ePortfolios Australia 2016 Forum - Day One Reflections

I'm attending an eportfolio event for the first time in 5 years.

Five years ago I was working on eportfolios for learning and assessment with TAFE students and teachers using Moodle/Mahara.

Today part of my focus is on the safe and effective use of social technologies within a new Tasmanian government My Education program.

Within this program the eportfolio agenda has shifted to

• support career assessment, guidance and planning (My Education and Kuder Navigator for years 7-12)
• provide an external link for potential employers and further education (Kuder Navigator)
• support students to safely create a professional, responsible and respectful online presence through their chosen social technologies (plus LinkedIn for students in years 9-12)
• support student learning and parent engagement
• provide ongoing access to the above ePortfolio (Kuder Journey available to school leavers and the general community through libraries)

In this context my takeaways from the sessions I attended on the first day of the 2016 ePortfolio Forum (principally for higher education) are:

• ePortfolios appear to have found some implementation niches - work-integrated learning, student centred/directed learning, continuing professional development, authentic/transdisciplinary learning, wicked problems...
• Employers are looking for deeper insights into and points of difference between applicants - the focus is more on soft skills, creativity, marketing... An eportfolio (and social media) provide a window to these.
• Learning artifacts and reflections are now more easily captured at the point of learning via mobile devices.
• More ePortfolios reference employability/capability/CPD skills providing meaningful frameworks for students and employers.
• ePortfolio-based tasks count for formal assessment.
• Students are using social media for learning, uploading, sharing and peer review/critique.
• Students are choosing cloud services and apps for learning and productivity tools.

My keyword to describe eportfolio use and implementation is now 'wicked' :-)