1. E-portfolio Community of Practice Funded under the JISC Lifelong Learning & Workforce Development Programme Led by University of Wolverhampton Project Manager: Alison Felce Project Officer: Sarah Chesney, Freelance Consultant Duration: Sep 10 – March 11

2. Led by the University of Wolverhampton and the ePPSME project The aims of the ePPSME project were to develop an e-portfolio based pedagogy for work-based learners in small to medium sized enterprises. The ePCoP funding was designed to share learning gained from all projects (like ePPSME) in the programme and encourage a wider audience to participate in e-portfolio based pedagogy discussions. Background

3. Decided to use as open a platform as possible 1. for minimum administration 2. to encourage as wide an audience as possible 3. so that at a future date visitors could use (and maybe contribute to) the resources once funding had ended. So we used Cloudworks Strategies to create the ePCoP

4. Invited specific JISC projects/expert practitioners to share their learning via Cloudworks (six in total) Wide publicity through existing communities with similar interests Invited specific experts with experience to lead asynchronous activities for a time limited period Strategies to create the ePCoP

5. Developed at the Open University with funding from JISC. Resources & discussions can be viewed by anyone Anyone can have an account. Comments are checked (not ‘moderated’) Spam Catcher Molom Not a repository but can embed files from elsewhere Some facts about Cloudworks

6. Cloudworks urlhttp://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloudscape/view/2201 But beyond this because Cloudworks doesn’t allow you to upload files we used the project Wordpress site urlhttp://epcop.wordpress.com to host all our own generated content Flickr for images urlhttp://www.flickr.com Slideshare for Powerpoints urlhttp://www.slideshare.net/ because these files can be embedded in Cloudworks. Tools to sustain the ePCoP

7. Cacoo to draw a visual concept of learning design urlhttp://cacoo.com/ Finally PB works – not used as intended. Tools to sustain the ePCoP

8. Specifically our section of Cloudworks: Jan11-March 11 six activities led by practitioners associated with e-portfolios & communities of practice Total of 1500 views (from different IP addresses) Most visitors came directly to the Cloudscape (browser bookmarks, email links etc ) Second Netvibesand third a Google search. 48 followers from across the globe 31 opted to be ‘attendees’ Some more facts about Cloudworks

9. What is engagement? Use of other tools e.g. Elluminate produced some additional engagers (who otherwise didn’t add to the Cloudworks discussions) Engagement

10. We knew we were getting a large number of views but not many were joining in the discussions. We had some inappropriate postings (nothing too bad but not in the spirit of the community) This is a largely under-researched area and I wonder if the openness of the community meant that participants were cautious of revealing a lack of knowledge so publically. (no evidence for this!) Timing of the community – is there ever a right time? Challenges

11. Simply put if the ePCoP is to continue we need an agreed set of aims. Australian VET ePCoP has these aims: Provide assistance in embedding eportfolios Disseminate information about the process of building eportfolios Mentor new users in the use of eportfolios What next?

12. What next? The resources will continue to be hosted at Cloudworks JISC infonet will host some of the resources http://jiscinfonet.ac.uk/JISCINFONET Plans for maintaining the ePCoP

13. Sarah Chesney Email sarahchesney@me.com Freelance consultant Thank you for listening