assessment through e-p learning. Some institutions and employers do also recognise this value and therefore support such learning. Studying their practices contributes to both deeper learning and ongoing transformation.

The Witnesses

The Jury

The Judge

The ePortfolio Trial

Serge Ravetlearningfutures.eu@szerge europortfolio.org

Merci!