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Policy Implications of Research on eFolio Minnesota. Darren Cambridge Goodenough College, London May 10, 2005. eFolio Minnesota. Organizational Context Research Results Policy Implications. eFolio Background. A project of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system (MnSCU)
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Policy Implications of Research on eFolio Minnesota Darren Cambridge Goodenough College, London May 10, 2005
eFolio Minnesota • Organizational Context • Research Results • Policy Implications
eFolio Background • A project of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system (MnSCU) • Launched Fall 2003 • Available to all residents of Minnesota • 30,000 active users as of April 2005 with linear growth • Planned interoperability with Open Source Portfolio at University of Minnesota
Funding and Leadership • MnSCU leading as an entrepreneurial agency • Initial funding part of a larger grant from the Fund for Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE)
Service Model • Centralized technology support • Avenet eFolio • Phone technical support (rarely needed) • Distributed programmatic support • Colleges, universities, workforce development centers, schools • Small grants from MnSCU
Individual Focus • Focus on individual use for lifelong and lifewide learning • Minimal centralized control • Software and documentation encourages broad range of uses • See what works for individuals, then do more of that
Research Results • Age not a factor • High level of use across all six categories of use • Educational planning central • Frequent role shifts • Little perceived impact of institutional support
Factors Influencing Level of Impact • Audience • Real • Evidence of reading and response • Imagined: • Clear intended audience • Being “out there” • Ownership • Integrity • Integration of personal and professional • Currency
Ways Institutional Support Matters • Audience: • Technology’s impact of findability, connectivity • Collaborative contexts of portfolio authorship • Ownership • Introduction that embraces lifelong and lifewide learning • Technology that supports user adaptation
Policy Implications • Minimize barriers to entry • Introduce in way that addresses a wide range of uses • Provide support for collaborative development • Cultivate real audiences with real stakes • Interoperability through partnerships • Bottom up from actual individual practice as well as top down through standards process • Allow sufficient space to see what people actually care about doing