The term portfolio as used in the UK generally describes a collection (or archive) of reflective writing and associated evidence, which documents learning and which a learner may draw upon to present her/his learning and achievements

However, it is important to note that the term “e-portfolio” is not fixed.

Portfolios appear to represent a move toward learner-centred, self-directed, peer-to-peer,
autonomous learning (Van Tartwijk, Driessen et.al 2003). Reflective learning and reflective
practice have been hallmarks of professionally-oriented learning in many fields. It is now
recognised that portfolios can be an aid to reflective learning and that reflection has value
across the disciplines as a means of developing transferable skills.

NOTA: definir i contextualitzar els portafolis com a base del model centrat en l’alumne

When a learner engages with an e-portfolio they do so with an orientation. The orientation will
determine the selection of artefacts to be included in the portfolio. Having selected artefacts
in to the system and reflected upon them, the learner then selects them out of the system,
that is, they make a presentation using a subset of the artefacts.

e-Portfolio processes may also involve learning to connect disparate items and to classify a
heterogeneous collection according to needs. This may involve learning new skills such as
concept mapping. e-Portfolios, particularly those for reflective learning, grow over time.
People who keep e-portfolios will need to undertake periodic reviews of their collection and
perhaps discard or archive older items, leaving their “live” portfolio “fresh”.

NOTA: donar-li vida i actualitzar-lo al llarg dels anys, en el marc del life long learning.

There is, however, a fundamental difference between the institution-centred VLE and the learner-centred e-portfolio.

Working with e-portfolio should be embedded in their everyday workflow in an attractive way. It is often the element of reflection that tends to be unappealing for students. Students need to have discretionary control over the time they spend on e-portfolios and must choose to engage voluntarily.

- Teachers are key players in the implementation process.

- Managers should be actively engaged, management should define a strategic framework in a goal-directed way. Institutionwide support units should also be involved.

- It is necessary to create functional workflows in an integrated technical infrastructure. In most cases an e-portfolio is not a single tool. It is part of a larger technical configuration in which the required functionality may be met by the interoperation of different systems. IT staff must be included in e-portfolio teams.

- The function of storing e-portfolio items should be separated from the functions of
access management and data entry

Nota: si el eportfoli estés allotjat fora de la institució, aniria sempre amb l’alumne lliurement. Per tant tècnicament cal buscar la manera d’enllaçar-ho amb la part administrativa de la institució.

Reflective learning, future thinking: digital repositories, e-portfolios, informal learning and ubiquitous computing

Reflective thinking was originally defined by Dewey (1933) as purposeful thinking oriented toward a goal. Reflection in learning involves a process of recording experience and then revisiting the description with the intent of refining learning processes and strategies (Boud, Keogh, & Walker, 1985). Two propositions are important in this context: one, that students find it difficult to engage in reflection over time without external support (Harri-Augstein & Thomas, 1991) and two, that the learner is primarily responsible for identifying important experiences and then linking experiences to learning (Boud et al., 1985).

Kolb (1976), who proposed a cyclical four stage model where concrete experiences serve as the basis for observation and reflection, which in turn allows for abstraction and application in new situations.

Weblogs offer a relatively convenient and easy mechanism for students to journal their learning processes, and if used appropriately this technology has the potential of facilitating reflective learning. Weblogs support the ability of students to record and revisit experience, which is an important part of reflective learning (Boud et al., 1985). Bateson (1973) conceptualized that reflection was a function of distance, “they (processes of reflection) are preconditioned by distance” (Sorensen, 2004).

Another focus of exploration has been the impact of Weblogs on interaction between students and instructors.

Positive perspectives:

- Weblogs were useful for their learning and thinking because they offered different points of view and additional information beyond the class content, and connected the learning content to their own experiences.
- The Weblog provided a space where students could organize their thinking and synthesize their learning
and students appeared to find it useful to have a structured space where they could construct their learning.
- As students read their own blogs, they could see their own changes and growth in thinking. Being able to see those changes allowed them to better reflect on their learning.
- It appeared that Weblog publishing encouraged students to adopt deep approaches to learning. In order to find something to write about in Weblogs, students had to focus their attention on their reading and were “pushed into deep thinking” about the content.
- A second positive theme was the role of blogging in creating a sense of learning community and extended discussion in and outside of the class.
- Weblogging experience itself made the students excited in that it
provided them a hands-on opportunity to fully explore an instructional technology.
- Being exposed to Weblogs for the first time, some students had not yet understood how they could use
Weblogs in their learning and thinking. Thus, they engaged in the activity for only the purpose of meeting the class requirement. For such students, Weblogging became a somewhat stressful experience.
- Since the students had no idea of how to blog at the beginning of the class, they were expecting more
“structures or guidelines” from the instructor about how to blog and what to blog.

Concerns about privacy:

- Because of the public nature of Weblogs, most students expressed their concerns about the topic they wrote
about. They chose not to blog anything personal, anything “too controversial” or too negative.

Students’ Lived Experience Of Using Weblogs In a Class: An Exploratory study

Use of weblogs and wiki environments to facilitate student integration and synthesis of learning in Designing the Human Experience.

This study explores how the combination of this innovative pedagogy along with these new forms of social software can positively influence students’ knowledge, awareness, and skills in design engineering.

Folio Thinking is an instructional method grounded in the process of students creating learning portfolios.  The Folio
Thinking pedagogical approach is designed to enhance self-awareness by enabling students to make their knowledge explicit and visible for themselves as well as for others. Folio Thinking also deepens learning by enabling students to make meaningful connections.

By linking the process of design to the process of creating a learning portfolio, students have a concrete context in which they can openly and consciously engage in reflection. Creating a portfolio also prompts students to physically juxtapose learning experiences that are otherwise separated by time and space and make meaningful connections among those experiences that can lead to powerful new insights about themselves and their learning career.

Hypothesis that the combination of Folio Thinking practices with the wiki and blog technology will increase: 1)
awareness of what is learned and 2) articulation of connections between learning and the design process. Folio Thinking will enhance the interactive nature of wikis and blogs by encouraging students to make their knowledge explicit and visible not only for themselves but also for course instructors, team coaches, and their peers.

Using Wikis and Weblogs to Support Reflective Learning

Buscar articles a les bases de dades educatives.

I analitzar l’experiència d’Anglaterra a través de http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/

Llista d’universitats que utilitzen Wpress MU que pot ser un punt de partida per conéixer experiències

http://www.diigo.com/list/digizen/wpmu-iniversities?ec=0

Parla del blog personal, d’un agregador amb els feeds que tria ‘alumne i també d’un agregador d’aula o de curs on es pugui visualitzar tot el què està passant:

“A fully featured personal blog / Content Management System, a personal aggregator (which would, of course, simply opml export to your aggregator of choice) and some course aggregation features so that you could quickly browse latest postings in your course, details of teachers and students and other useful stuff like that”

A més a més hi hauria unes categories que es generarien automàticament, en funció del grup, classe, curs que es troba l’alumne, per tal de facilitar la organització dels ocntinguts, etc.

• Com calcular el temps que es dedica i com es distribueix (presentació, reflexió, anàlisi,…) al llarg del curs

• Maneres de donar continuïtat a les comunitat al llarg del temps; potser més centrades en el blog de l’alumne que no pas en blogs d’assignatura.

• El blog de l’assignatura, pot ser el mateix any rere any o no? si es tanca al final del curs (tot i que queda accessible) “obliga” al professor a actualitzar els continguts, etc. i a repensar-ne l’ús i organització, però desaprofita tot un treball previ de documentació, etc. que és bo mantenir… l’equilibri???

• No dipositar les expectatives en la eina o artefacte, sinó en les persones i en com la faran servir.

- Centrar-se en l’aprenentatge individual, entenent que aquest es dóna sempre en relació a un grup, una comunitat d’aprenentatge, etc. que es vehicularia també amb el blog. Treball individual que es relaciona amb el treball d’altres individus.

Dissenyar la metodologia de treball i com s’avaluarà (si serà obligatori, quan es participarà, com, quina dinàmica…)

- Teoria:

• Aprenentatge autònom
• Metacognició
• Aprenentatge reflexiu
• Avaluació per portafolis
• Autorregulació del procés… dins del marc de l’EEEs que promure aquest treball autònom de l’alumne.

- Pensar en el blog personal d’aprenentatge d’estudis o de la carrera (interassignatures)

- Possibilitat de comparar entre l’ús del blog en situacions presencials i en situacions a distància. O bé entre àmbits (un científic i un pedagògic…)

- Possibilitat d’estudi en cursos de doctorat, màsters o 2n cicles.

- Analitzar les dades recollides pensant en conceptes com autoaprenentatge, dedicació temporal, avaluació…

- Article del Grup GIDPE sobre aprenentatge autònom http://www.um.es/ead/red/M3/
- Analitzar també com s’avaluen els aprenentatge utilitzant portafolis digitals

Felipe hablaba de ir más allá del uso de los blogs en el aula y intentar analizar que uso le están dando como herramienta de comunicación dentro de la blogosfera. Entender el blog como portafolio tiene esta función comunicativa (elegir los mejores trabajos para mostrarlos, etc.).

También se habló de buscar un sistema de blogs que permita a los alumnos acceder a su registro a lo largo de los cursos. Es un tema aún por analizar si debemos abrir un blog cada año para cada curso o uno sólo por curso que vaya siguiendo año tras año… Pensar un poco más en ese sentido y como llevarlo a la práctica.

Tíscar apuntó, como también destaca Felipe, que nos encontramos en una etapa donde ya se han dado bastantes experiencias con el uso del blog y ahora debemos empezar a analizar sus limitaciones y potencialidades, y su uso compartido con otras herramientas.

Y entrando un poco a provocar el debate, habló de la tirania del blog; por un lado nos permite centrarnos sólo en los contenidos, sin conocer código ni diseño, ni protocolos, etc. pero cuando queremos exprimir la herramienta nos encontramos con sus límites (formato, estructura…), que hasta ahora no nos habíamos topado, y como cualquier otra también los tiene.

Tíscar también resaltaba los conceptos EMBED y AGREGAR como dos potenciadores del compartir conocimiento. Integrar conocimientos dispersos en un sólo punto como proceso de síntesis, creación, reestructuración, reelaboración, etc. donde el alumno puede ser el principal protagonista.

Destacó también la importancia del currículum oculto del blog, todo aquello que aprendemos en paralelo al uso de la herramienta (tanto profesores como alumnos) sin darnos cuenta.
Si a este potencial le agregamos un proceso de reflexión sobre la propia práctica, destacando las buenas prácticas, se enriquece mucho más el proceso.

Uso del blog como texto y pretexto: entender y transmitir la filosofía del compartir, citar, respetar, …

A través de una intervención del público, se habló de la importancia de trabajar con los alumnos (y alguien añadió que con algunos profesores también) que se debe y no se debe hacer en internet. Los alumnos ya dominan la tecnología y hay que tratar los comportamientos correctos a seguir, y ponía el ejemplo de un video de acoso a un compañero grabado en móvil y subido al youtube (una práctica tecnológica nada complicada para los adolescentes) y no entendían el porque no lo podían hacer.

La metáfora del peregrino digital (Tíscar); intentar llegar a un sitio con un objetivo, pero por un camino que no está marcado, que tiene siempre varias posibilidades, que nos permite interactuar por el camino, probando, parando, volviendo a atrás…

Xavier Suñé nos definió el proceso de las actividades cotidianas del día a día, sus limitaciones y potencialidades, el papel de las instituciones, y su experiencia compartiendo inquietudes con el profesorado.

Así como Xavier Belanche se emocionó con Twitter, y nos desconcentró con twittervisión, Bea está empezando a integrarse en un nuevo mundo, SecondLife, y como conectar con sus alumnos a través de este nuevo espacio virtual.

Y hablando de emociones, recojo el comentario de Juanmi en su blog, que comparto totalmente:

Comentábamos con muchos de los asistentes que el poner cara a los blog ya de por sí es un primer momento e-moción. Tiene un punto de embrujo y es similar a la sensación que produce abrir un regalo que esperas, sabes lo que es, no es por tanto un sorpresa, pero hasta que no lo abres sientes el subidón de endorfinas y mantienes esa emoción expectante hasta el final.

Finalmente felicitar a todos los edublogs presentados en el Premio y a los ganadores y ganadoras de cada categoría.

Actualizado: se me olvidaba, Adolfo utilizó una libreta y media tomando notas de todo, TODO, lo que pasaba. Esperamos la crónica de tus reflexiones; ¡compártelas hombre!