efolio minnesota tm – a project at the crossroads reflections on leading (or surviving) the...
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eFolio MinnesotaTM – A Project at the Crossroads
Reflections on leading (or “surviving”) the country’s first electronic portfolio infrastructure
April 2005
Did you know this about MnSCU, at least at the start of this project? That the Minnesota State Colleges and
Universities (MnSCU) invented the electronic portfolio.
That MnSCU is an international leader in electronic portfolio research.
That national and state education standards drove the design of eFolio Minnesota.
That eFolio Minnesota’s project manager was a recognized leader in the portfolio community.
April 2005
What is true then when we started this effort ... MnSCU is one of the larger
public higher education systems in the country and is well positioned to work with K-12 and workforce partners.
There was interest in and resources for investing in an electronic portfolio project.
The project manager had managed both education and workforce technology projects but none involving electronic portfolios.
April 2005
eFolio Minnesota today Based on research and
numbers eFolio Minnesota is one of the premier electronic portfolio projects in the world.
As of the beginning of March 2005 there are over 28,000 registered users.
“Adoption” of eFolio Minnesota by K-12, higher education, and workforce organizations.
Addition project resources being provided by other public organizations to use eFolio Minnesota to complement and support their work efforts.
Growth in Users
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Time
Number
s
Student
Worker
Educator
Total
April 2005
Examples of eFolio Minnesota Uses St. Louis Park Intermediate School (K-12) Inver Hills Community College Urban Teache
r Program Two-year and four-year nursing cooperative p
rogram Partnership with the State’s career and
education portal (ISEEK) Use by “coparts” (competitors/partners) –
Hamline University and U of M
April 2005
The journey to eFolio Minnesota was actually fun (really!)
Trip checklistResources (about $500k)
Project definitions / assumptions
Project teams
Project leadership / sponsorship
Flexible contracting
Sense of humor
April 2005
Project resources
Funding for this effort came through a FIPSE administered Congressional Award that was intended to ramp up e-learning efforts within the Minnesota State College and University system (MnSCU). The funding was split into two pools: Curriculum – support for on-line courses
and programs Student services – web-enabled student
services including eFolio Minnesota
April 2005
Project definition
Design, develop, and deploy a statewide electronic portfolio tool kit that would support Minnesota residents and students in their individual career and education goals…..
Make it lifelong, and keep it free!
April 2005
Project assumptions
April 2005
Key assumptions
About the portfolio user (customer) Assume the value of portfolios within an
education and workforce setting. One size does NOT fit all – personal
customization key. Owned by the individual and not by the
institution - learner driven (sidestep the question of K-12 graduation standards)
Need to accommodate reflections for a lifetime worth of learning and work.
April 2005
Key assumptionsAbout the technology “Word processor” technology literacy for users. “Nothing but net!” Everything should be web
based. “KISS – keep it simple stupid” If a simple
alternative presents itself - take it! Accommodate our multi-media world. Provide for help tools and templates to assist
users. Provide for security mechanisms that keep the
user in control. Take the data security / privacy issue head on.
April 2005
Project structure Leadership and commitment to the needs of
the 21st century learner provided by: Linda Baer – Sr. Vice Chancellor Gary Langer – Assoc. Vice Chancellor
Four project teams focused on unique needs: Worker / professional Student requirements Educator uses look-and-feel
April 2005
Contracting – keeping it flexible Developed and issued an RFP
(request for proposal); both custom build and licensed products were eligible responses.
Decided to go with a proposal submitted by Avenet, Inc. Proposal offered a lifetime, in perpetuity license for Minnesota (key given the “dot-bust” problems).
Neither party expected the huge success of the project.
April 2005
Keeping a sense of humor Dealing with the “what if” questions
What if someone dies and their relatives want to keep their site?
What if a site is an porn site? What if someone lies about their eligibility? What if the Internet changes? What if…….
Dealing with terms of use issues Commercial sites Organizational sites Classroom management sites
April 2005
Timelines
April 2005
Summer 2001 – Summer 2004 Summer 2001 – Project kick-off, establish project
structure, release RFP August 2001 – Contract with Avenet, Inc. is executed Winter 2001-2002 – Project teams work through designs Spring 2002 – Alpha testing begins Summer 2002 – Beta testing begins and infrastructure
installed August 2002 – eFolio Minnesota goes live (soft launch) May 2003 – Revamped “portal” site is released at a
public launch Summer 2004 – Work starts on research project with
Darren Cambridge; establish Advisory Committee
April 2005
What does the future hold?
Fame
Fortune
Glory
April 2005
The known future! Enhancements
Courtesy of our state agency partners we are developing tools to support interview interfaces, structured data tools, opt-in / grouping methodology, tools to support links to standards and/or competencies, and IMS compatibility (working on testing this with the U of M).
State Summit We are developing (thank you Karen Thoms and group)
plans for an eFolio Minnesota Summit in November. New communication tools
New brochures and start-up guides are in the works. Research
Darren Cambridge’s research will be finalized within a couple of weeks.
April 2005
The slightly less well know future… Life cycle costs
Base budgets are part of the costs for Minnesota Online but there is always a need for more resources. We have launched a value-added service (“buy more space”) with some success which provides a potential model for other services.
Partnership with Avenet eFolio Minnesota was the first statewide effort within MnSCU
to establish a public-private agreement with a private company. We are still exploring ways that this can mature.
Future partnerships A number of organizations have approached us about
possible partnerships (accreditation, economic development, licensing, medical, etc). How these mature has yet to be decided.
April 2005
“But are you successful?”
Two measures of success: Formal – structured
research Informal – word of mouth,
numbers of users, web trends, etc.
April 2005
Informal measures of success Numbers look solid – 100% growth last year (2004). Web traffic is up – 2.9 million hits in December. Other agencies have provided fiscal and staffing
resources (the help desk services have been provided by our workforce agency at no charge to the project).
Asked to make presentations at various state and national workforce and education conferences.
Feedback from various training/orientation sessions has been VERY positive – “this is way cool”, “great idea”, “YES!”, etc.
April 2005
Formal measures of success Research will be released in late April of 2005. Preliminary
results are included in the April 14th international satellite broadcast.
Some preliminary research results of note include: eFolio Minnesota users are likely to be women; Top three uses are documenting KSA’s , educational
planning, and finding work (the greatest percent of satisfied users are those using it for educational planning);
1/3 of the survey respondents use eFolio in a role other than that which they signed up for;
Ownership is a key factor for users along with ease of use; Giving a chance for users to experiment on their web self
is vital. 18% of the respondents report that eFolio had a
substantial impact on their learning and development.
April 2005
A few great quotes “Training faculty on eFolio is like passing out
ice cream to kids.” – Lynde Milne, MnSCU Director – Center for Teaching and Learning
“eFolio [Minnesota] is the best US example of a portfolio project addressing lifelong and lifewide learning.” – Darren Cambridge, George Mason University
"Minnesota is leading the world in the ePortfolio Movement. You are the pioneers."- David Brown Wake Forest University
April 2005
Seeing is believing
Sample sites Student Worker Educator
Educator resources “Portal”
April 2005
Questions
Contact information:
Paul [email protected]
651-649-5956
www.paulwasko.efoliomn1.com
April 2005
Thanks!!!Merci!!!Grazias!!!
April 2005
Copies of brochures
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