Portfolio interoperability progress

E-portfolio values:
Why are personal values important in the world of portfolios?

Simon GrantJISC Centre for Educational Technology and Interoperability Standards (CETIS)ePortfolio 2009, City University, London2009-06-24

Overview

I want to present a view of values which convinces you that values are vitally related to portfolios in several ways

Personal values and their relation to competence

E-portfolios and values

Understanding the different aspects of personal values

E-portfolios for different aspects of values

What are personal values?

(I offer this, as I am not satisfied by other definitions)Persistent patterns of personal choice between available meaningful options for action (physical or verbal)

Including:how you tend to behave (dependent on context)

what you tend to prioritise (e.g. in terms of time, money)

how you tend to treat people

etc. etc.

Values can be moral, or just personal preference

I trust this is at least plausiblethen we'll follow through the consequences

I'm going to do this from the definition, and bring in more examples shortly

Values are part of competence

I'll draw this outstarting with the more obvious parts of competence

Then give a couple of examples

Plain, explicit knowledge

Do you know...facts

how to do things (explicit know-how)

what actions lead to what effects

Easily testablequizzes, multiple choice tests

a traditional aspect of examinations

Knowledge can be about valuesbut that knowledge is not the same as having those values

Basic capability across contexts

Can you do it? Show me here and now!lift this weight

thread this needle

read this text

make this machine do something...

Testable on demand, anywhere given equipment

Traditional practical tests, face-to-face evaluation

BUT explicit knowledge and basic capability still do not account for on-the-job effectiveness

What is missing to make up competence?

Competence has choices/values

Competence depends onexplicit knowledge

range of basic capabilities

on-the-spot choice of adequate actions in real contexts

Think of the choices made by bankers in past yearsLine blurred between free professional choice and moral choices that affect people in important ways

Just the same range as with personal valuesand quite possibly directly linked

Competence = knowledge + capability + good choices

Competence = knowledge + capability + values

Many people have tried out different ways of analysing competence and competency. Knowledge, skills, attitudes is one, but the definition of attitudes is not very helpful.The European e-Competence Framework uses the following definitions: Competence is defined as a demonstrated ability to apply knowledge, skills and attitudes for achieving observable results. Consequently, the related e-Competence descriptions embed and integrate knowledge, skills and attitudes. Skill is defined as ability to carry out managerial or technical tasks. Managerial and technical skills are the components of competences and specify some core abilities which form a competence. Attitude means in this context the cognitive and relational capacity (e.g. analysis capacity, synthesis capacity, flexibility, pragmatism...). If skills and knowledge are the components, attitudes are the glue, which keeps them together. Knowledge represents the set of know-what (e.g. programming languages, design tools...) and can be described by operational descriptions.

E.g.: football skills

KnowledgeDo you know the rules of the game?

Do you know how to recognise good space to move into?

Basic capabilitiesCan you kick a ball accurately to a chosen place?

Can you keep up a suitable activity rate for 90 minutes?

Can you dribble a ball at a certain speed?

Choice of adequate actions in real contextsDo you keep the ball or pass it at appropriate times in a match?

Do you choose well between shooting at goal or playing on?

Do you make good choices of where to move to in good time?

Do you tackle opponents fairly?

And perhaps you can sense how the choice questions can easily range between choices with no ethical implications and ones with clear ethical implications.

E.g.: diplomatic communication

KnowledgeDo you know the required words / phrases of that language?

Do you know about interpersonal communication and diplomacy (e.g. listening, tactfulness)?

Basic capabilitiesAre you able to pronounce the words understandably?

Are you able to string them together meaningfully?

Choice of adequate actions in real contextsDo you choose words that are effective?

Do you choose well between speaking and listening?

Do you balance tact with clarity effectively?

Do your actions result in successful conclusions?

Or maybe add bribery at the bottom. Again we can imagine choices ranging between non-ethical to deeply ethical.

So: e-portfolios and values?

Portfolios excel in collating and presenting evidence for things otherwise hard to give good evidence for

The knowledge and basic capabilities are not so hard to assess in other ways, but evidencing quality of choice in real contexts is harder

Portfolios can bring together evidence for quality of choice, from results and/or expert witnesses

Thus portfolios can evidence competence, through evidencing quality of choice, or personal values

Let me set out one way of presenting the argument...

Relates to professional interests

Here are a few ways that personal values relate to what may be your professional interests

Please feel free to take up the topics later...

Assessment

Assessment in contexts other than e.g. the workplace cannot cover quality of choice, or thus competence

To assess competence, or personal valuesuse an e-portfolio approach

or expert assessment on the job

Recruitment

Employers want candidates who have evidence for all the components of competence for the job on offer

Personal values is one of these componentsevidenced through candidate's proven competence

Personal values also affect candidate's fit with corporate culture

Social networking

Many of the things that people spontaneously display on social networking sites are to do with personal values (=persistent patterns of choice...)

Professional development

Professional values and ethics are intimately related to personal valuesthough not necessarily the same

To distinguish professional and other rolesrecognise distinctions between their respective values

Personal development

Much reflection is about how we could make better choices in the future, and how we could develop our personal values to inform those choices

Values are key in many views of personal development

But there is more to it than that...

People say one thing, and do another (hypocrisy)or want one thing, can't help doing another

so, we need to distinguish betweenwhat is thought or said

what is done

Privately value some things, publicly profess othersmay be devious, but may also be necessary

so, we need to distinguish between what is private

what is public

Leads to a 4-way distinction, helps to understand better how personal values relate to portfolios

Let's go round again now. I'd like to take you deeper in to this world of values, to understand how it is even more closely connected with portfolio thinking.

So, if different aspects to or kinds of values are in discussion, what kind of values are we talking about?

public

actions

private

words/ideas

Four aspects of personal values

professed

espoused

occurrent

effective

social norms, andwhat you say youwould choose

what you'd chooseto or for yourself(maybe secretly?)

what you actuallychoose, from what occurs just to you

in terms of effects,choices you are responsible for

Let me first introduce the terms for the four aspects of values, then explain them.

Very simple introductory example:professed: you shouldn't drink and driveespoused: I'm quite safe driving as long as I don't drink too muchoccurrent: when out with friends, I can't resist the social pressure to drink more, and it doesn't occur to me to take a taxi homeeffective: maybe this has not resulted in any problems so far, but perhaps one day you collide with a lamp post, and that throws your value system out of balance...

These are all choices, but seen from different angles

public

actions

private

words/ideas

In cycles, perhaps like Kolb's

professed

espoused

occurrent

effective

concrete experience

reflective observation

abstract conceptualisation

active experimentation

public

actions

private

words/ideas

Presentation and reflection

professed

espoused

occurrent

effective

conflict or harmony evident publicly

portfolios(presentations)are

do you agreewith norms ofbehaviour?

do the wrong things occur to you?

essential

reflection

can you tracethrough causeand effect?

Portfolios, as presentations, are public in the sense that they are meant for other people. In a portfolio, you might want to evidence some value that is important to your audience say reliabilityYou want to claim you are reliable, and give some evidence of this, in terms of what is observable by other people. Perhaps you have a 100% attendance record somewhere, and that shows that you have chosen to prioritise attendance over other distractions. But what if you sense that you have not been very reliable? You can honestly profess that you aren't reliable but that won't get you the job. Development doesn't happen by changing what you say you believe.You need to go through the personal, reflective side of your values.

Values development process

When you are constructing your portfolio presentationwhat you profess may conflict with what is seen as effective

restore harmony via reflection on personal value conflictsideally with a trusted mentor or critical friend

Portfolio tools can be used in this developmentin personal or professional areas of life

already done with approaches like Kolb's

so too with conflicts such as yellow on previous slide

Trust is largely to do with harmony of values

Thus portfolio tools and practice can become
engines of trust (Serge Ravet & Maureen Layte)

But, for helping younger people

with values, perhaps less portfolio and more education

They may not have authentic espoused values yet

So, first, we could help themto understand about their personal choices and valuesincluding the idea that values will differ in different contexts

and that other people's values may not be clear at first

to be actively involved in varied contexts with varied values

to broaden the range of choices that occur to them

to deepen their understanding of cause and effect

to espouse authentic values in context when they are ready

Take account of their order of consciousness (Kegan)

Summary

Values/choices + skill + knowledge = competence

Portfolio approaches ideal for evidencing valuesbringing together real results plus validation from others

Values distinguishedpublic v private; actions v words/thoughts

professed, espoused, occurrent, effective

E-portfolios as linking public aspects of values

Personal development as mechanism for realignment

Engines of trust - yes

But only as the individual is ready!

Thanks...

Thanks for your attentionmany more related ideas are in my new book

and in Robert Kegan (1995) In Over Our Heads

and in Rita Carter (2008) Multiplicity

I look forward to creative discussion

My e-mail address is on my home page(search for Simon Grant)

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