icl08: bisovsky & schaffert: e-portfolio & adult education

Learning and teaching with E-Portfolios:Experiences in and Challenges for Adult Education

presented at the ICL Conference, 24th September 2008

by Dr. Gerhard Bisovsky, Die Wiener Volkshochschulen GmbH, Austria& Dr. Sandra Schaffert, Salzburg Research, Austria

Bisovsky & SchaffertICL conference 2008

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E-portfolio in schools and universities …

… nearly everything is said ;-)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wadefromoklahoma/2330247929/


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… but what‘s about e-portfolio work in adult education?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidroethler/2295975258/


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Agenda

| What‘s adult education and what‘s special about it?

| What do we know about teacher (tutor) competences, needed to work with e-portfolios?

| How did we identify needed competencies for adult educators working with e-portfolios?

| So … what’s new, what’s next?


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What‘s adult education … and what‘s so special about it?


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Adult education

“all forms of learning undertaken by adults after having left initial education and training, however far this process may have gone” (European Commission 2006)


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Projects and initiatives dealing with (e-) portfolios in adult education

• the European Language Portfolio

• A project with women after their family phase at the Open University UK (Herman & Kirkup 2006)

• the German ProfilPass initiative and instruments (DIE et al 2006)

• the Austrian project “Du kannst was” (Bauer 2007)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21706937@N04/2105881550/


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Advertisement for the ProfilPASS:„You know more than you think.“

http://www.profilpass-online.de/


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e-portfolio in adult education

• Deals with the stengthening of self organised learning activities

• Is often dealing with the idea to identify or assess informal learning activities

• Is often used for non-employed persons

• Can give sense to low educated people


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What do we know about teacher (tutor) competences, needed to work with e-portfolios?


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Is technical competence important?

Equipment used to capture evidence for an ePortfolio by JISC http://www.flickr.com/photos/rscnorthwest/2755824087/


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Teacher in schools, using e-portfolio should be able to …

| “provide technical support,

| organize the contexts and communities of learning,

| formulate organisational objectives,

| facilitate the structure of portfolio contents,

| facilitate reflection,

| guide and monitor the students advancement through the integral cycle of investigative learning,

| help in the evidence of competences,

| support planning,

| interact an conduct conversation with the students,

| plan an assess the overall process“ (Attwell 1997)


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But …

| What makes a good e-portfolio teacher in adult education?


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Some hypothesis …

| As a teacher/tutor working [with e-portfolio] in adult education| You deal with adults who pay for the course and

expect success| You deal more often with motivated people| You have to do with people with minor experiences

in using computer and internet| Informal learning plays an important role in adult

learning| Adult learners have different experiences and

backgrounds (learning, occupation, daily life, …)| The learner‘s abilities to work with self organised

learning methods could, but have not to be better


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How did we identify needed competencies for adult educators working with e-portfolios?


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Concept of our study

| Bottom-up view, what do teachers need?

| 4 experts from the adult education centres [experienced (e-) portfolio trainers]

| 1 ICT-Teacher, 3 Language Teachers

| 3 female, 1 male, 40 +

| Focused interviews, transcripts

| Arrangement of the listed, explained and emphasised competences and abilities according to the UK-FENTO standards (http://www.aptt.freeuk.com/articles/FENTO991.pdf)


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Key areas (FENTO Standard)


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Conclusions, findings – Teachers‘ views and needs

| Experts knowledge as a basis for professional teaching

| Technical questions and competences as a matter of course

| Didactical and methodological competences

| Personel and social skills, attitudes

| The work with the [e-] portfolio is an attribute, it is an appreciation of learners.


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So … what’s new, what’s next?


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Expectations towards teacher training

| Possibilites for exchange

| To enable reflection

| Professional mentoring

| E-Portfolios as a tool for professional development


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Next steps …

| Investigation on the use of e-portfolios in adult education/adults‘ learning

| Modifying the MOSEP tutorials to requirements of adult education

| Strategic developments and planning


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Institutional strategies (Volkshochschule Wien) …

| Bottom up: work out an e-portfolio model with teachers, clear commitments

| Top down approach: e-portfolio model for the (pedagogical) staff, clear commitments

| Modification of train the trainer courses: working with computers, internet and (e-) portfolios as an integral part

| Strategic planning, professionalisation, standardisation (NQF) & diversity of learners and learning contexts


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Thank for your attention!

| Dr. Gerhard Bisovsky

Die Wiener Volkshochschulen GmbH, Volkshochschule Meidling

Kompetenzzentrum „Lernen mit den Medien der Informationsgesellschaft“

Längenfeldgasse 13-15, 1120 Wien, Austria

[email protected]

| Dr. Sandra Schaffert

Salzburg Research Forschungsgesellschaft

Jakob Haringer Str. 5, 5020 Salzburg, Austria

[email protected]


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References

| This presentation is based on our full paper: Bisovsky, Gerhard & Schaffert, Sandra (2008). Learning and teaching with E-Portfolios: Experiences in and Challenges for Adult Education. Full paper in the Proceedings of the Interactive Computer Aided Learning Conference (ICL) in Villach (24-26 September 2008) – a preliminary version is available via: http://sandra.schaffert.ws/?p=121

| Attwell, Graham (1997): New roles for vocational education and training teachers and trainers in Europe: a new framework for their education. In: Journal of European Industrial Training. Vol. 21, Issue 6/7, p. 256-265.

| Bauer, Fritz (2007): DU kannst was! In: Tagungsband Du kannst was: http://www.land-oberoesterreich.gv.at/cps/rde/xbcr/SID-F9C0D1F1-01532F3D/ooe/BI_EB_Tagungsberich2007.pdf (18.9.2008)

| Commission of the European Communities (2006): Communication from the European Commission. Adult learning: It is never too late to learn, Brussels. URL: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2006:0614:FIN:EN:PDF (2008-06-26)

| Deutsches Institut für Erwachsenenbildung (DIE), Deutsches Institut für Internationale Pädagogische Forschung (DIPF), Institut für Entwicklungsplanung und Strukturforschung (IES) (2006): ProfilPASS – Gelernt ist gelernt. Bielefeld: Bertelsmann.

| Herman, Clem & Kirkup, Gill (2006): Returning to work, working to return: using ePortfolios to increase women’s employability in gender segregated occupations. In: Proceedings of the Conference “eStrategies for empowering learners” of EIfEL (European Institute for E-Learning) Oxford, 11.-13.Oktober 2006.

| This presentation is based on our full paper: Bisovsky, Gerhard & Schaffert, Sandra (2008). Learning and teaching with E-Portfolios: Experiences in and Challenges for Adult Education. Full paper in the Proceedings of the Interactive Computer Aided Learning Conference (ICL) in Villach (24-26 September 2008) – a preliminary version is available via: http://sandra.schaffert.ws/?p=121Attwell, Graham (1997): New roles for vocational education and training teachers and trainers in Europe: a new framework for their education. In: Journal of European Industrial Training. Vol. 21, Issue 6/7, p. 256-265.

| Bauer, Fritz (2007): DU kannst was! In: Tagungsband Du kannst was: http://www.land-oberoesterreich.gv.at/cps/rde/xbcr/SID-F9C0D1F1-01532F3D/ooe/BI_EB_Tagungsberich2007.pdf (18.9.2008)

| Commission of the European Communities (2006): Communication from the European Commission. Adult learning: It is never too late to learn, Brussels. URL: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2006:0614:FIN:EN:PDF (2008-06-26)

| Deutsches Institut für Erwachsenenbildung (DIE), Deutsches Institut für Internationale Pädagogische Forschung (DIPF), Institut für Entwicklungsplanung und Strukturforschung (IES) (2006): ProfilPASS – Gelernt ist gelernt. Bielefeld: Bertelsmann.

| Herman, Clem & Kirkup, Gill (2006): Returning to work, working to return: using ePortfolios to increase women’s employability in gender segregated occupations. In: Proceedings of the Conference “eStrategies for empowering learners” of EIfEL (European Institute for E-Learning) Oxford, 11.-13.Oktober 2006.