UBC’s Software Strategy

One of UBC’s goals this semester is to build a strategy for the evaluation of e-Portfolio softwares currently available. We are currently doing this by testing a number of softwares and tracking user feedback and interaction with each. One of the core goals of our campus-wide e-Portfolio pilot in Year 2 (we’re currently in the middle of Year 2) was to evaulate and select a campus-wide software solution. It’s looking more & more like this is a premature goal. For two reasons, mainly…

1. It’s difficult to choose one software solution that answers the needs of all of our diverse users. It is frightening, from a support point of view, to think of a campus with a variety of e-portfolio softwares installed and running! But, is it really realistic to expect one single software to answer the needs of a Pharmacy program e-portfolio, a teaching portfolio for Teacher Education students, a professional development & reflective e-portfolio for professional staff, a faculty e-portfolio, etc.?

2. There is no killer app yet. e-Portfolio software is still relatively young. Time after time, I read posts on blogs from other schools describing the difficulty in selecting a campus-wide software solution.

At least we know we’re not alone in our quest!

And, another issue we will have to consider in a couple years time is the high school students graduating from BC high schools with portfolios (and, some with e-portfolios) and an expectation to continue this practice through out their post-secondary education.