ePortfolios for educators

This post is written by Sam Taylor, e-learning consultant at Catalyst IT Europe.

Background:

Earlier in the year I shared a resource I had been working on that I started to develop as part of our annual worldwide company initiative: the ‘Catathon’. Catathon is where we at Catalyst IT would down tools for the day and create something that could be classed as ‘Open’, so for technical colleagues this could be code or development of an Open Source feature (here’s my friend Peter’s recent Catathon contribution – Moodle Multiblock). Not being a developer I decided to create something else that could be useful to the edtech community – an OER, specifically one rather close to my heart, all about creating ePortfolio activities. 

And so ePortfolios for Educators was born.

Overview of the resource:

Presented in an actual ePortfolio page, this resource is based on workshops that I had previously facilitated at Cranfield University to those undertaking the PGCert in Academic Practice, mostly lecturers. It aims to showcase the various scenarios as to how ePortfolios can be used, why they are effective, and then how, as a practitioner, you can plan, design, deliver and assess an ePortfolio activity.

Modes of delivery:

This resource has been designed for two audiences;

• Self-paced individual learning – where learners can use this resource independently for their own purposes
• Workshop participants – where the facilitator can use this to deliver a workshop with multiple participants

Workshop content:

• ‘Introductory lecture’
  H5P resource to be used to give background on current ePortfolio practice
  
• Activity
  Steps to follow for successful implementation and delivery of ePortfolios for assessment:
  • Present the competencies/criteria your learners are to meet
  • Suggest/choose the portfolio presentation tools
  • Suggest examples of evidence that could be used to demonstrate competency
  • Offer reflection models where appropriate
  • Present marking criteria for learners to self-assess prior to submission
  • Identify how the portfolios will be submitted

• Further resources
  • Downloadable rubrics for Moodle and Turnitin
  • Links to key resources for further reading

Comments and reflections

I have tried to make this resource as ePortfolio agnostic as possible, and since releasing it I have had lots of positive feedback from peers via Twitter on its usefulness, including one institution in Germany who have already started using this workshop with their lecturers. What I would like, however, is suggestions of how I can improve this resource – what do you think is missing? Anything else I can add that would make it even more useful to you or your colleagues? If you have any ideas, please get in touch and I’ll see if I can make it work.

At the time of writing, this resource had also been submitted to https://www.oercommons.org/courses/eportfolios-for-educators

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