info on E-portfolios

"You may like to know that two new JISC resources on e-portfolios have been launched at ALT-C in Leeds. The first is a new guide in the JISC Effective Practice series, Effective Practice with e-Portfolios, which explores examples of effective practice in the use of e-portfolios throughout a lifetime of learning. The guide complements a new infoKit on e-portfolios from JISC infoNet which offers a comprehensive synopsis of the main drivers, purposes, processes, perspectives and issues around e-portfolio use. The infoKit can be viewed at www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/e-portfolios. Alternative formats of the guide are available from www.jisc.ac.uk/effectivepracticeeportfolios

I would also like to inform you of a forthcoming (Jan / Mar 09 ~ ish) series of regional workshops linked to the JISC Effective Practice with e-Portfolios guide and e-Portfolios infoKit. The workshops will provide guidance on e-portfolios from Netskills and explore issues and benefits relating to e-portfolio use with representatives from case study institutions. Please register your interest at www.jisc.ac.uk/eportfolioworkshops, where details of the venues and programme will be available shortly. Early booking is strongly recommended."

Ps.

I also assisted with this publication, infokit & the workshops. So I'm biased against its obvious level of excellence. And, there are lots of case studies and references to effective practice in our very own West Midlands organisations. Again Julie Hughes and Emma Purnell talk about their excellent work in this area. I also found working with Lisa Gray, Ros Smith, Jacquie Kelly, Emma Purnell, Dr Elizabeth Hartnoll Young, CETIS, CRA, Rob Englebright + more , to be a very worthwhile experience. So as you can see, I was very lucky and honoured to be asked to help steer this publication, with the above experts also in consultation.

Open Source – Mahara

You may be aware of a couple of recent posts covering the announcement of the ULCC official partnership of the ever popular Mahara e-portfolio tool. Earlier than that, I posted about a local company (The Development Manager Ltd. http://tdm.info/) who have helped us out in the past. The owner of that company is a very knowledgeable man called Derrin Kent. He is well into the Open Source software use, and of course it's exploitation to engage and enhance the learning process. Which is why we like Derrin, we both sing from the same hymn sheet – as it were. Anyhoo, I bumped into Derrin @ ALT-C last week who gleefully informed me that he was the second OFFICIAL UK PARNER FOR MAHARA. So this is good news for Derrin and for all potential & existing Mahara users in the UK. We have a very keen, experienced local company to help us set up and use Mahara. Don't forget you can plug Mahara in Moodle, but you can also run Mahara as a standalone web based e-portfolio tool. BTW, Mahara is also up for an award in for excellence in Open Source applications in NZ.

Have a play with Mahara here : http://demo.mahara.org/