This article advocates for a new system for eportfolios called PrPl (private-public).

Paul Kim, Chen Kee Ng and Gloria Lim, “When Cloud Computing Meets with Semantic Web: A New Design for e-portfolio systems in the social media era”. British Journal of Educational Technology, Vol. 41, no.6, 2010. pp. 1018-1028

The arguments are based on the premise that eportfolios are of pedagogical value.

The article identifies key problems with current e-portfolio systems.

The authors argue that semantic indexing and cloud computing will address these problems

About the Article

E-portfolios are a place where digital artefacts are stored and presented to different audiences.Your e-portfolio could act like a showcase for your skills, education and training for future employers. Yet, they can be much more than just a personal website …

Although such sites do operate like eportfolios. Have a look at Sarah Jane Pell’s. It actually gives a visual map of all of her talks, publications, and research. It links to other sites and applications (facebook etc) and is media rich.

What are e-portfolios?

However..There is no way to customise the interface according to the userThe off-site data needs to be found and managedIt is not a “learning place’

Why are they more than a website?

…Because they are based upon learning principles: an eportfolio should offer the ability for continual development and self-reflection. You can collect digital copies of certificates, letters, surveys, photographs and all sorts of digital artefacts in your eportfolio. Yet the most important thing is that this collection asks you to sort and classify, to reflect upon what you have learnt and what you still need to learn. Using your eportfolio well means creating learning pathways and carefully thinking about what each artefact represents in those pathways.

Helen Barrett has provided an excellent diagram of the importance of eportfolios as learning platforms

Her own portfolio is athttps://sites.google.com/site/eportfolioapps/overview

Where do I start?

As the article explains, many commercial services and educational platforms have developed…

http://www.efolioglobal.com/ offers “The Personal Learning Plan (PLP) is a structured process for building educational decisions and plans upon the strengths, interests and aspirations of the learner. It provides students, as well as other stakeholders, with the opportunity to submit and examine goals and artifacts as evidence for learning”

I’ve applied it to my local context and discovered an open source system developed by a New Zealand venture that works with Moodle (our LMS) and am investigating further…

An example from mahara

The ideal e-portfolio

If you have an eportfolio, you could generate and manage your own data in a sustainable manner and in the context of everyday activities, collaborations and networking.

But…this idea is not yet reality. With current systems you have to:import all of your data into the system, which means duplicating this dataStore it on the server of the organisation/institution - It’s not easy to export this dataand thus limit your use of media – don’t expect to use all those video presentations in your eportfolio!

These are problems identified in the article as:•Scaleability and Sustainability•Interoperability•Inability to adapt to new services•Inability to provide “lifelong support”

In today’s Web 2.O environment..we are all data producers.We live in the cloud.

In the Cloud we can*Quickly publish*Interact and collaborate*Assign semantics (meaning) to our data through tools like tagging*Communicate through many types of media – videos, photos, etc.

Living in the Cloud

In the cloud, we are not data managers.

our data is dispersed across a variety of applications.Flickr, Facebook, Springpad, PresentMe, Instagram, dropbox, to name a few accounts and across all these applications. In the article, the authors recognised that as we produce, store and communicate more about ourselves online, it’s become increasingly difficult to manage that data

Taking Advantage of the Cloud

The Pr-Pl System takes advantage of cloud computing

It uses a semantic based infrastructure to search for digital artefacts that we have stored across the cloud.

Semantics allow for searches that are meaningful and contextual.

It uses an intelligent agent (the Butler) do ‘manage’ the data and present it to us in a meaningful way. It “tracks, verifies and updates personal cloud artifacts while allowing intelligent searches that go much beyond conventional keyword-based searches” (p.10222)

The X Factor

The Pr-Pl System will have the x-factor

A semantic based e-portfolio, the authors argue might have the coveted x-factor – the unknown factors that will allow us to make that ideal eportfolio – one that is customisable, responsive and intelligent to our current stage in a life-long learning journey.

But can a technical solution provide the x-factor?

What about design? I’m not convinced that some vague metaphor of “mapping” will offer the best practice….

And there are other cultural fears and concerns…

Problems with the Cloud: Forgetting the past?

the article talks about PrPL taking account of future developments and of the potential uptake of semantic-aware applications "over the next four to five years" (p.1024). The semantic infrastructure will “leverage existin, and perhaps even hitherto unreleased software applications” (p.1023) But what of past systems?. - will it be able to 'understand' them.

An analogy that comes to mind is the problem with old game formats and platforms, software and hardware. There is an interesting research project at the moment in software "heritage" being undertaken by Australian researchers http://www.ourdigitalheritage.org/

Are we accounting for the archaeology of eportfolios - which is default, our archaeology?.

I Spy?

the authors explain that a universal identifier is necessary for this system. They argue for using the mobile phone.

Cloud computing passes proprietary ownership from content to infrastructure while promising to make content universally accessible.

Julian Assange, in a May 2011 TV interviewwith Russia Today, condemned ubiquitous access to Google, Yahoo, and Facebook as constituting an “appalling spy machine.”

What happens if you are ‘shut out (as Assangewas) of the cloud?1

Access & control, privacy and security are central issues in cloud computing. How will this solution deal with them?

I’ve learnt about the pedagogical value of eportfolios.I’ve discovered I can create an eportfolio. It can be a place for me to reflect on my lifelong learning. I can create a visual picture of my skills and the knowledge i have required. i can provide different pictures to different audiences: as an artist for a curator, as an academic writer for the editor of that new book on SF, as an innovative educator keen to help others adopt a new learning platform.

I’ve read about the problems and understood how the system might resolve some of the barriers to the adoption of eportfolios.

I’ve thought carefully about the culture of cloud computing and indicated that there are broader political implications. The article offers a technical solution to perceived barriers to use of eportfoliosbut its insights need to be married with discussion of the cultural contexts (perhaps linked to articles from other disciplines like this one http://culturalpolitics.dukejournals.org/content/8/3/443.abstract

Who Learns? Me or my intelligent agent.

Would a virtual butler in a PrPl system provide the same semantic context?

This slideshow is a digital artefact. If it becomes integrated into an eportfolio, the important thing is the self-reflection that it generates