Pereira de Eça, M.T.T. (2005) ‘Using Portfolios for External Assessment: An Experiment in Portugal’ International Journal of Art and Design Education

Pereira de Eça, M.T.T. (2005) ‘Using Portfolios for External Assessment: An Experiment in Portugal’ International Journal of Art and Design Education, [online] 24 (2), pp209-218 Available at: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=12&hid=17&sid=777a562f-9e26-4aa2-b4bd-69173d0ad022%40SRCSM2 (accessed 22 October 2007)

The article describes the findings of an initiative to assess single portfolios for secondary level art and design students. Portfolios are described as being any of a folder, exhibition, work-journal, CD, webpage. The assessment criteria used are significant, as they are indicative of the needs of the course, align with the needs of the subject culture, but are also acknowledged as being “subject to common interpretation by users.” (p.211) These were:

• Record personal ideas, intentions, experiences, information and opinions in visual and other forms.
• Critically analyse sources from visual culture showing understanding of purposes, meanings and contexts.
• Develop ideas through purposeful experimentation, exploration and evaluation.
• Present a coherent and organised sample of works and a final product revealing a personal and informed response that realises their intentions.
• Evaluate and justify the qualities of the work.

The findings describe the positive aspects of this experiment; “The assessment instrument integrated a wide range of methods of inquiry, media and domains of art and design,, allowing students o develop personal projects in which they could personalise social issues and reveal important cognitive and metacognitive skills.” (p.213) It is interesting that these themes have emerged in light of activity that did not specify portfolio mode.

What this did surface however was a highly significant observation pertaining to the representation of student work in digital modes: “Digital reproductions of students’ studio art works are not appropriate for fully appreciating and discussing the visual characteristics of portfolios, expect perhaps when the student’s chosen media is itself digital.” (p.214)

Stapleford, J., Beasley, B. & Palmer, S. (2006) ‘Developing PDP to Support Employability: an Institutional Perspective’ In Personal Development Planning and Employability (2006) Learning and Employability Series 2, The Higher Education Academy

Stapleford, J., Beasley, B. & Palmer, S. (2006) ‘Developing PDP to Support Employability: an Institutional Perspective’ In Personal Development Planning and Employability (2006) Learning and Employability Series 2, The Higher Education Academy

An implementation toolkit approach is taken to address institutionally identified challenges of initiating PDP and reflection. The toolkit is made up of activities in: learning journals and diaries; storytelling; portraits; dialogue; sent letters; unsent letters; visualisation; altered points of view. The article reports on practical implementation but provide methods for generating reflective content through modes beyond traditional journalistic text-based approaches having identified the need for representation of multiple intelligences. “Emotional intelligence is seen as an increasingly evident aspect of employability that student need to develop.” (p.37)

Edwards, G. (2005) Connecting PDP to Employer Needs and the World of Work, The Higher Education Academy

Edwards, G. (2005) Connecting PDP to Employer Needs and the World of Work, The Higher Education Academy

The author summarises research undertaken in 2000 and refers to the research question, “In what ways can personal development planning be implemented in HEIs to be of maximum benefit in recruitment processes and later career mangement?”

Indications reported are that employers are interested in seeing the documented process that has been facilitated by PDP, not the outputs, suggesting that this mode (PDP) is not an intrinsic desirable. Nonetheless, the report begins to define competencies based on responses from graduate employers. These are generic, and at the top of the list come flexibility, adaptability and capacity to cope with change; self-motivation and drive; analytical ability and decision making; and communication and interpersonal skills.

Richardson, H.C., & Ward, R. (2005) Developing and Implementing a Methodology for Reviewing E-Portfolio Products, The Centre for Recording Acheivement

Richardson, H.C., & Ward, R. (2005) Developing and Implementing a Methodology for Reviewing E-Portfolio Products, The Centre for Recording Acheivement

The report focuses on the available e-portfolio products and begins to classify their designed uses. Within this are included tools for PDP (the majority are designed for this use), assessment management, and presentational tools. “We found that most systems have been developed for a particular age or stage of learning.” This also implies that the tools lack flexibility and are designed with specific uses in mind.

The findings reported also indicate that the majority of tools had low levels of personalisation in their functionality stating that, “very few systems currently support learner selected screen display preference settings.” (p.14) This was identified as a key issue and is significant in terms of student ownership of their content.

Drew, S., Stevens, A. & Haughton, P. (2007) Electronic PDPs for Art, Design and Media: Their Use and their Assessment, Sheffield Hallam University

Drew, S., Stevens, A. & Haughton, P. (2007) Electronic PDPs for Art, Design and Media: Their Use and their Assessment, Sheffield Hallam University [Online report] Available at: www.shu.ac.uk/research/cre/Electronic%20PDP/Website/base%20model/CasestudyD&T%20amended.doc (accessed July 20 2007)

The focus on electronic personal development portfolios is made clear from the outset, and the case studies that have driven the research findings acknowledge this. The work identified some key findings from consultation with employers in relevant fields. This included the emergence that there was an increasing trend for applicants to make first contact via email, but that employers do not view a portfolio until interview.

It also emerged from the employer perspective that portfolios needed to be focussed in order for them to stand out from the crowd, show individuality and emphasise originality and creativity. It was also suggested that PDP content was, although not expected by employers, generally found to be occurring in employees and was seen as a personal activity. A tension also emerged between worked presented being of potential commercial value.

There is some ambiguity about the role of PDP for employability, and although the report does discuss PDP with employers, it highlights the gap between PDP in education and for employment purposes, stating, “E-PDP tends to be located on professional practice modules.”

Spendlove, D. & Hopper, M. (2006) ‘Using ‘Electronic Portfolios’ to Challenge Current Orthodoxies in the Presentation of an Initial Teacher Training Design and Technology Activity’ International Journal of Technology & Design Education

Spendlove, D. & Hopper, M. (2006) ‘Using ‘Electronic Portfolios’ to Challenge Current Orthodoxies in the Presentation of an Initial Teacher Training Design and Technology Activity’ International Journal of Technology & Design Education, [online] 16 (2), pp177-191 Available at: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=4&hid=101&sid=2bdd4244-5c85-48ae-9785-f6e19a7cfad4%40SRCSM2 (accessed 24 July 2007)

Spendlover and Hopper’s article describes the way that they see the use of e-portfolios for presenting an initial teacher training design and technology activity. As such, the content has a significant emphasis on presentation of a design process. In this context, the authors state that the primary use for an e-portfolio is for “reflective, design practice within a structured educational design challenge.”

Additionally, there is recognition of this output being of use in terms of employability, so it’s significance related to our wider context is of presentation of capabilities for employability. Interestingly, the findings report that “The majority of undergraduates within the group had completed courses at Advanced level in their chosen discipline and arrived at university with a firmly established perception of the ‘legitimised’ purpose, content and mode of presentation of the ‘design portfolio’.” (p.181) This adds substance to the understanding that practitioners are heavily influenced by their subject culture, and here, as to what they see as culturally (subject) valid for their peer and employer networks.

Lane, C. (2007) The Power of ‘E’: Using E-Portfolios to Build Online Presentation Skills Innovate: Journal of Online Education

Lane, C. (2007) The Power of ‘E’: Using E-Portfolios to Build Online Presentation Skills Innovate: Journal of Online Education [Online] Avaiable at: http://innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=369 (accessed December 3 2007)

Lane introduces this paper by describing the tension of comparing paper-based portfolios to e-portfolios suggesting that this comparison alone is an inadequate way of demonstrating the potential of an e-portfolio. She also mentions that, at the other end of the scale, “in contrast to online environments [web 2.0 – social networks], e-portfolios provide academic and professional web spaces.”, and takes time in the article to differentiate the two.

The article also voices some interesting observations that seem to stem largely from attention being paid to the student perspective. It suggests the skills which students think an e-portfolio will help them develop are actually multimedia and web design skills. These presentational facets are acknowledged by the author, “The software employed must offer some level of student control over design.” Lane goes on to say, “If students are able to choices in the development of their e-portfolio – either scaffolded by a tool that provides options or in a freeform authoring environment – they have a valuable opportunity to learn how to best present themselves and their work.”

Adams, J. (2007) ‘Artists Becoming Teachers: Expressions of Identity Transformation in a Virtual Forum’ International Journal of Art and Design Education, 26 (3), pp264-273.

Adams, J. (2007) ‘Artists Becoming Teachers: Expressions of Identity Transformation in a Virtual Forum’ International Journal of Art and Design Education, 26 (3), pp264-273.

Although the article focuses on art and design graduate’s identities as they train to become teachers, it does highlight a parallel challenge associated with the ways of working with e-learning technologies – VLE or e-portfolio; “There are problems of expression that are brought about by the juxtaposition of visually and spatially adept artist-learners constrained within a largely textual environment.” (p.264)

In discussing identities of the artists and designers, the author refers to the idea that personalisation may only exist through social interaction. So this expression has manifested itself in the social aspects of forum conversation in the virtual learning environment, despite the constraints of a text-oriented interface.

Gillham, B. & McGilp, H. (2007) ‘Recording the Creative Process: An Empirical Basis for Practice-Integrated Research in the Arts’ International Journal of Art and Design Education, 26 (2), pp177-184

Gillham, B. & McGilp, H. (2007) ‘Recording the Creative Process: An Empirical Basis for Practice-Integrated Research in the Arts’ International Journal of Art and Design Education, 26 (2), pp177-184

The article explores the use of ‘creative process journals’ (CPJs) to record the practice-integrated research activity in the creative arts as a formal research tool. Although the emphasis is on how this concept can be used for research purposes, there are clear fundamental parallels between this and creative portfolios in terms of practitioners, and presentation of process. As a caveat to that statement however, the authors state that their discussion is discrete to that of journals “primarily concerned with ‘reflection’ and self-analysis.” (p.178) Instead they talk about the “detailed description to provide the raw data for critical interpretation.”

The authors comment on the differences between research through synthesis and through analysis, suggesting that art and design researchers are inclined to the former. The function of the CPJ therefore would be to provide an account for which analytical interpretation can occur. Within this, there are experiences identified that relate to the need for accurate representation of journal content in order for the analysis to take place in context.

Gardner, H. (2006) Five Minds for the Future, Boston MA: Harvard Business School Press

Gardner, H. (2006) Five Minds for the Future, Boston MA: Harvard Business School Press

The author reflects on five discrete ‘minds’ that equate to skills for life. Each of the skills is discussed as a grounded concept and distilled into an anticipated requirement for survival in the future of learning and employment.

“- The disciplined mind has mastered at least one way of thinking – a distinctive modes of cognition that characterizes a specific scholarly discipline, craft, or profession.

- The synthesizing mind takes information from disparate sources, understands and evaluates that information objectively, and puts it together in ways that make sense to the synthesizer and to other persons.

- The creating mind breaks new ground. It puts forth new ideas, poses unfamiliar questions, conjures up Fresh ways of thinking, arrives at unexpected answers.

- The respectful mind notes and welcomes differences between human individuals and between human groups, tries to understand these ‘others’, and seeks to work effectively with them.

- The ethical mind ponders the nature of one’s work and the needs and desires of the society in which one lives. The mind conceptualizes how workers can serve purposes beyond self-interest and how citizens can work unselfishly to improve the lot of all.” (p.3)