I didn’t notice that Brian posted about our blogfolio stuff until today. Since the UBC e-Portfolio conference, I haven’t gotten much other feedback, so it was good to hear what people have to say about it.
James Farmer commented, saying that the concept was “cute” but basically that the model needed to be more open, more flexible, more social. I am in the same vein of thinking as Brian on this one and I definitely think we are transitioning right now, though I would like to see e-Portfolios head in that direction (actually, I’d hoped that blogfolios would be a step in that direction). I’d also argue that a lot of people (who aren’t necessarily comfortable with the social aspect of the web) aren’t ready for a wide-open, socially constructed portfolio, though in the future I expect this to change, especially since so many tools on the web support interaction already. I think any eP models created now should be as adaptable to change as possible, such that moving to models like the one James is proposing is possible.
I don’t see our blogfolio model as being the end of anything; it’s still really young (I built the thing in mid-November) and it’s still evolving. When I was putting together the model, I thought a lot about where fellow undergrads had said their portfolio systems (iWebfolio, WebCT folders?, plain-vanilla HTML in Mozilla Composer) had fallen down. Out of all the pros/cons they listed, the thing that struck me the most was the lack of control given to students, the frustation that was resulting because of the system’s rigidity.
Students basically said they wanted a very malleable base on which to build, something simple enough to learn quickly, but something that could, with time, become more mature, and with extra effort, be distinctly their own. So the biggest goal I had in developing our model was flexibility for the portfolio owner.
I don’t know what James, Alan, Brian, Kele, Karina or anyone else sees as a good e-Portfolio (or eP system). I think we all have similar ideas as to what a portfolio should be about, should contain, etc., but I think they are all slightly different. Brian likes the blogfolio. James wants something more open and interactive. Karina wants more structural functionality, and more continuing evolution. And so on and so forth. And why should ePs all be the same anyway? Things would be so boring.
This is where I think our blogfolio model excels. We are basically using MT as a light-weight CMS, but any other personal publishing platform could be used (so James, you could conceivably build some pages in WP and link them together). I’m not saying that MT or WP can do everything, but I do think these simple personal publishing tools support ePs quite naturally (give or take a few shortcomings). On top of native support for interaction (commenting, trackbacks, multi-author blogging, linking), these tools are also easy to use, flexible, and extensible - so much so that I think, given a little time and tweaking, we could see James’, Karina’s or anyone else’s ideas materialize. Conceivably, we could all have our cake and eat it too.
As for Karina’s point on the “finished e-Portfolio”, I’d have to say I agree with her in that a portfolio shouldn’t stop evolving, and I would hope that mine continues to be shaped not only by my work, but also by what people say about it. This is where our blogfolio model is weak. Looking at our model, I’d have to agree with Karina that it looks like the portfolio and notebook sections have been compartmentalized and that our model places too much emphasis on the end products.
In my defense though, this was certainly not my intention, and I am hoping with our pilot group and our move to MT 3.14 that we can fix this. There isn’t a clear connection between the portfolio items and the notebook/discussion/work-in-progress reflection pieces and there needs to be. This is something that I’ve wanted to explore and implement ever since Brian, Kele, and I first started talking about the blogfolio, but trying to implement it in MT 2.64 was just really messy. Hopefully, we’ll be able to try it out with our pilot group and see how it works out.
While I don’t think our blogfolio model will ever be huge, I do hope that it in the end it will lead ePs down a road that supports greater interaction, and maximum control by the user.
“What is the search for the next great compelling application but a search for the human identity?” — Douglas Coupland, Microserfs
Posted by mitch at 10:58 PM