John Gordon

1. Building an ePortfolio for vocational learning in a Scottish Context John Gordon www.ex-el.org mail@john-gordon.com

2. eportfolio for Modern Apprenticeship, A project developed by Scottish Enterprise Lanarkshire

3. Modern Apprenticeship? • A system of industrial training • Two components • Knowledge and understanding based learning • Practical training

4. The Actors in the System • The candidate • Their Employer • The Training Provider • The awarding body • The local tutor/supervisor/guide • The source of payment (Scottish Enterprise)

5. The Drivers • A Smart Successful Scotland • Objective- 25,000 Candidates • Information Technologists, plumbers, construction workers, cooks, etc • Building a Learning Industry • Using the results of eLearning • Construct content in Scotland localised to Scottish Needs

6. How the Actors Interact • The following slide shows how the system works without a technological infrastructure

7. Apprentice Employer Training Provider Portfolio • e-skills UK • City & Guilds • CTS Workplace Training Assessor Next

8. The Portfolio • Very Much Paper • Distributed over various organisations • The candidate is enrolled by • The Employer • The Training Company • The Awarding Body, and • Scottish Enterprise, who subsidise training via grants. • There are many people checking the various documents and there is much travel between sites for verification purposes.

9. Barriers to take up of Modern Apprenticeship • Bureaucracy • Multiple registrations • Multiple payment claims • Choice • Limited by local provision • Flexibility • Inflexible delivery of underpinning knowledge • Resource limitations • Business demands • No of assessor visits required

10. What are the goals of the project • To develop a model for the online delivery of Modern Apprenticeships • To inform further development work in this area. • To address the barrier of Bureaucracy • One point registration • Automated payment claims • Automated notification of completion • To Provide Choice • Online provision extends reach

11. The ePortfolio Project • One registration • One ePortfolio • Interfaces to all of the other systems • Less paper, less travel • Using Internet, using email • The candidate owns their own portfolio

12. Project model…... Underpinning Knowledge Workbased Training Portfolio Online tutor Internet Technology Assessor Internal Verifier External Verifier • E-Skills UK • City & Guilds • CTS • Training Provider next

13. What do we need from a traditional ePortfolio System • Academic ePortfolio e.g. • ePortfolio for Lifelong Learning from Nottingham – a Jisc eFramework Reference Model

14. Thin Portfolio Defined by Sector Skills Council Web Services Content Not Implemented http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/epreferencemodel/keydocuments/06%2003%2023%20RM.ppt#7

15. The SEL eP • Competence Based Evidence Gathering Engine • Communications Infrastructure • Interfaces to all actors • Single point of entry • Adapts to SE business rules (regulations for grant payments)

16. Candidate Candidate Uploads Evidence Assessor Auto E-Mail Auto E-Mail Assesses Evidence Web Browser Registers Candidate Auto E-Mail Auto E-Mail Centre Coordinator Internal Verifier Modern Apprenticeships Online next

17. Deployment Model Scottish Enterprise The paymaster Awarding Body eLearning Systems Portfolio Server Candidates and Verifiers Portfolio

18. Modern Apprenticeships Online Candidates’ View • Uploading Evidence & Mapping it to the standards

19. Modern Apprenticeships Online Assessors’ View

20. eLearning System • Online Course Content (Underpinning Knowledge)

21. Modern Apprenticeships Online Internal Verifiers’ View

22. Architecture

23. Project Status April 2006 Theresa to update • Many candidates in various sites • 3 subjects • eSkills UK, City and Guilds, Scottish Enterprise, IT4All and Cumbernauld College • 2 MLEs – SABA and Learnwise

24. key lessons learned: • Breaking new ground, therefore an uncertain and difficult process • There were major difficulties of integration • Technical issues around implementing the system • Issues for Employers – is it easier/harder for them to release candidates for training • Future work and overall implications for the future of this at national level • Further integration will be required for other actors in any new environment

25. The way forward • The project is now proven, exploitation is required • We have made the decision to go opensource • We wish to develop a community based on these technologies • The source code will be released subject to appropriate licence

26. Integration to Professional Development • We would wish to integrate the SELeP to Professional Development Schemes such as the British Computer Society • To link to HR systems in SMEs and large organisations

27. Economic Development Tools • To develop the SELeP as an economic Development Tool – to manage skills development in an economic region • To investigate hoe labour need statistics can be integrated to HR and vocational learning statistics

28. The SELeP Community • We wish to establish the SELeP open source community • Please contact us if you wish to join • We need further pilots for new interfaces with other bodies • We need developments in the portfolio to integrate with mainstream academic approaches.

29. End • Contact persons • mail@john-gordon.com • Theresa.Correia@scotent.co.uk • alan.hughes@scotent.co.uk