ePortfolio plans

One of the topics I’ve been studying at the Open University is ePortfolios. These are used in academic circles for assessment, for improving student reflection and grades, and as a showcase for employment.

Essentially the student creates an online collection of their work, which might include photos, videos, essays, diagrams, documents, a CV (or resumé), audio - or any other evidence the student can produce. There are specialised sites such as PebblePad that charge a subscription fee to the educational organisation, but having looked at a fair few examples I really don’t see the difference between that and a website or blog used for the same purpose. Besides, building a website embeds digital skills that the student may find useful in employment (and I am all for digital skills).

I remember many years ago hearing a phrase in passing, “interactive CV” and it lived rent-free in my head for a while. I loved the idea, but couldn’t figure out how to make it happen, other than just building a website. Clicking on links and playing embedded media is… sort of interactive? But that wasn’t really what I had in mind. When I found Shanna Hunsaker’s eportfolio recently, I knew I had found what I was looking for all those years ago. This is made possible by Prezi, another subscription service — although it does have a free basic tier.

As it happens, since last year I’ve been working on my own online portfolio here, using Blogger. But despite my efforts, it looks dated. It certainly doesn’t have any interactive bells and whistles. But most importantly, what I’ve learned from my course is that it doesn’t have any reflective value. It’s just a collection of stuff.

That’s why I’m here on Medium. I wanted to see if changing the platform would change my mindset. I don’t know if Medium is the right place for any sort of portfolio, and I’m uneasy about the paywalls that I’m seeing now that I’m trying to read what others have written. So this may not be my reflective home for long. We’ll see.