We are about 5 months into our ePortfolio switch from iWeb to WordPress. One of the main reasons for the decision to change was to use the features and capabilities of Web 2.0, especially the ability to comment and provide feedback and student reflections on learning as it is uploaded, from anywhere.

There is not a lot of choice in iWeb as to how to organise learning and reflections when compared to a blogging system like WordPress. Below is a screenshot of an ePortfolio page menu created in iWeb. Essentially it is a list of pages as they are created throughout the year. There are no options to nest pages hierarchically or to categorise and tag blog posts.

By using WordPress we now have more choice in how to organise and structure the layout of the learning presented.

We can have a hierarchical page list with the WordPress page parent option as captured on the left. This is the option we have chosen for presenting most of the learning for our students. The students still use the blog, for a whole variety of uses which compliment and add to their reflective cycle of learning. Each page usually has several examples of learning and thinking included, such as draft versions of work to completed versions, along with associated feedback, comments and reflections.

With this option you need to ensure that the themes you are using enable commenting on pages. Many do not. This can be overridden using these instructions, if you have access to the theme’s editor or files. Some hosted blogging services do not allow you to edit these files so it may not be applicable to use this type of organisation if you want to allow commenting on pages. I would suggest that if you do organise your eportfolio in this fashion you need to be able to comment on page. Without it you are denying the opportunity to interact, collaborate and engage in the whole feedback, feedforward, reflective cycle of learning! Check the themes!

The second option for organising the eportfolio is to have no pages except the main blog. This option utilises the ability to categorise every blog post and add tags to further describe the content just like a ‘normal’ blog. So rather than having a maths page, you would categorise a blog post with maths instead. Additionally you could tag this post with geometry, angles, protractor or anything relevant that describes the content of the post.

So rather than having a list of pages you would have a list of categories and a tag cloud which would act as your navigation. Clicking on a category or tag title takes you to the all the posts in that category or with that tag. Also, the issue of commenting as above is not relevant because the ability to comment on blog posts is always available.

So why did we (I) choose the pages option to organise the eportfolios? A couple of reasons:

1. The teacher sand students were already familiar with organising the eportfolios using a page system in iWeb. Maintaining this meant a smooth transition into the new system.
2. Post, tags and categories were all new concepts to the teachers and students involved in the project (fantastic teachers and students though!). Introducing a new system, new skills, new concepts could possibly have taken the emphasis away from the purpose of the eportfolios to support learning, not the learning of new skills.

On reflection, would I change what we have done? I think that either option is really workable and each has their advantages. It really depends on the knowledge of the teacher and how they, and their students, want to organise their learning. If it were me facilitating this process with my own class, then the second option would definitely be for me.

Before deciding on our new ePortfolio solution, the teachers involved in the research project came up with a number of criteria based on a PIMS brainstorm (plus, interesting, minus & solutions). They critically looked at ePortfolios as they were currently being implemented at our school using iWeb and the new direction they wanted them to go. Here are their thoughts:

Web based (anywhere, anytime): Strong interest expressed to create online portfolios rather than saved to CD. The ability to work on and view the ePortfolio from any computer both within school and home would allow greater flexibility for all participants.

Web 2.0 tools integration: Increasingly student learning incorporates the use of Web 2.0 tools such as Animoto, You Tube or Google Docs. Being able to embed or access this learning within the portfolio is desirable as is the ability for interactivity such as RSS feeds, commenting and feedback.

Ability to comment and reflect: Teachers discussed the need for the students, parents and teachers to be able to actively comment on student learning during and after learning is posted in the portfolio.

Ability to demonstrate learning: The ePortfolio solution needs to be able to display (show within the portfolio not provide a link to file) all the possible media that the students will generate or want to share. This includes but is not limited to: podcasts and movies (m4v, m4a, mov), documents (pdf), images (jpg, png, gif) and embedding Web 2.0 content.

Social networking: If the solution could help facilitate collaboration between user and generate a social learning network it would be an additional benefit to assist learners in obtaining feedback and constructive comments for further learning.

Secure: Making the online portfolios secure and password protected is a high priority especially for parents.

User friendly: Teachers were very clear that the ePortfolio solution should be easy to use for everyone from the Year 3 students to the parents and potentially, relatives who are overseas. This will mean the emphasis of the portfolios is on learning and reflecting, not the constant teaching of skills that enable it to be done.

Aesthetics: The presented solution should be visually clean with a simple yet functional layout.

User storage space: The solution requires the ability to provide a significant amount of disk space for each user. Based on the ePortfolios of 2007, this would be an average of 100MB per user.

Manageability: The solution needs to be easy to set-up, manage users, administer and moderate comments. This is especially so for the teachers who need to access a whole class of student learning for commenting and feedback.

Expandable: The solution needs to be able to incorporate any new technology or learning innovation that may occur.

Tech know how: The solution needs the users and administrators free from having any specific computing knowledge such as the ability to program in html or php. Any problems and questions should be able to be answered through the products associated online tech support or documentation.

Tech support: There needs to be an active user community with associated forums, documentation and development.

Free: A free ePortfolio solution would be ideal although this may also incur additional hosting costs.