Welcome to the 2009 Telling Stories Conference at the University of Wolverhampton

Telling e-Portfolio Stories 2009 e-Portfolio-Based Learning

ABSTRACTS Listed alphabetically by institution

1 Telling e-Portfolio Stories 2009 e-Portfolio-Based Learning

Using technology to enhance students’ reflections

Nicola Bullivant : Aston University

Aston Business School (ABS) placement students are required to write and produce a Reflective Learning Journal, submitted as a hard copy piece of coursework. Guidance is given on overall structure but students are given a great deal of latitude to create the journals themselves. Anecdotal feedback from both students and tutors shows that students find reflective practice and reflective writing challenging. Writing in the first person feels somehow wrong. The ABS Placement Office has been conducting a pilot in 2008/9 with a cohort of students on the Business Computing and IT degree. Students have been using PebblePad during their placement year, to record and to reflect on their learning, experiences, roles and responsibilities. The trial is aiming to encourage students to engage more proactively/interactively with reflective practice, with the use of templates and a systematic, online approach. Data has so far been gathered part way through the pilot, capturing the thoughts/views of all three parties: the students, supervisors and placement tutors. Feedback to date is mixed. Student’s comments include: “I find that it is a better way of recording my reflection rather than having to sit down and write it by hand - find PebblePad more interactive.” “PebblePad overall is a 'good' tool, however not one that I personally like to use. I prefer for my thoughts to be free flowing…” Employer comments include: “Seems like a useful tool. Easy to use.” “For them better, for the supervisor, slightly more effort (another website, another log on …)” Tutor comments include: “PebblePad is better than "hard copy" …easy to use, structured and interactive.” “The use of the technology has slightly taken their focus off the purpose of the reflective journal.”

The pilot is being expanded in 2009/10 – all placement students will have access to PebblePad and further data will be collated.

Work-based Learning and e-portfolios: a practitioner’s perspective

Rowena Yeats & Dr Anne Wheeler: Aston University

Work-based Learning (WBL) is very much a growth area in the higher education (HE) sector. WBL is aimed at students currently in work and focuses on encouraging personal and professional development of these students by centring the curriculum on workplace activities (Brennan & Little, 2006). Aston University is committed to effective work-based learning (WBL) and strives to bring innovative and flexible curriculum development to the heart of teaching and learning strategy. Critical to delivering this innovation and flexibility is giving practitioners the tools with which they can provide a learning environment that is authentic to the work-based learner’s professional practice. One tool that has been piloted with work-based learners at Aston University over the past academic year is the e-portfolio. WBL e-portfolio pilots were carried out in a range of courses from undergraduate courses for example in Pharmacy, Audiology and Engineering and in postgraduate courses such as the Postgraduate Certificate in Professional Practice (PGCPP) and Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) courses. Here we will focus on four courses, PGCPP, TESOL, BSc in Pharmacy and the FD in Hearing Aid Audiology. The e-portfolio practitioners on these courses used PebblePad in different ways to support their work-based learners. We will describe the stories told by practitioners particularly focusing on their motivations for using an e-portfolio, whether they felt student learning was enhanced, whether there were any unforeseen benefits or disadvantages and whether they would use it again. Practitioners were also asked to complete a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis in order that comparisons could be drawn between the stories that emerged from the four courses. The practitioner’s stories will be discussed in light of further embedding e-portfolios into the learning culture at Aston University.

e-Portfolios in Medicine

John Couperthwaite, Naseem Akram, Austen Okonweze: University of Birmingham

Reflective practice has been a major part of the health sector for many years and is an essential skill that must be applied throughout life as a health practitioner. Furthermore, the GMC recommend that the medical degree should encourage use of e-portfolios. This paper looks at the process of integration of an e-portfolio into the medical curriculum. e-portfolios are currently being used in the MBChB medical programme at Birmingham for self directed study, PBL; we also aim to include community practice placements next semester. Students are using reflective journals, action plans, blogs and webfolios to create learning portfolios to help direct their study. These same students are also positively using blogs and webfolios to investigate case studies in groups as well as using the webfolios to reflect on their peer learning activities. A project report also looked at the student perspective on the tool, using surveys and focus groups. After an initial pilot project using WebCT, we conducted an extensive review of e-portfolios, involving staff from across the institution, exploring features such as accessibility, adaptability, longevity and interoperability. Following this review, the institution moved to PebblePad. The migration process between e-portfolios posed significant challenges relating to different pedagogical approaches, user engagement, data compatibility, and student training.

Student digital storytelling for information capture and assessment

Jon Curwin: Birmingham City University

What I would like to present (which could be in the form of a story) is the way first-year students are using digital storytelling to record and present their management of an activity. This is part of their business skills development and the digital story can become part of the evidence in an e- portfolio. Essentially one student group offers another student group an event (using a round robin method). They need to develop the concept, deliver the event to another group of students and then evaluate the event. This demands a range of skills which they can then evidence. Students record their work with digital photos and then add sound using Movie Maker (software available on virtually all PCs).

Developing me – the role of e-portfolios in staff continuing professional development

Neil Currant: University of Bradford

The University has been exploring the use of e-portfolios for CPD. This story is about our (about 25 staff members) experiences of using an e-portfolio system for professional development activity, including professional accreditation and NVQ qualifications. We have found that ‘just’ making a start can be a big barrier and that creating and managing evidence feels like a huge task. However, the e- portfolio can mitigate against the managing evidence aspects and that having the discipline to keep an ongoing record will prove highly valuable. All those that have tried electronic means will not go back to paper based ways, such as paper portfolios for NVQs, of doing our development. Even the sceptics amongst our group have been won over. The biggest challenge is in changing perceptions and making small changes to staff practices that might seem to create more work in the immediate short term but bring efficiency benefits in the longer term. The longer term benefit is that when staff engage in using an e-portfolio for CPD, they are more equipped to help students engage with both the process and the product of ePDP. Often we ask students to go through a process that we ourselves have not done. We now have more empathy for the difficulties encountered in creating portfolios. What has become obvious is that an e-portfolio offers huge potential to institutions and staff for organisational, professional and personal development. We have barely scratched the surface of these benefits and our aim is to promote the use of e-portfolios for staff wherever there is a need or wherever the e-portfolio approach could bring real benefit. Ideas currently being explored include e-portfolios for performance review and educational development of teaching staff. This conference is ideal because it matches our qualitative story telling approach to evaluating our e-portfolio work.

Making the e-portfolio the centre of an expert peer assessed social experience

Dan Buckley: Cambridge Education

The largest submission of work to PbyP occurred last Christmas day. Should we be worried or happy? Current consensus is that lots of children got phones, games consuls and laptops for Christmas and as PbyP works pretty much on anything it was maybe the logical test for the new addition to the child’s collection of Technology. PbyP allows a child to see exactly what we mean by Personal Learning and Thinking Skills or Functional Skills and so they can decide to improve any skill, see other children’s work from schools all over the world and then have a go themselves. They can choose their home life or school life to evidence a stepping stone in their chosen skill and they can choose any media in which to capture the evidence. This is then submitted to another child not in their own school who can be anywhere in the world. The child they send their work to must have already achieved this goal themselves so are an ‘expert’ and able, with remarkable accuracy, to assess the evidence. This experts decision is final and if they think the evidence is good enough it goes into the child’s e-portfolio and opens up greater challenges in that skill area. The ten thousand children of all ages on PbyP submit a piece of work a week on average to their expert assessed e-portfolio and love the approach, the following quote is typical. “The good thing about PbyP is that you can work on a piece of work whenever you feel like it” As PbyP is based on a common framework of skills teachers and schools can see assessed evidence for all the ‘unmeasurable’ PLTS skills but also, who is assessing others well, who is involving parents and who is being praised by their peers.

“I love PebblePad – I never thought I’d say that!”

Alan Howe: University of Gloucestershire

Social Work is a complex professional activity requiring students to demonstrate both their academic ability and their ability to integrate this learning with practical skills whilst on placement. Students must meet National Occupational Standards (NOS) by working in placement with a practice educator and gathering evidence, which they present in a traditional portfolio. We identified the following problems with these portfolios:  Students waited to the end of the placement to complete, therefore limited opportunity for formative feedback  Lack of personalisation or ownership - all portfolios the same and no opportunity for personalisation, little evidence of ownership  Little evidence of reflection in students’ portfolios  Traditional portfolios seen as yet another ‘hoop to jump through’  Assembling two copies of the paper portfolio, very stressful and frequently parts were missing.  Portfolios dull and boring to read - assessors frequently found difficultly maintaining concentration, resulting in potentially erroneous decisions making.  Complex and demanding for administrative staff to collect, store and distribute to assessors. A PebblePad webfolio was developed for the level two placement, in order to facilitate student learning and remedy some of the above problems. We encountered some resistance from colleagues and students as they felt that they did not have sufficient skills to embark upon such a perceived radical change. We thus adopted a ‘baby steps’ approach and ran this as a pilot project with nine students, four practice educators and two tutors. Given the success of this pilot, the vision would be to make the practice webfolio available for all level two students starting placement in September 2009 with a level three practice webfolio ready for the January 2010 placement. In this workshop students, practice educators and tutors will share their experiences in this exciting project and how webfolios can be developed to support work based learning.

From Paper to Pixels – Moving to an e-Portfolio System

Mick Gilroy: ISIS Training

ISIS Training introduced an E-Portfolio system into the organisation approximately 3 years ago and have complimented this will a full range of E-Learning and Assessment resources. We have provided all our Learning Advisors with an Assessor Toolkit, which consists of a range of small portable devices for producing, recording and processing electronic assessments. The system is now fully embedded into our ILT Strategy and we use it with over 90% of our learners, with a very small proportion using paper portfolios due to limitations in accessing IT facilities. We introduced the e-portfolios for reasons of efficiency and cost savings, due to our geographical area and to meet the needs and expectations of our learners and employers. The project has been an outstanding success leading to ISIS Training gaining BECTA Technology Exemplar Status, the only Work Based Learning provider to hold this status and we are acknowledged as the leading provider in the use of E-portfolios throughout the East Midlands. Our staff have quickly adapted and become proficient at using the systems and resources, some of whom had very limited IT Knowledge and experience. They had to radically change the way they worked and this was one of the major challenges we had to overcome. This was achieved by implementing a comprehensive staff training and development programme and ensuring they had all the help and support they needed. The levels of success, retention and achievement have increased dramatically with all of the staff exceeding their targets, with two members of staff in particular who had little or no previous experience of technology, almost doubling their success rates. Both learners and employers love using the technology, the flexibility the system offers and the wide range of electronic evidence they can submit and the E-assessment methods we use. What I would like people to learn from our experiences, is that if we can do this so can they. It is not beyond anyone’s capabilities to introduce E-portfolios into their organisation and they, together with the learners and employers of today, will quickly reap the benefits of the system.

The next chapter: how embedding e-Portfolios in the Social Work programme has enhanced partnership relationships for students, practitioners and the institution

Samantha Osborne and Ruben Martin: University of Kent

The Social Work degree programme at the University of Kent have been piloting the PebblePad e- portfolio for the past two years with second and third year students who are on work-based placements required by their degree programme. We will be taking up our story from last year’s presentation and presenting a follow-up of the changes we’ve implemented since last year and how we have changed our programme in light of discussion both at Telling Stories last year and around pedagogical issues surrounding the use of e- portfolios. Participation in the pilot is a voluntary collaboration primarily between student and Practice Assessor/Long-Arm Practice Teacher. Last summer we started giving first year students an introduction and training in PebblePad so that they would have opportunity to familiarise themselves with it over the summer break. In addition, we were able to offer incentives to Practice Assessors/Long-Arm Practice Teachers if they wanted to use the e-portfolio rather than the traditional Microsoft Word version. We noticed that there was a significant increase in student use of the e-portfolio for practice placements than in the previous year. This increase in use surprisingly included some third year students from the first cohort asked to volunteer to trial the e-portfolio last year but had not originally felt able to take part in the initial trial. We have learnt some valuable lessons during the past two years of setting up and supporting students, practitioners and academic staff and we will be talking about our e-portfolio journey and what we have found to be best practice. We will also talk about our future plans for using e- portfolios and work with our graduates to explore the life-long aspect of e-portfolios. Our session will be useful for anyone who is considering using reflective e-portfolios to record achievement in a work-based placement.

A year in the life of an e-portfolio

Louise Frith and student Rachel Thapa Chhetri: University of Kent

Aim This workshop will focus on three uses of an e-portfolio. This will be done by telling the story of one students’ experience (this part will be delivered by the student). The second half of the workshop will be a discussion with participants about how they have used e-portfolios and ways they think students’ e-portfolios can be given greater value by engagement with employers.

What’s the use of an e-portfolio?

Acts as an example of Supports student student-led retention by recording development for achievements students embedding PDP can see their progress

Facilitates digital networking and showcasing students’ work

Student presentation of e-portfolio and ‘Year in the life of an e-portfolio’ student will talk about her e-portfolio and what has happened as a result of doing it. Questions for discussion:

 What other experience is there about the uses of e-portfolios?  Has anyone else had experience of using e-portfolio to address retention?  Has anyone had experience of student led e-portfolio use?  Are there other examples of students’ e-portfolios being encouraged by employers/employment networks?

Development and implementation of PDP via E-portfolio within the Faculty and Partner institutions

Shell Morgan: Kingston University

Reason for the project Faculties are required to offer PDP to all students. For 2 years implementing PDP within the Faculty of Engineering had been problematic due to curriculum and resource constraints. The approach The project was a collaborative initiative involving both academic and support staff from across the university. Last year, a small group was established to streamline the activity. The aims were to develop an approach which addressed the perspectives of the learner, the practitioner, the institution, the employer and lifelong learning. Consultation with key players in the Faculty took place to inform the work of the group. It was felt that the best way to deliver the aims and objectives was to create an E-portfolio and deliver it via the Faculty’s Professional Practice module assessment. It was a brave and bold move for the Faculty. The module content and delivery was changed to support the skills required within the E-portfolio for the new academic year 2008/9. The E-portfolio accounted for 20% of the module. There had been much discussion whether PDP should be an activity in which students engage voluntarily or one where they are required to do so. As professional engineers are required to engage in PDP, it was felt that the most effective way of introducing this activity to students was to make the exercise compulsory. Why is this a tale to be told There are a range of reasons why this project is a tale to be told. Firstly, this project has been a real collaborative initiative by academic and support staff cutting across many of the traditional divisions within the University. It allows us to bring together in one place many of the skills we wish to inculcate in the students at an early stage in their courses and to evaluate these. Secondly, the project has pushed the implementation of the University’s PDP and blended learning strategies within the Faculty of Engineering. The development of the E-Portfolio has required the project team to be creative in how traditional material has been re-purposed for electronic delivery. This has also involved the expertise of colleagues in the Academic Development Centre. We now have a solid framework on which to continue to build PDP throughout each year of the student lifecycle. We have made students aware of the importance of PDP within their lifelong learning journey and raised the profile amongst colleagues in the Faculty of Engineering.

“I do not mind to speak up my mind if you are willing to listen.” A story of ‘why not’ from a student reluctant to share his experiences in an e-portfolio

Debbie Holley and Pete Chalk: London Metropolitan University

As researchers we use personal construct theory to elicit the views of, in this case, new computing undergraduates about electronic portfolios. We were exploring the personal constructs used by a small group of computing students when asked to describe e-portfolio elements and an ‘ideal’ e- portfolio. Previous research indicated that when using a commercial e-portfolio students were unlikely to engage with the e-portfolio unless it was assessed and that there were a number of negative responses from staff and students related to the lack of rewards for the effort and time involved (Chalk, 2008). Our interest is in exploring how designers construe the process to which the portfolio tools are put in order to identify key features of different portfolios. The aim is to identify the possible parameters for designing e-portfolios.

Repertory Grid Analysis (RGA) Repertory Grid Analysis (RGA) is a method of providing insights into personal constructs and derives from the work of George Kelly (1955). Personal Construct Psychology is a theory rooted in understanding how a person constructs their unique view of the world. RGA is a tool which is used to support the process of gaining insights into an individual’s personal constructs and also a way of recording these for later analysis. It is this analysis of patterns, linkages, contrasts, similarities and differences that may provide useful insights into the how an individual or groups of individuals are making sense of the events which are the subject of analysis.

The case of the computing students A small group of seven first year students took part in a two-hour workshop to explore how their personal constructs would influence potential e-portfolio design. Students were first briefed about the workshop and invited to sign an informed consent form, which indicated clearly that although the researchers (Chalk and Holley) would analyse their outputs, their names would never appear in draft or published work. They were informed they were volunteers and could withdraw at any time, and also they were free to take part in the full workshop, but to choose not to submit the rep-grid chart at the end. One student selected this latter option, and it is his story we narrate.

Why so many different e-Portfolios?

Ray Tolley: Maximise ICT Ltd Gateshead

Following research into VLEs in schools and various edicts from BECTA I discovered that there is a serious lack of understanding in schools (ie throughout compulsory education) as to what an e- Portfolio is and how its use will influence teaching and learning. Despite some excellent documents from JISC and my own papers to BECTA the message does not appear to be ‘trickling down’ to mainstream education. Over the last two years I have spent almost every day investigating the development of e-Portfolios and have come to some very clear conclusions as to why most projects are limiting themselves to institutional practice and not breaking out into Lifelong and Lifewide usage. Other initiatives such as Building Schools for the Future and the Home Access Programme will open up the floodgates to new levels of communication, collaboration and formative assessments etc, between a very wide range of stakeholders, using a wide range of platforms and software. How we, as teachers, prepare to handle this new era in Teaching and Learning is being exemplified by our take-up of e-Portfolio practice. The e-Portfolio is no longer just a ‘capstone’ tool for assessments, a convenient device for PDP or a method of showcasing to potential employers. It will become a common tool for all subject areas in schools, for informal learning and the recording of appropriate experiences. It will become THE tool for community work and even family life. It will also become the repository of one’s digital identity. It is therefore necessary to identify what are the present limitations to progress. In particular, clearer definitions of ‘transition’, ‘ownership’, ‘Lifelong’ and ‘Lifewide’ need to be addressed. This presentation attempts to assist a clearer understanding of these issues and suggest some solutions.

Can individual and organisational e-Portfolios manage quality assurance?

Martin Taylor and Debbie Carlton: MHT Consultancy & Synergetics

Can individual and organisational e-portfolios manage quality assurance?

This story will in part explore the preparation and experience of developing and introducing e- portfolios to the 48 UK individual Fire and Rescue Services (FRS), and how this work has developed to support quality management processes. The key objectives being:-  Providing individuals with a system to join together their learning and vocational experiences;  Provide managers with a facility to manage to manage their human assets;  Provide a line of sight between the learners journey, organisational risk management and strategic planning;  Provide a means to manage the transfer of skills and increase employability of individuals.

The modernisation agenda for the UKFRS as set by the Fire and Rescues Services Act 2004 is to ‘deliver a modernised Fire and Rescue Service that responds to the particular demands of the 21st Century’. This requires that individuals are developed to meet the demands of their role and remain competent within that role. For this is to take place it is necessary to use 21st century thinking and technology. The solution to this is the provision and use of an e-Portfolio. The ubiquitous ‘e-portfolio’ will of course resolve all our dilemmas, once purchased, installed and individuals are given access to it. Too simple perhaps? This story will use a model of Business Planning, Workforce Development and Organisational Competence to discuss accountability. e-portfolios can of course contribute to quality management but this is not an automatic outcome of the purchase of such applications. To support this outcome all stakeholders that contribute to e- portfolio enabled functions, must have policies and processes in place that align to each other to provide a seamless environment that allows data to be transferred in a trusted and secure setting, as well as enabling people to transfer across and between organisations.

Developing the autonomous lifelong learner – providing the scaffolding, assessing the progress

Wendy Clark and Jackie Adamson: University of Northumbria

The continuing story of the Northumbria PDP/e-portfolio project ….. Our e-Portfolio is used as a teaching, learning and assessment platform for first and second year modules which incorporate the concepts of Personal and Professional Development Planning. The use of the e-Portfolio is well-established, and the action research project is now in its 4th year. Our model of PDP delivery has been welcomed by students and academic planners, and has now been adopted by several other degree programmes across the School. To ensure inter-rater reliability across the increased teaching team, we designed a taxonomy for the assessment of e- Portfolios, which performed well at the end of semester 1, and will be further evaluated at the end of semester 2. Our attention has now shifted to the core aim of PDP/e-Portfolio use – the development of the autonomous life-long learner. Most of the literature on both PDP and e-Portfolio use stresses their potential to develop learning autonomy, but there is not much guidance on what the tutor should provide to aid this development. As Wall (1997) said “Teach yourself autonomy does not work” – we need to provide scaffolding to support the learner while s/he learns to become autonomous. We have therefore produced a model which shows the ‘planks’ of our scaffolding which we believe can help in this development. As reflection is recognised as necessary for learning autonomy, and as students find conscious, deliberate reflection difficult to articulate, we have looked for ways of providing a vocabulary to help them with this. We have found the ELLI tool to be very useful, as its seven learning dimensions echo to a large extent the attributes of the autonomous learner. We are therefore developing an “ELLI Thesaurus” with which to analyse the students’ progress towards autonomy. We would appreciate delegates’ comments and suggestions about this.

A Practitioner’s experience of designing, implementing and evaluating a pilot e-portfolio project

Dr. Martha Jones: University of Nottingham

This paper will focus on the practitioner’s experience of designing, implementing and evaluating a pilot e-portfolio project. This project connected academic study, reflective self-awareness, experiential learning and professional development through the construction of an e-portfolio in the context of the Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching English for Academic Purposes (PGCTEAP) by distance learning. Important elements of the distance programme were learner support, learner autonomy and communication with other students and convenors, and the e-portfolio material aimed to facilitate these elements. Although the e-portfolio was optional and non-assessed, the students fully engaged with the material and achieved a high level of reflective learning. When asked about their learning experiences through the use of the e-portfolio, the students were very positive and considered it to be a valuable tool not only for monitoring progress during the course but also for ongoing professional development. Alternative communication tools were used when course participants were unable to access their e-portfolio due to technical problems. Full support was received from the Centre for Integrative Learning at the University of Nottingham and this resulted in the positive outcome of the e-portfolio project. Therefore, the same template will be used with future cohorts of students on the PGCTEAP.

A story of team development; 4 successful professional accreditation portfolios

Rachel Challen; Tom Teichmann; Colin Dalziel and Shane Sutherland: Pebble Learning

Pebble Learning employs 11 graduates from the University of Wolverhampton. Having ended their ‘formal’ studies we wanted to find a way of structuring and making sense of their ongoing learning and development. The Certified Member (CM) scheme from the Association of Learning Technologists (ALT) seemed to fit the bill and so we began the process of applying for professional recognition. We decided that it would be better, in the first instance, to pilot the scheme with a sub-set of the team. The team decided that they would be ‘inspired’ if the pilot included the two company directors Colin and Shane! We were happy to provide the necessary ‘leadership’ but knew that we would benefit from some inspiration of our own – enter stage left Rachel. The final person to be recruited to the pilot was Tom and we were all set to go. In this session we will discuss the process we undertook; describe how we collected; selected (or rejected) evidence and what we learned along the way. The pros and cons of presenting work by e- portfolio will be shared and each of us will share our successful e-portfolio applications with the audience. We will conclude with our own analysis of how the professional body itself coped with e-portfolio applications and infer how similar processes (job seeker/employer; appraisee/appraiser) might benefit from e-portfolio use and suggest what changes are necessary to maximise individual and institutional learning through e-portfolio processes.

A lifelong and lifewide learning e-portfolio for immigrants

Samantha Slade: Percolab.com, Montreal, Canada

This story is about the meeting of the potential of e-Portfolios with the particular challenges faced by today's immigrant populations and the organisations serving them. E-Portfolios can help immigrants to develop their capacity to:  identify and communicate the full range their skills and competence, wherever and however they have been developed  function as life wide and lifelong learners, as they move forward finding their place in society  bridge between their country of origin and their country of adoption Additionally, developing an e-portfolio is an excellent method to develop digital skills in a meaningful way. In a small region of Québec, Canada, dealing with both a sharp increase in its immigrant population, and a strategic need to attract and maintain qualified workers, 5 organisations have partnered to develop a lifelong learning portfolio for immigrants with an integrated approach. This means that the e-portfolio may be initiated by individuals either independently or via their interaction with an organisation (teacher) or employer (trainer). This integrated approach is proving to be both a strength and a challenge for the project. Immigrants who have tested the modular environment “furnished” with resources and e-portfolio process activities (both individual and social), and open to the real web are delighted with the portfolio. Teachers consulted during development are aware of the disruptive nature of the e- portfolio, but are eager to integrate the tool into their teaching. It helps them personalise learning and shift to lifelong learning. Despite certain bumps in the road, the partners are united to develop an e-portfolio supporting immigrants to learn a local language, customs and work culture while also supporting self-reflection and personal development. Ultimately, the aim is to reduce the human cost paid by immigrants related to unemployment rates 3 times that of their non-immigrant counterparts, working in domains that do not correspond to their training and skills, and navigating in unfamiliar working cultures.

Lifelong key skills ICT

Ursula Quinn: Southern Regional College

The pilot focussed on level 1 and level 2 key skills ICT, aimed at 16-18 year old students in the Apprenticeship School. We decided to pilot e-portfolio building as a natural development of Key skills ICT training. The pilot project was initially tested across a small cohort (approximately 2 classes 24 students) progressing to all the apprenticeship students at the Portadown campus (87.5% of students completed e-portfolios in 2007/08.) It is envisaged that all of SRC campuses will be offering E-portfolios building to all Key skills/essential skills ICT students in September 2009/2010. The challenges have been the development of in-house software/system to suit participant’s needs including the electronic marking and annotating of students work. The Benefits are many and are collated from our student’s survey. They show 62.5% of the students stated that e=portfolios showed a true capability of their work than paper-based portfolios. 62.5% recorded the new skills of submitting their work electronically for assessment, internal verification and external verification. 70.2% recorded new skills of file management and a better knowledge of the course content and referencing their portfolios. Overall 79.2% recorded using the SRC IT campus software. I would like students to leave their course with a lifelong understanding of file management on their PCs a necessary life skill today. SRC was extremely supportive to the idea of e-portfolio building allowing me the expertise of the ILT champions Kevin Powell and Kenneth Milligan we discussed the needs of the teachers and students in-order to build and mark e-portfolios and they developed the SRC IT campus software for me.

(US)B 2 – using portable e-portfolio tools in Initial Teacher Education

Duncan Mackrill: University of Sussex

(US)B 2 – using portable e-portfolio tools in Initial Teacher Education Most e-portfolios are understandably web-based but last academic year I ran a small pilot project of a USB based e-portfolio (named eLiPort) with a group of PGCE trainee music teachers. As well as the e-portfolio to record digital evidence of their progress towards the Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) Standards, the USB drive included a set of Open Source portable applications for use as teacher tools. This allowed trainees to use a range of programs in their teaching and in collecting evidence for their e-portfolio, direct from their USB drive - without the need to install software or have administrator rights. The early findings of this pilot were presented at last year’s ‘Telling Stories’ Conference. This year, the pilot has been developed and extended and includes all PGCE trainees training to be teachers, across seven subjects at the University of Sussex. eLiPort has enabled these student teachers to easily take their work, e-portfolio and a range of useful programs, with them for use in school, university or anywhere else where they use a computer. In addition, it can be used in their NQT year and beyond. Whilst it is designed for trainee teachers, it is also easily transferred to other professions or courses where students are required to work in a number of locations.

This next chapter in the eLiPort story includes a report on its wider implementation, student feedback, the benefits and pitfalls of using such an e-portfolio, its use in assessment and plans for its development in the future.

Meet the Authors - a year in the life of a Tutor’s e-portfolio

Alan Earp, Alison Gray, Megan Booker: Thanet College, East Kent

In readiness to use reflective portfolios beyond a pilot group of students the college has given a portfolio to every member of staff to capture and store records of events and moments that have value in describing the individual own continuing learning journey at the College. Through reflection and sharing critical friendships and co-mentoring activity has taken place around two distinct activities informal and personal events and formal events such as observation, appraisal, and evaluation of training and professional formation. Most of these tasks now only take place in portfolios. The college has 350 users and is over a year into using portfolios in this way. As a result of what has been learnt the college has published and presented its findings and is using them to inform the pilot in readiness to broaden their use to a wider student audience. We have highlighted the centrality of reflection as a tool to improve effectiveness. We have highlighted the value of drawing on the accumulated skills, knowledge and understanding of the staff as a body of professionals. We have discovered how poorly staff are able to reflect rather than simply describe, and have provided support to make it happen. We have discovered the value of involving the whole organisation in the process and enjoyed the increased sense of community being forged. We will present the tutors as the subject of the presentation. They will describe their own journey, how it has fostered a sense of mutual reliance amongst staff who may have previously been relative strangers. We will show how they have raised a sense of personal responsibility for ones own journey and the quality of the experiences more often improved through sharing. In short we will show what reflective portfolio practice actually means in three case studies.

Learning to be lawyerly

Emma Edwards, Jatinder Virdee, Helen Barker: University of Wolverhampton

Some of the issues which remain a priority on many higher institutions’ agendas are PDP, employability and retention and progression. In response, The School of Legal Studies has developed a level one, semester one module (Effective Legal Study) for all of its students. By embedding the e-portfolio into this module, the team is addressing some of the issues described above, as well as meeting other institutional objectives, including blended learning student entitlements. Every year, there are around 350 – 400 students taking Effective Legal Study. The module enables students to consider and develop employability skills, legal academic skills, engage in ePDP, build relationships with personal tutors, submit coursework online and receive online feedback. A webfolio template is developed by staff, including subject-specific activities, in advance on the first semester. Students make a copy of the template and complete weekly activities during seminar sessions. The seminars are held in computer labs with members of staff who direct and facilitate activities and encourage and engage group discussions. Students complete an individual learning profile and submit to their personal tutors in advance of their first face-to-face meeting. Tutors provide initial feedback via PebblePad and then meet the students to discuss issues in more detail. Students also complete a CV as part of this module, which is submitted for assessment via gateway groups. An online questionnaire, which asked students to evaluate their experiences of the module, was developed and sent to all ELS students at the end of semester one. The feedback was extremely positive and has confirmed to staff that embedding the e-portfolio within this module is a positive development. The same model will be used next academic year.

The Go-Between

Dennie Wilson, Ben Andrews and students - Charlotte Lettman, Nikita Walker, Amie Coutts: University of Wolverhampton

During the autumn of 2009 Ms’s Walker, Letman and Coutts, all in their early twenties, kept individual digital diaries, known as blogs, as part of their University Course of studies. These diaries were neither secret nor astonishingly unearthed by a meticulous researcher. Quite the contrary; throughout the recording of these digital mementos, Ms’s Walker, Letterman and Coutts were openly engaged in a relationship with Signor E P Foglio, whose aim, in the case of these three ladies, appeared geared towards not simply facilitating the sharing of and reflecting on the experience of learning, but orchestrating a collaborative exchange of information with those engaged in the activity of Research…. With the title of “Dance and Digital Performance : Video-Podcasts for the Studio” this Research was funded by the HEA subject centre Palatine. It was a multimedia blended learning development placed in the Department of Dance Practice and Performance at the University of Wolverhampton The aim of this pilot project was to produce video-podcasts designed as an intervention into student group and independent learning, requiring student interaction with both technology and content, and as the perfect Italian host, Signor Foglio created an educational environment of architectural delight. It was a place with provision for student learning and support, stimulating discourse and discussion and encouraging reflection and evaluation. As with all good novels there is generally a twist or three, and The Go-Between is no different. As a text which might be more accurately described as an ‘Illuminated Manuscript,’ it is rich in thematic interest. Born of the digital era, it juxtaposes moving image and prose that charts, contrasts and critiques the journey of these three individual young women, and is an expose of perspective. Featuring appearances by Ben Andrews as Signor E P Foglio, Dennie Wilson as The Researcher, Charlotte Letman, Nikita Walker and Amie Coutts as themselves, The Go-Between, sited between learner and practitioner, student and researcher, involved in a dynamic game of relay, reveals all?

Boldly going where no student midwife has been before; the third year of our journey into e-portfolio

Debbie Holmes (Senior Lecturer Midwifery) Becci Salt (Student Midwife): University of Wolverhampton

“F07 entered e-portfolio; University date February 2007”. They are now in their third year of training and on the point of producing their third e-portfolio to demonstrate learning. Each year an e-portfolio is a mandatory component of the midwifery curriculum. All three e-portfolios can be linked and carried onwards into the portfolio they will keep as professional midwives. The benefits have included: -A collection of evidence to demonstrate learning in practice -The ability to share electronically with lecturers and mentors and receive immediate feedback -A complete move to all on line submission and in some modules electronic return of feedback Recent challenges: -Difficulties sharing evidence with practice mentors -Occasional difficulties for markers when receiving files through PebblePad that do not automatically open on University or home computers -Contingency plans required for students who find they cannot submit before the deadline due to access problems at home This year they will undertake a module related to their development as accountable practitioners and will be using the CV and Action plan options within PebblePad, these options have not been utilised by the student midwives until now. The CV will be in preparation for applying for their first Midwifery post. The action plan will be a summative assessment component and will require the students to identify and justify a rational for a change or improvement in maternity services. By sharing the work so far with these aspects of PebblePad we hope to inspire others with our enthusiasm for e-portfolio and the development of lifelong learning through e-portfolio.

A Visual Metaphor Representation of Sustainable Technology Using PebblePad Webfolio

Graham Oakes: University of Wolverhampton

Sustainable Technology is a Level 1 module in the Department of Architecture and Product Design in the School of Engineering and the Built Environment at The University of Wolverhampton. The module introduces related topics such as Carbon Footprint, Recycling, Energy and Product development using a cradle-to-cradle design methodology. As a pilot project for this module the academic approach was to introduce a blank webfolio to the students that they would share with each other. The aim was for the students to populate the webfolio with information on Sustainable Technology topics beginning with every letter of the alphabet from A to Z. This approach enabled the students to construct a set of digital artefacts that allowed articulation of experiences and learning. The students could plan, synthesise, discuss and share their knowledge and research findings with each other in real-time using the PebblePad software whilst establishing their own research resource. Formative feedback from the students throughout the module and at its conclusion indicated that they appreciated this innovative approach. They also stated that PebblePad and the use of e-learning was an expectation on joining this University. To complete the process, students’ assignments were submitted online using PebblePad and academic feedback was instigated through PebblePad - this methodology permitted the dissemination, receiving and responding to both formative and summative assessment. Established through this study was that students particularly enjoyed the blended learning approach taken and establishing for themselves a knowledge vault resource that they could access throughout their award. Because of its success, PebblePad software is now being utilised by the same authors in a further module study entitled CAD and Development 1.

Magic porridge pots, jelly baby trees and learning journey collages: exploring the creative potential of e-portfolio-based learning and ePDP in a foundation degree

Julie Hughes and student Jennie Chambers: University of Wolverhampton

The Foundation Degree team in the School of Education at the University of Wolverhampton took the brave and important step in 2007/8 to revalidate their FD curriculum in Early Years Services and Supporting Inclusive Practice with e-portfolio-based learning at their core. The team were driven by their belief in the benefits of this approach for part-time, mature students who had requested flexible and personalised modes of study. The FD teaching team, which includes 4 partner colleges, 14 staff, 110 students in Year 1 and 100 in Year 2, were committed to embedding reflective, collaborative e-portfolio-supported learning. The year has been an interesting one with some challenges – which were anticipated by the team. However, even the committed team have been flabbergasted by the evaluation of this pedagogic intervention as described and narrated by their students. Jennie, in her first semester in HE as an e-portfolio learner, will continue the story in her own words. My development and learning journey as a HE student. My experience so far can be likened to a ‘magic porridge pot’! Strategically, the first new experience of PebblePad introduced me to ‘Blogging’ and how to determine my baseline experience through a ‘SWOT’ analysis. I consider this to be a strategic introduction to encourage me to look at my “emotional intelligence”, to establish - understanding yourself and understanding others. With a motivated start, my ‘pot’ began to fill. Regular blogging was enabled as my time management developed. Part of my self-perception in beginning HE was identifying myself on the ‘Jelly Bean Tree.’ I felt that I would hold on safely to a mid branch of the tree hoping that I wouldn’t have to start from the bottom. The ‘porridge’ - the learning ingredients - have grown from individual ingredients to recipes full of flavour. The ‘magic’ is a metaphor relating to my capacity for learning I had not acknowledged before becoming an HE student and that which constantly surprises me given the encouragement and challenging expectation of the environment in which the HE learning takes place. The magical part of my learning is how the mind map collage has grown from the time the summative assignment brief was given to the point at which I began writing this and it is still growing, in fact pouring over!

Pebble Paddling: A Voyage from Descartes to Dilbert

Rob Edwards: University of Wolverhampton

Narrated from one practitioner’s personal perspective this is a story of the journey so far…from first encounters with Pebble Pad, through a variety of toe-dipping experiments, of fact-finding missions, to share moments of reflective tranquillity along the way at which pennies of critical insight dropped and/or sparks of fresh pedagogic possibility have been struck. In this patchwork part-work metaphor and simile will play their parts as we move fluidly across subject boundaries and downstream on a continuing journey from innovative trial and error towards early maturity in relating to the adoption and deployment of Pebble Pad in the context of a Business & Management subject area. At the heart of the matter are two contrasted approaches to the deployment of Pebble Pad’s Webfolio tool to support student learning in two established elective Marketing modules, which typically attract cohorts of over 50 students. The first case in point will be the creation of a structured online tutorial framework to supports Level 1 students’ introduction to Marketing Research and learning in support of assessment. In the second case the focus shifts to Level 3, and a more open-ended opportunity for students to make use of Webfolio in support of their preparation of a coursework assignment in Product & Brand Management. Neither case will tell a story of runaway success. Together they will offer insights based on what from conversation, feedback, evaluation and reflection appear to be enablers and barriers to student’s adoption of Pebble Pad’s Webfolio and suggest some of the pros, cons and issues which practitioners may find it useful to be mindful of and to aim to address in continuing efforts to further students’ awareness and take-up of Pebble Pad. If we are all sitting comfortably I’ll tell you where our story begins….and take you forward not to its end, but towards the end of its beginning.

What are the benefits of supervising placement students electronically via their e- portfolio reflective learning diaries?

Pritpal Sembi: University of Wolverhampton

I am at the very, very, beginning of my PebblePad journey but I have found an application for it that has worked very well for my placement students. I am currently working on a pilot project, with a view to implementing it much wider, to investigate the use of Pebble Pad to supervise and administer a 3rd level placement module based in Film Studies (HLSS). So far, my students have used the ‘Blog’ function to submit their reflective learning diaries electronically and they receive advice and feedback much quicker than the traditional paper based approach. This has resulted in a much more dynamic and ‘two-way’ supervision relationship and has reduced the need for site visits by staff. I can also see students work in progress much easier than before and offer more timely advice if students are having difficulties whilst on placement. The pilot trials so far have proved very successful, but how can I actually measure the value that PebblePad brings to the module objectively? How can we measure ‘success’. How can I be sure that PebblePad has brought added value – perhaps it is the academic strength of the students that has prevailed? Can I be sure that electronic diaries really are better than paper based approaches? Surely my enthusiasm for the PebblePad system affects my objectivity? Anecdotal evidence & enthusiasm for the success of the pilot is not enough to justify wider application. Challenges to my research have been: students resisting the learning curve of a VLE that has a different interface to what they’re used to; some issues with the technology itself, staff resistance to the VLE, and more. Overall, despite once being very resistant to the use of PebblePad, I have found that there can be positive ways of engaging with some features of e-Portfolios.

Heroes and villains – Early adopters, champions and institutional challenges to e-portfolio uptake

Libby Symonds / Huw Richards : University of Worcester

The University of Worcester adopted PebblePad as its institutional e-portfolio tool in October 2007. It was introduced in a three stage process firstly for staff only, then for pilot projects with students and finally in September 2008 was rolled out across the whole University. This presentation will outline a range of case studies from the early adopters and champions and discuss how e-portfolio usage has impacted on the learning and teaching of those involved. Whilst there have been a number of success stories at the University of Worcester there have also been some challenges to embedding e-portfolio usage and we will be outlining some of these issues and inviting participants to contribute to a discussion on methods of overcoming these challenges. Participants will be encouraged to use this discussion as a “rehearsal for reality “with regard to approaching similar issues at their own institutions,

Attendees at this session can expect to hear

. Individual success stories from the University of Worcester and the processes involved . A departmental case study . Challenges faced in wider implementation . Discussion on strategies for overcoming institutional challenges with input from participants

Using e-portfolios to support a lifetime in engineering

Nick Hooper: Yorkshire and Humber Lifelong Learning Network

As with many professions, engineers blend academic and professional education and certification to achieve professional recognition. Continuing professional development maintains the knowledge- base and professional standing of an engineer throughout their career. This presentation will set out the current processes and systems by which engineers obtain and record their qualifications through the University of Hull and the Engineering Council before describing a JISC-funded project to provide a personalised on-line system to initial and continuing lifetime professional development. Current systems require each training and awarding institution (University, employer and professional body) to maintain records throughout the lifetime of a professional and to check and confirm professional status when requested, for example when a professional changes employment. The system under development will provide a cumulative secure record of validated achievements which will be held by the individual. Selective access will allow an individual to provide details relevant to a particular purpose without reference to the initiating organisation (training provider, awarding body, employer, and professional organisation). A key feature of the project is the personalised, learner-controlled nature of the on-line environment based on a scalable, interoperable and robust access and identity management system that will integrate and control access to personal e-portfolio technologies. The project is funded under the JISC capital programme 'Institutional innovation projects in lifelong learning and workforce development'.