ePortfolio Initiatives Underway

December 2004

The EdTech Center is participating in The Open Source Portfolio Initiative (OSPI), and collaborating with faculty and staff from several New England institutions including Brown, Dartmouth, Simmons, URI, MIT, BU, Tufts, and UConn on the development of e-portfolio projects. The OSPI is a community of individuals and organizations working together to develop effective non-proprietary, open source electronic portfolio software. OSPI defines an e-portfolio as a web-based information management system in which a learner builds and maintains a digital repository of artifacts, which they can use to demonstrate competence and reflect on their learning. OSPI participants believe that students' having access to their digital repository, feedback and reflection can help them achieve a greater understanding of their individual growth, and improve career planning and CV building. Northeastern will contribute to the OSPI via a NERCOMP e-portfolio resource site.

Several e-portfolio projects are underway at Northeastern. To begin sharing information and resources among portfolio initiatives across the university, the first NU Portfolio Project workshop was sponsored by the Provost's Office on Friday, November 12. Donna Qualters, Director of the CEUT provided a context for discussing portfolios by presenting research findings related to portfolio assessment. Three Northeastern portfolio initiatives were presented: the NSF-funded Biology, Co-op and Computer and Information Services project; the Physical Therapy portfolio project; and Criminal Justice's paper-based portfolio program. A question and answer session followed the presentations. Information on these and other portfolio efforts and resources at Northeastern and in the region will be available on the Northeastern Portfolio Project website, which will be launched in January, 2005.