ePortfolio

Later today (January 30, 2010), I'll be running my session on portfolios.

From the session description:

The promise of the portfolio is that the demonstration of learning remains as close as possible to the process of learning, while allowing individual elements of the learning process to be highlighted and discussed as part of evaluation. This type of assessment creates a nuanced picture of how a person is developing as a learner.

Portfolios have been around for a while, yet they are still largely viewed as an "alternative" means of assessment. What are some of the barriers for adoption that exist? What are the arguments against using portfolios?

Also, as part of our work with portfolios, we have built out a system that can be used to support collaboratively authoring curriculum within and between organizations. This also has some uses for schools interested in creating curriculum maps.

With the exception of the theme, the code that runs this system is already available on Drupal.org; in the upcoming weeks, we'll be writing up how we built this site so others can replicate it. The theme will also be released as part of our work for the Knight-Drupal Initiative.

This screencast describes how to use Drupal to create a presentation portfolio within a class blogging platform. The portfolio functionality we describe here can be replicated in just about any Drupal site. While this screencast focuses on one user, this structure will work equally well for 10, 100, 1000, or 10,000 users. At the risk of stating the obvious, you will have different design needs at each of these levels, but the core structure will scale upwards as needed.

Note: For the full (and easier to see) video, download the original -- all 72M of it.

In setting up the portfolio, we look at these main areas:

Adding Content

Using this model, people in the site are doing their daily work, and adding content as they go. As people add content into the site (aka, blog) they create a body of information. Within this site, people can either upload content directly into the site, or embed content from external sources. The screencast provides more detail on this area.

Creating the Portfolio

In this section, we describe how to add pages into the portfolio, and how to organize content that has been added into the site.

Next Steps

These steps are not covered in the screencast, but are worthy of mention. The portfolio system shown in this screencast is a starting point. The Technical Notes section gives an overview describing how to build this tool, but the functionality described here can be added into any Drupal site. It will work with various types of Access control, and you can also set up a Workflow to create a feedback mechanism on portfolios. In short, the tools shown here provide a starting point for a broader range of functionality.

TechnicalNotes

Key modules used for the portfolio functionality:

• CCK: http://drupal.org/project/cck
• Link: http://drupal.org/project/link
• Filefield: http://drupal.org/project/filefield
• jQuery Media: http://drupal.org/project/jquery_media
• Embedded Media Field: http://drupal.org/project/emfield
• ImageCache: http://drupal.org/project/imagecache
• Imagefield: http://drupal.org/project/imagefield
• ImageAPI: http://drupal.org/project/imageapi
• Book Manager: http://drupal.org/project/book_manager
• Views: http://drupal.org/project/views

Tutorial on using Filefield and jQuery Media, from Sean Effel.
Theming tip on Filefield and jQuery Media, from Aaron Winborn.

The theme used in the screencast is the Pixture theme.

Screenshot of all modules used on the site (swf file, with download links).

Screenshot of permissions for the Book and Book Manager modules for users who are creating portfolios.

And, for those who just feel the need to download large files, feel free to grab the original video -- all 72M of it.

From my comment on Gardner Campbell's blog:

Hello, Gardner,

As a few people have already pointed out, these are incremental moves -- Open Content has been around for a while, as have blog-based classes. I think most of us are in agreement that, in general terms, these are Good Things, and that these shifts are improvements over expensive textbooks and cumbersome, expensive, proprietary LMS's.

The incremental shifts, however, become more meaningful when considered together.

Pulling content from a closed repository isn't all that big a deal -- we've had rss for a while. But, putting high quality content into a container where it can be readily remixed and reused is an incremental step in the right direction.

This release features both security and maintenance upgrades.

For new users, this is the best version to download and install. The download tarball contains a directory named "Instructions" that contains some instructions on getting started. For additional help, and/or to get involved with the DrupalEd community, submit issues to the issue queue or join the DrupalEd group.

Download DrupalEd here

For existing users, you do not need to download and install this tarball. Rather, you should be managing your upgrades by using the update status module. This module will help you keep your DrupalEd install current and secure. If you have an existing DrupalEd site, you should upgrade immediately to keep your site secure.

In this session, participants will examine portfolios from several angles:

1. as a learner, using the portfolio to track/present their day to day work;
2. as a learner, using the portfolio as a tool to highlight individual artifacts in order to demonstrate learning over time;
3. as an instructor, examining the various situations where portfolio use may or may not be the best choice to support student learning;
4. as an instructor, using a portfolio as a professional development tool;
5. as an administrator/evaluator, using a portfolio as a means of presenting the different types of learning occurring within a school or an organization.