The project will investigate the distributedmodel of e-portfolio use, and particularly will describe the relationships between such e-portfolio use and repositories, through the exploration of a hypothetical scenario.

Scenario-based study: Using repositories & e-portfolio tools to submit an application for employment


Start date: 3 March 2008

End date: 31 July 2008

Project website: http://heepss.editme.com/

JISC theme(s): e-Learning, Information environment

Committees: JISC Integrated Information Environment committee, JISC Learning and Teaching committee

Report Final report

Overview

This study will be based around the exploration of a future scenario:

Scenario

An academic working at a UK Higher Education institution has many intellectual outputs relating to lifelong learning achievements that s/he has collected so far during their professional life. These outputs include qualifications, University final year dissertation, a Masters thesis, a PhD thesis, digital photographs evidencing site visits to archaeological digs on Flickr, blog of events s/he’s been to, some research papers held in repositories and online journals, and some learning materials developed for teaching. These outputs are sitting in a number of different places, but can be drawn upon (imported or dynamically drawn down) into her e-portfolio (system or suite of tools) where s/he is able to provide views of these outputs for different purposes and audiences.

S/he is looking to apply for a new job in a larger department in a different institution. S/he wants to prepare the application by offering a presentation of achievements through their e-portfolio, in the form of a web-based presentation based around the required skills for the job presenting a range of their work. S/he also asks her Head of School and the local Museum curator to comment on a range of achievements which are included in the presentation, and allows them access with permissions to annotate the results. S/he evidences the competencies required for the new job by pointing to a range of outputs and the comments of her colleagues. S/he is then able to give permission for the recruiting institution to access the presentation and view their achievements matched to the skills required for the post.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The specific tasks of the study are to:

  • Provide further detail to this scenario, exploring the range of human and system interactions involved, and modelling the key processes.
  • Conduct baseline work to establish where the intellectual outputs may be stored at the moment (e.g. a national qualifications repository, institutional student record system, institutional repositories, Jorum, personal hard drive, institutional e-portfolio system, virtual learning environment, social networking sites (see paragraph 18)
  • Investigate what would need to be in place for the scenario to be supported and realised (including the technical, organisational/policy, cultural, and legal issues). These will include issues of security, privacy, authentication, and authorisation:
    • Allowing third parties (who may not be within the institution) access to a view of an individuals resources which are sitting in a number of places with various different access requirements
    • Allowing third parties (who may not be within the institution) to annotate and comment on an individuals resources
    • Linking together the information held in diverse stores, perhaps with some form of unique identifier that is supported across all of those stores
    • Ensuring the privacy of the individual by only allowing the release of information that is appropriate to this particular task

    As the work progresses, the feasibility and desirability of the outlined scenario will be assessed, by reference to domain experts and key stakeholders. If, once the scenario is more fully described, it is seen to be feasible and desirable, the study will provide a roadmap of delivery in terms of what needs to happen and when in order to reach the end goal. If not, the study will provide an outline of the alternatives with accompanying roadmaps for delivery.

    Project partners
    • AlphaPlus
    • The University of Kent
    • The University of Nottingham

project staff