About ePortfolio standards (1) – a rapid state of art

I would like to take the opportunity of a colleague’s request about ePortfolio standards and interoperability, to present EIfEL views on this issue.

Today, even if few ePortfolio suppliers are engaged in the implementation of existing specifications, those doing it generally do so within the context of a specific community, using what is called application profiles, i.e. an adaptation of a base specification to the particular requirements of this community. This adaptation adds a level of complexity to the issue of interoperability, as different application profiles of the same base specification do not necessarily interoperate…

The following list presents a series of application profiles that have been tested during previous ePortfolio plugfests organised by EIfEL:

  1. Employability ePortfolio (NL) is based on IMS ePortfolio (which includes IMS Learner Information Profile — IMS LIP). There is a discussion whether in the future the profile should rather be based on the next HR-XML V3 specifications which should cover ePortfolios.
    Compliant Solutions: eXact Folio (Giunti), Winvision.
  • UK Leap (UK) is based on IMS LIP (which is more restrictive than IMS ePortfolio). Even if this profile has been formerly standardised by the British Standards Institute (BSI) it does not benefit, yet, from an extensive implementation. A reflexion is engaged for a UK Leap Version 2 but it is not clear whether it will still be based on IMS LIP.
    Compliant Solutions: PebblePad, ePet (University of Newcastle).
  • HR-XML application profiles — there are a number of HR-XML application profiles dedicated to specific communities:
    • iProfile (HR-XML CV profile), is implemented by SkillsMarket in UK, which hosts more than 2 millions CVs for recruiting agencies.
    • GermanCV (HR-XML CV profile) is used by job boards in Germany.

     

  • HR-XML Europass CV (EU) is a binding of Europass (a European CV format) using HR-XML specifications as well as external competencies definition based on IEEE RDC. Support of the European Language Portfolio is also under discussion. The work done by EIfEL in this area has contributed to address the needs specific to ePortfolio not yet covered by existing HR-XML specifications to elicit new requirements for the next HR-XML V3 specifications.
    Compliant Solutions : ePet (University of Newcastle), Eurocv.eu, Kite, CVUniversel / Universal CV (the implementation has just started, and a presentation will be made during the next ePortfolio & Digital Identity conference in Montréal)
  • hresume microformat — It is used for LinkedIn public profiles (several million users). Microformats are a bottom-up alternative to XML standards (microformats can be defined and implemented by end users without the burden of standardisation bodies.

So far, I’ve just described data formats, but if you believe, like EIfEL, that ePortfolios are more than data and that they contribute to one’s digital identity, then it should be necessary to take into account what is happening in the field of social networks and social computing, Web 2.0, the emergence of new types of job boards, etc. Moreover, if you take into account the difference between individual ePortfolios (that could be developed with any kind of tools) and ePortfolio Management Systems (ePMS) that institutions need to manage a number of ePortfolios for specific processes, then a number of additional emerging standards should be taken into account.

  1. Identity Management such as Liberty Alliance federation of identities and services, OpenID or CardSpace will play a central role in the seamless exchange of information across services used by ePortfolios.
  • Interoperability frameworks such OpenSocial (used by Google, Plaxo, etc.) and Dataportability.org are emerging and open a new kind of door to the exploitation and sharing of personal in a professional perspective.

This is just a rapid overview of ePortfolio-related standards. In the next posts, we will go into more details to open the discussion on the future requirements for ePortfolio standards and interoperability. The conversation will also take place during the next Montréal conference.

NB: for all those who would like to know more about the subject of interoperability while being refrained by its technical nature, I would like to encourage you to go beyond your inital reticence. The lack of interoperability is generally more the result of misunderstanding or lack of human will rather than the lack of understanding of technical details or technical issues. We need You!

The ePortfolio is dead? Long life to Digital Identity! (1)

It is now nearly 5 years since EIfEL, at the time of the first International ePortfolio Conference, launched the idea that “In 2010, every citizen will have an ePortfolio.” The intuition we had at the time was that the ePortfolio was much more than a mere paperless portfolio, and that its digital dimension was going to create a special object which would travel with us throughout our life, our education, our professional activities and citizenship . Then, very quickly, we noticed that discussions in the field of healthcare arond personal health records (or medical records – the less positive and more bureaucratic version) had many of the same echoes: individuals are the owners of their personal data; they are in charge of keeping their own health records; in parallel, professional practices are being transformed as is the healthcare value chain, etc. Furthermore, in the domain of citizenship , the proposal of Michel Sapin, the French Budget Minister in 2005, for a digital safe for every citizen reinforced the feeling that fields as different as education, healthcare and citizenship were exploring similar issues.

If ,then, everyone should have an ePortfolio (EIfEL), a digital safe (Michel Sapin), a universal CV (Europass) or a personal health record (Medcommons, and now Google and Microsoft), wouldn’t it make sense to try to place all these objects in one unifying concept? What would this object common to education, health and the professional or citizen life be?

Initially, there was a strong temptation to extend the ePortfolio concept: a health record may indeed be seen as the record of a learner, taking into her own hands the management of her health — before even being sick — health being yet another ‘subject’ along with mathematics or civic education. But what about the salary slip placed in my digital safe and used as document to obtain credit for a sofa — on which I will be able to write this blog in comfort? It is clear that extending the breadth of a concept risks reducing its meaning — if everything becomes an ePortfolio, then nothing is really one any more, although a portfolio remains still a well defined object.

The search for a unifying concept brings me to digital identity. And I believe now that it was the kind of thing we had in mind in 2003 when we launched the “ePortfolio for all” idea: to help every citizen to develop and exploit their digital identity. If modern education consists in developing one’s identity, then digital education must become one of the priorities of education, along with physical or moral education.

The experience gained in ePortfolio practice will certainly be useful to achieve this task, and it is probable that the portfolio will always keep a role. But the challenge to tackle from now on us is not the simple use of ePortfolio any more, but digital identity education. We now all have a digital identity, even if we are not aware of it.

This is the first in a series of reflections on the ePortfolio and digital identity to launch the Montréal pre-conference debate.

The ePortfolio and CPD for nurses

The highlight of last week for me was a trip to the wonderful city of Bologna to speak at a conference for nursing professionals on the development of competencies organised by IPASVI, the national nursing federation. It was a pleasure to meet our colleague and EIfEL member, Stuart Cable, Interim Lead for Learning Zone of the Royal College of Nursing in the UK. I gave an overview of ePortfolio activities in the healthcare sector in Europe and a brief outline of the role of the ePortfolio in the creation of digital identity. Stuart presented the impressive RCN ePortfolio and its use in professional development in the UK.

Can we have a ‘one size fits all’ approach to competency as the European Qualification Framework seems to hope? I think the answer is yes if the EQF remains a framework in which national frameworks can find their place. The Italian nursing profession is now tackling the challenge of defining competencies and designing development programmes – a process that some EU countries have already gone through and others have yet to address. Once again, context is critical. The eternal round of elections in Italy has inevitable repercussions on the availability and deployment of resources. The profession is making a concerted effort to improve its image and raise the level of qualifications. It was clear that they were in agreement with the broad view of competence as presented by the EQF that includes such ‘metacompetencies’ as learning to learn, working with others, communication and problem-solving. At the same time, there seems to be a need for consensus on basic technical competencies. We shall make slower progress to achieving the goal of professional mobility if some nurses can prescribe medication (UK) and some can’t (Italy).

The only slight downside to the event for me was trying to communicate the excitement of the subject in 7.5 minutes (15 mins with consecutive translation!). However we aim to follow up this ‘headline delivery’ with more detailed work in the ePortfolio healthcare SIG. So far there is interest in this group from Italy, France, the UK and Australia. All other expressions of interest welcome. We’ll be posting information soon and arranging a meeting before the summer in preparation for ePortfolio 2008 in Maastricht.

EIfEL News

EIfEL will now provide even more regular updates on the activities of the team that we think will be of interest to our members and partners.

On 27 February, Serge Ravet delivered a keynote presentation at the Boule de Cristal (Crystal Ball) Conference in Montreal. Decision-makers from the worlds of business, ITC industries, governments and public bodies came together under the co-presidency of Thierry Vandal, Chief Executive of Hydro-Québec, and Julie Payette, astronaut, from the Canadian Space Agency.

In the presence of the more than 100 organisations registered and almost 1000 decision-makers, Serge opened the second day of the event on the theme “Entreprise 2.0: the Learning Organisation”. He shared his vision of how technological innovations offer us the possibility of breaking out of the ‘silos’ of formal individual learning events in order to value and exploit informal learning and the links between individual and organisational learning to achieve a (n) (e) learning organisation.

For more information: http://www.bouledecristal.crim.ca/

Also on 28 February, Maureen Layte made a keynote presentation at the “ePortfolios, identity and personalised learning in healthcare education” conference in Newcastle –upon-Tyne, England. This was organized by The Higher Education Academy for a broad range of healthcare professionals in the fields of medicine, dentistry and veterinary science. 150 people attended the event to share their experience of the use of ePortfolios in initial and continuing education. The only invited speaker from outside the UK, Maureen presented a global view of the state of the art of ePortfolios in Europe. For more information on the conference and to download the keynote presentations: http://www.medev.ac.uk/workshop_resources/105/list_contents