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EPORTFOLIO
IN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, EMPLOYMENT AND LIFELONG EDUCATION
O. G. Smolyaninova
Education analysts and HR managers regard an electronic portfolio (ePortfolio) as a trend technology that reflects on available resources, professional development, career planning and successful employment throughout life.
Over the last seven years, the Siberian Federal University's Institute of Pedagogy, Psychology and Sociology has been using ePortfolio technology at different levels of education and professional development for the following purposes: (a) in training for a Bachelors in Pedagogy, and Psychological and Pedagogical Education (reflection on teaching practices, demonstration of educational achievements, entering the Master's program, employment) [4]; (b) in the professional development and career planning for a Masters in Pedagogical Education (career planning, reflection on research practices, demonstration of professional achievements, mobility, employment) [3]; (c) in retraining and skills improvement of higher education teachers in post-graduate programs "Higher Education Teacher" and additional qualification "Teacher" [4]; (d) in employment of graduates from higher and secondary education institutions in the project titled "Supporting Mobility of Graduates from Secondary/Higher Vocational Schools in Krasnoyarsk Territory by Means of an ePortfolio" which was supported by the Krasnoyarsk Science Foundation and the Labor and Employment Agency of the Krasnoyarsk Territory in 2012), etc.
Russian and international projects reviewed the experience using ePortfolios at different levels of education - in secondary, secondary vocational, higher and lifelong education - in Europe and Russia. A study has been undertaken to examine the use of the ePortfolio for an Internet job search and a review of modern software for developing an electronic employment portfolio. The EraNet project carried out an online survey to study the ambitions and preferences among different target groups, as well as the capabilities and prospects of the use of ePortfolio in education and employment. Our review of the Russian and foreign experience using ePortfolios throughout life has led us to the following conclusions. Although the use of ePortfolios in education began earlier in the USA, in Europe and, paradoxically, in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, this technology encompasses different educational and professional institutions in the most systemic and far-reaching way. Today in Krasnoyarsk Territory, the ePortfolio technology is used in general, secondary vocational and higher education for certification of teachers and employment. There is a model of ePortfolio for employment of graduates in the region. There are agreements with the Labor and Employment Agency of Krasnoyarsk Territory to post ePortfolios of job seekers (or data from students' portfolios) on the Agency's portal. The model is pilot tested in the Siberian Federal University, Krasnoyarsk State Medical University and a few collages in
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Krasnoyarsk Territory. MAHARA software with an open access code was chosen as the basic software.
Let us consider the examples of successful use of ePortfolio in international practices. It should be noted that England has the most systematic experience using ePortfolio for professionalization of students in general education, professional development in higher education and supporting the transition between different levels of education, career planning and employment. This is shown by large-scale research and joint efforts of consortia of universities, schools and employers. Many scholars and practical studies in the integrated use of the ePortfolio technology at different levels of education and employment are supported by regional and national funds and the European Council (for example, ePortfolio projects for lifelong learning, JISC, Nottingham [1]). In Holland, the ePortfolio technology is used for taking inventory of professional skills of laid-off employees, their retraining, and providing support in job searches. In the last two years, a platform has been developed and implemented for data exchange and transfer between ePortfolios of school and university students and employees of a few corporations. This enables users to transform and develop an individual portfolio throughout their life by accumulating career-related information, creating an archive of achievements and individual progress. In a corporation, the management can use ePortfolios of employees to plan staff changes, while employees can take inventory of their resources and demonstrate achievements and individual progress.
Some outstanding examples of using the ePortfolio technology in lifelong education and employment include the Europass and European Language Portfolio initiatives. The language portfolio enables its holder to show unified results in the personal level of linguistic development. Standardized assessment of linguistic development is essential in the international labor market. The language portfolio was initiated and developed by the European Council. Technologies for the unification and application of uniform requirements for the evaluation of foreign language skills are widely used in Japan and the U.S., offering language portfolios for these countries. In Russia, a few higher education institutions also try out the portfolio technology, actively deploying it in the educational process for training students with a focus on the standardized European requirements for language competencies.
As mentioned above, ePortfolio has the longest history of use in education in the USA. Research by D. Cambridge shows that the ePortfolio has potential in the transition of a student to the labor market. The author notes that the ePortfolio technology enables multiple simulations of different roles and the demonstration of advantages and achievements depending on specific goals of the individual presentation based on the personal ePortfolio content. ePortfolio supports lifelong learning and proves the need for cooperation and integration of efforts among educational institutions, recruitment agencies and regional employment agencies [1].
Based on the long experience using ePortfolio and research, we can conclude the following: The main challenge in the modern use of the ePortfolio technology throughout life is to create and adopt nationally (or even better, internationally) a master model of the ePortfolio which allows for the transfer of data from personal portfolios created at the previous levels of education (for
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example, in secondary school, secondary vocational or higher education institutions) to the professional sphere and the labor market. What is also relevant is to legitimize the use of ePortfolio in the procedures of transition and admission of individuals to higher levels of education (for example, between school and university or between Bachelor's and Master's programs). There is still the open issue of possibilities and prospects of the use of ePortfolios for employees in internal skills improvement programs, staff evaluation, staff changes, career promotion, and mobility. Some foreign research shows that ePortfolio technology has powerful potential for efficiently managing the transition between different levels of education and employment processes thanks to its reproducibility and development resources. It reduces the complexity and cost of recruitment and at the same time improves the quality and capabilities for real-life implementation for particular individuals throughout their life.
References
1. Coolin К., Harley P., Smallwood A., Wood S. ePortfolio and Lifelong Learning, Available at: www.nottingham.ac.uk/eportfolio
2. Cambridge D., Eportfolio for Lifelong Learning and Assessment, Available at: http://books.google.ru/books/darrencambridge
3. Smolyaninova O.G., Smolianinova L.A., ePortfolio in the context of developing learners autonomy and responsibility, ePic 2012, 10th International ePortfolio&identity Conference, London - 2012, P. 225-234. Available at: http://www.epforum.eu/content/epic-2012.
4. Смолянинова О. Г. Технология электронного портфолио в образовании: российский и зарубежный опыт: моногр. - Красноярск: Сибирский федеральный университет, 2012. -332 с.
Translated by Znanije Central Translations Bureau
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