My ePortfolio Purpose:

As a Teacher who works in an Area School (Year 1-13 or 5-18 year olds) in
New Zealand I wish to set up my school with ePortfolios in order to:
a. Build a stronger learning support team for the student that would
include teacher, family members and other knowledgeable peers.
Together this team would foster learning through formative
assessment, collaborative projects and celebrating successes.
b. Develop greater student ownership of the learning process by
encouraging a child owned digital portfolio. The portfolio will include
the students’ chosen artefacts and will show the processes they go
though as part of their learning.
c. Provide a resource bank of students’ data for information,
accreditation and accountability purposes.

ePortfolio Platform Selection Criteria:

(Note: for the purpose of this table the term ‘user’ refers to the student or
owner of the ePortfolio.)
Criteria Description
Multiple 1. Private Space: for personal use like note taking, reflections
Spaces or and unpublished work. This space will be securely locked.
Views 2. Collaborative Space: where users can invite others to work
collaboratively. This space would also allow for social
discussions. Admittance to this space is granted via a group
password.
3. Showcase View: selected pages made public for particular
audiences eg: future employers.
Interoperable The ePortfolio files will be able to be exported into or imported
from other learning management systems. This gives users the
ability to move from platform to platform (eg: school to school).
Easy to Use The eportfolio must be easy to use for users of all ages, including
those with learning or communication difficulties. A system that
can be quickly navigated by beginners eg: simple test editor, drag
and drop functions, post previews and wizard supports. For
multiple users; internal email and a class homepage is necessary.
Subscriptions Viewers (eg: parents) will have the ability to subscribe to the
ePortfolio and receive email alerts when a new post has been
made. (Both RSS and email subscription options.)
Categories The user will be able to set up categories and tags that archive
and Tags their data for:
a) Thematic/subject viewing
b) Quick searching of information.
Web 2.0 Within the ePortfolio users will be able to embed web 2.0 tools
Friendly including videos, slideshows, podcasts and others eg: Survey
Monkey, Animoto and Voicethread.
Commenting Viewers will be able to leave comments on a user’s public post
for the purpose of formative assessment. Comments and replies
may be threaded. (Future options for commenting could be via
voice and video.)
Editable The user will be able to choose from multiple templates that can
Templates also be edited to enable them to be creative and personalise their
ePortfolio. Templates will be appropriate for 5-95 year olds.
Aesthetics The interface will be “pleasing to the eye” to 5-95 year old users.
Web Hosted The ePortfolio will be hosted online so users will not have to sort
out problems that come with locally hosting the ePortfolio. This
is especially important for schools so teachers can continue to
focus on teaching and not have to worry about using up local
server storage space, maintenance issues, password enquiries,
software updates, etc.
Backed Up The data library and ePortfolio cosmetics are backed up regularly
by the ePortfolio provider.
Mass Set Up Profiles and groups can be set up by the ePortfolio providers at
the commencement of the ePortfolio.
Moderation Teachers will be able to monitor and edit user’s work as well as
Options having options to control a users access to pages within the
ePortfolio.
Storage The ePortfolio will have sufficient storage space to upload and
Space house text, audio, pictures and movies (those movies not already
embedded using web 2.0 platforms) with annual increases to
allow for growth.
Low Cost The ePortfolio will be free or of a low cost so that all can access
it.
Technical A technical helpdesk that promises to fix a problem within 12
Support hours will be available. Other options for support will be found in
online forums and video tutorials.
Sustainable The ePortfolio provider must be committed to long-term support,
research and development.
Mobile The software will support the use and interaction of mobile
Integration technology.

J.Lietze 4.09
www.lietze.edublogs.org