Presentation given at ePortfolios Australia Conference, November 4th, 2010

1. EPORTFOLIOS: A BOOMER’S
PERSPECTIVE
Michael Coghlan
TAFE SA, 4/11/10
56 years young 

2. My First Job
(the original recycler)

3. My Second Job

4. My Third Job
(labourer)

5. HOW DID I GET JOBS?
• Simsmetal (word of mouth)
• Royal Show (word of mouth)
• Labourer (word of mouth)
• Kitchen Hand (word of mouth)
• Passport Courier (employment agency)
• Market Research (word of mouth + form)
• Teacher (full on application process)
• Projects – tapped on shoulder or application

6. • Being the straightforward people that
Australians are, sometimes the best way to
find job leads is to go into the nearest pub, sit
yourself down with a drink and see what
happens.
http://www.howtobooks.co.uk/abroad/australia/jobs.asp

7. CURRENT STATE OF JOB FINDING
• 60 – 70% of jobs in Australia are found via
word of mouth
• Around 20% of employers fill positions from
online applicants

8. SURVEY (20 – 40 yrs)

9. SHOULD ONE
SIZE FIT ALL?

10. http://flickr.com/photos/7447470@N06/1345266896/
Organisations will need to adapt to the fact that web 2.0 citizens will
enter places of work and learning highly connected to a network of
peers that they rely on for entertainment, mutual learning, and
collaboration. They may expect to be able to make use of these personal
learning and social networks, and the technologies that make these
networks possible, in their places of work or study. These web 2.0
citizens operate in a world that is open and mobile, and they are
unlikely to accept authority that is automatically assigned to a position.
Their world is flat and devoid of hierarchy. In a world where information
about their areas of interest or expertise is increasing exponentially they
will place greater store on connected networks, which may extend
beyond classroom or workplace boundaries,and knowing where to get
the knowledge and information they need, rather than having that
knowledge and information themselves.

11. OPEN SOURCE
OR
PROPRIETARY?

12. • We can store our evidence in many places
online (a federated cloud-based storage
system); we just need a tool to aggregate that
data for different purposes and different
audiences. (Helen Barrett, 28/10/10)

14. LIFESTREAM
http://www.geekchart.com
Also try Spezify, Addictomatic

15. Where’s the push coming from?

16. Gordon Boyes: “If eportfolios
are such a good idea why
aren't they more in evidence?”

17. THE AGE FACTOR
• Boomers don’t really
need eportfolios
(reaching end of
professional life)
• No incentive to model
process

18. Victor Callan grouped elearning, e-
assessment, and eportfolios together, and
detailed some challenges and solutions.

19. ●
Martin Dougiamas (creator of Moodle),
sadly proclaims that 90% of thousands of
Moodle sites worldwide are basically
respositories of documents, with a token
forum or other interactive space.

20. Skills of the Teacher/Lecturer
Mitchell and Ward:
●
A report on the National Survey of
Vocational Education and Training
(VET) Practitioner (January, 2010)
●
Elearning seen as part of an advanced skill
set; less than 10% of VET lecturers see
themselves in this category

21. Skills of the Teacher/Lecturer
Callan and Clayton: E-assessment and the
AQTF: Bridging the divide between practitioners
and auditors
●
Many VET staff don't have a proper
understanding of ASSESSMENT, let alone
e-assessment!

22. They're Disruptive
Eportfolios are a
disruptive
technology and
represent
'troublesome
knowledge'. (See
Christiansen's
“Disrupting
Class”)

23. Elearning
+
E-Assessment
+
Eportfolios
=
JUST ALL TOO HARD FOR
ORGANISATIONS TO MANAGE?

24. MAYBE BEST LEFT TO THE INDIVIDUAL.
PROVIDE A TOOL, AND SUPPORT IF
STUDENT NEEDS OR REQUESTS IT....

25. ePortfolios need to be
•A matter of personal choice
•Able to easily import content (see
Mahara/Moodle integration); via RSS feeds
•Fully exportable (to HTML or other format)
•Fully portable
•Permanent (favours open source route)

26. What matters more?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeaAHv4UTI8

27. THANK YOU
Michael Coghlan
michaelc@chariot.net.au
NewLearning
http://protopage.com/michaelc