Ventures
Ventures in the E-Portfolio Marketplace
Within the educational marketplace, e-portfolios are integrated into many high school and higher education practices. Purpose and pedagogy drive the decisions to integrate, apply and support electronic portfolios. Within teacher education, accreditation of new teachers can be regulated and monitored through the use of e-portfolios. E-portfolios are incorporated into many course assignments, thereby requiring links from learning management systems to electronic portfolios. Future applications of a ‘one-stop-shop’ for e-portfolios, providing hosting and transitional services for learners, individuals, associations, organizations and work environments, would deliver a business venture with a sustainable flow of customers, both individual and organizational.
Helen Barrett has been involved in research and practice with electronic portfolio products and offerings for many years. Her summary analysis and categorizations, provided at http://electronicportfolios.org/myportfolio/versions.html were helpful in determining directions for my investigations.
Preliminary criteria for reducing the number of offerings included:
- eportfolio collection supporting multiple media options (excluding blogs, web sites, other web 2.0 tools)
- availability for individuals, organizations, education, business, personal and professional uses
- purchasing/costs for individual and organizations; free or reduced costs for educators
- flexible hosting options
- readily available online, text and video support options
- possible integration with learning management systems
- options for transitions to enter or exit portfolios from personal, professional, and work locations
- options for life long use of product offerings
The short list of ventures was further analyzed for potential in the marketplace.
- Blackboard Content
- Desire 2 Learn ePortfolio
- Digication
- Mahara
- FolioSpaces
- Foliofor.me
- ePortaro
Specific product information was compared.
References
Barrett, Helen. (March, 2012). My “Online portfolio adventure”. Retrieved from http://electronicportfolios.org/myportfolio/versions.html
Ratcliffe, Trey. (2010) Business in London -Stuck in Customs. [Image] Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/5441996056/
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