ePortfolios under discussion...

I would like to thank Ray Tolley for his thought provoking comments and links. It's always good to receive comments that challenge thinking, make you mindful of assumptions, and also clarify your own thinking...in this case about ePortfolios.

Dear Ray

Thank you very much for your interesting observations. I was intrigued with what you were proposing as a middle way, and have visited the sites you recommended. (This interestingly led to a trail of fascinating resources, but that is another story ;-)

Thinking long and hard about what EFolio offers, it is the underlying ethos that I am struggling with. If a system such as EFolio were recommended by an institution (with the option for learners/faculty to use another tool/suite of tools) then this is conducive to fostering creativity. My concern would be, as soon as an institution mandates a system then this has a tendency to foster conformity.

On the other hand, I am also aware that, if ePortfolios are to be used as part of an education programme as a reflection and an assessment tool, then some level of consistency will be desirable. There is also the point made in one of the videos on your site that saying "here is my ePortfolio" has a lot more kudos with future employers than "here is a link to my Facebook site". I would, however, argue that this comes full circle back to the notion of purpose(s), and maybe one of the skills that students would develop at an institution if given free rein, is to explore which tools are going to be most appropriate for reflection, social networking, professional showcasing and so on.

Thanks again for the thought-provoking comment. Very much appreciated. Cheers. Hazel