Nigel Robertson says ::

"It would be interesting to get a range of international views on the uptake of eportfolios - is it happening? for what reasons? what is driving it? From the UK it seems (to me) that the US is the only place with widespread use".

He may well be right. But the interest in ePortfolios is from far wider places. I have been talking with project groups all over Europe about e-Portfolios in the last three months.

Interestingly - none from universities. I'm never happy with the term 'lifelong learning. Seems to me it has been devalued by overuse and misuse. But the real potential for e-Portfolios is in the widening contexts in which learning is taking place - or is recognised to be taking place - and in the ability to bring together personal learning gained in multiple contexts. If we take this as a starting point we can start looking at specific applications.

Here are three that I am working on.

Firstly for apprentices in Slovenia and Italy. Portfolios can help bring together formal learning from the school based component of the apprenticeship with learning from the workplace.

Secondly with socially disadvantaged young people in five different European countries. Portfolios can be used to help them recognise and record their learning and reflect and validate their learning experiences.

Thirdly, for adult education teachers following an on line professional development programme in self assessment.

For all the objective is different - but for all portfolios could be a valuable tool to record and reflect on their learning.

And not a university in sight!

Technorati Tags: e-portfolios, non formal learning, pedagogy, work based learning