Our fourth guest blog post comes from Overnet, e-learning integration experts and a Titus partner. With eight years experience in the industry, here Overnet give a bit of an insight into how invaluable an ePortfolio can be. 

Firstly what is an ePortfolio? An ePortfolio (like a digital satchel) is an electronic collection of evidence that demonstrates a student’s learning journey over time. This could be organised as a timeline, by subject area, theme or skills. The artifacts that make up the portfolio can be a rich set of digital evidence – text, images, audio and video.

Whilst an ePortfolio can be a stand alone environment, it is at its most effective when integrated with a school’s VLE such as Moodle (and even better with single sign on). The VLE provides the infrastructure for the day to day assignment, management, collaboration and marking of student work, whilst the ePortfolio provides the shop window for students to curate and share work that:

• Celebrates their learning and achievement
• Showcasing work to parents
• Provides evidence for qualifications
• Supports employment applications and professional registration

Empowering students to author their own ePortfolios is the secret ingredient, albeit providing them with a template as a starting point. At the same time they are developing and honing vital 21st century digital literacy skills whilst they put their ePortfolios together.

If you are a Moodle user or perhaps considering it as your next VLE, Moodle makes it easy to integrate and export to an ePortfolio system. Popular and complementary platforms to deliver ePortfolios include Mahara and Google Apps (using Google Sites).

So what are the other reasons for introducing ePortfolios into your school?

In many senior leadership and school governor meetings, the problem of how to reach out to disengaged parents often crops up in discussions and debates. Research has consistently shown that there is  a positive impact on a student’s performance when their parents are actively involved in their learning. Here ePortfolios can have a part to play, allowing students and teachers to easily share work worthy of celebration with parents. This can provide a catalyst for even persistently disengaged parents to be involved in their child’s learning – even as a passive consumer.

Secondly supporting a paperless strategy is another benefit of using e-Portfolios within your school’s IT eco-system to support sharing of student work. As well as addressing environmental concerns, many thousands of pounds can be shaved off the school’s burgeoning print bill.

If you are interested in finding out more about Moodle and ePortfolios, why not drop us a line at hello@tituslearning.com