1 ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How Ali Jafari, Ph.D. Professor and Director of CyberLab Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Electronic Portfolio Consortium/NLII EPAC Meeting NLII Annual Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana Sunday, January 26, 2003, 1:00 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. Claiborne Room, Hyatt Regency, New Orleans

2 Acknowledgments Thanks to the representatives of the 33 educational and corporate institutions participating in this meeting, with special thanks to those who made last-minute changes in their busy schedule and paid for premium airfare tickets to attend this meeting on January 26, 2003.

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 3 About ePortConsortium Visit

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 4 ePortfolios Scenario: Johnny the student Johnny begins his ePortfolios development when he starts his college education at the University of Somewhere. Before finishing his degree, Johnny transfers to the University of Elsewhere. After receiving his undergraduate degree, Johnny then attends the University of Wherever to get his Master’s degree. Johnny completes his schooling upon attaining his Master’s degree, and he begins work at his first job. Johnny switches jobs every three to five years.

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 5 ePortfolios Scenario Johnny expects from ePortfolios to be able to:  Easily transport his ePortfolios collections from each of the three schools he attended;  Access all of his ePortfolios collections during and after his undergraduate and graduate education;  Continue his ePortfolios collections, presentation, and use after he completes his education.

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 6 ePortfolios Scenario Johnny will be frustrated and discouraged if:  He has to restart his ePortfolios work at each new school he attends;  He cannot access or reuse his ePortfolios collections from previous schools he attended;  He cannot access his ePortfolios collection when he graduates and is no longer associated with his school.

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 7 Need for Interoperability: WHY? FACTS There will be more than one popular ePortfolios Management System:  Commercial stand-alone systems developed by software companies;  Add-on modules or new features developed by software companies;  Home-grown systems by higher education IT service units;  Research outcomes from R&D laboratories.

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 8 ePortConsortium Website Survey * Result of survey posted on the homepage of Dec 2, 2002 – January 25,

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 9 ePortfolios Glossary What is an ePortfolios Management System (EPS)? A set of tools within a software environment that offers services for collection, reflection, selection, management, and presentation of various academic and professional credentials.

10 We need to develop ePortfolios Glossary

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 11 CMS vs. EPS 1  CMS (Course Management System) is a “course” based environment offering services within the period of a semester or quarter;  EPS (ePortfolios System) is an “individual” based environment expected to offer services for life-long, continuous portfolios use.

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 12 CMS vs. EPS 2  CMS is meant to serve a known set of registered students within an academic course;  EPS is expected to provide content to affiliated and public groups.

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 13 CMS vs. EPS 3  CMS features and expectations are fully understood and defined;  “ePortfolios” is still a buzz word with various connotations.

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 14 Core Components of ePortfolios: An Electronic Document is one of the primary core components of the ePortfolios package. Examples of Electronic Documents include term papers, class projects, published papers, artistic drawings, or other document saved in digital format. Electronic Document

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 15 Core Components of ePortfolios: Electronic Documents come in various formats, such as text files, move clips, audio clips, images and graphics, or any combination thereof in a multimedia package. Electronic Document

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 16 Core Components of ePortfolios: An Electronic Document is tagged with a series of metadata information such as who created it, when it was created, for what purpose it was created, who assessed it, identification of its media type, etc. Electronic Document ID --- Creator --- Date --- Assessor --- Class --- Media Type

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 17 Core Components of ePortfolios: An Electronic Document may also contain a series of thoughtful reflections created by the author relative to educational growth and development. Electronic Document My reflection This paper substantiates my understanding of culture and …. Signed -----

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 18 Core Components of ePortfolios: Electronic Documents may uploaded to and maintained on a secure server to protect them from changes to original content once submitted or assessed. This offers a certification feature which verifies that the content of the document is the same as the original content at the time of creation. Electronic Document

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 19 Core Components of ePortfolios: An Electronic Document may be given access rights making it possible for various individuals or groups within or outside an institution or a community to view or to be restricted from viewing that particular document. Electronic Document Public A Colleague Faculty members in my School

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 20 Core Components of ePortfolios: The ePortfolio profile contains data consisting of personal and biographical information, academic accomplishments, professional experiences, skills, affiliations, interests, etc. User Profile

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 21 Core Components of ePortfolios: Community of Science ( offers a 17-category profile. Epsilen Portfolios includes 22 categories, encompassing all 17 COS categories in addition to five new fields needed by undergraduate students. Profile

22 How can we develop ePortfolios specifications and interoperability measures ?

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 23 Developing ePortfolios Specifications and Interoperability Measures Method 1: Raise tons of money, hire staff, and build a new organization.

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 24 Developing ePortfolios Specifications and Interoperability Measures Method 1: Raise tons of money, hire staff, and build a new organization.

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 25 Method 2: Raise pennies and use in-kind intellects from.edu and.com experts to do the job. Developing ePortfolios Specifications and Interoperability Measures

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 26 Collaboration Model 1. Each ePortfolios interoperability and specification task will be led by a group chair.

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 27 Collaboration Model 2. The group chair finds and recruits subject matter experts (from.edu and.com) and forms his/her working group.

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 28 Collaboration Model 3. The focus groups meet in person and virtually (each focus group will be hosted by ePortConsortium corporate and developing members)

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 29 Collaboration Model 4. Focus groups will develop and release: A) White papers; B) Technical specifications; and C) Open source codes.

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 30 Collaboration Model 6. After a rounds of drafts, the ePortfolios Specifications (EPS) will be widely distributed to ePortfolios developers and conceptual thinkers.

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 31 Example of EPS deliverables White papers to define and specify functional requirements for career portfolio, faculty portfolio, course portfolio, etc.

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 32 Example of EPS deliverables White papers to identify and specify interoperability and integration requirements among ePortfolios systems, course management system, and student systems, etc.

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 33 Example of EPS deliverables Technical documents such as database schema for the ePortfolios profile specifications (i.e.. number of tables, fields, naming convention, etc.)

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 34 Example of EPS deliverables Review IMS Meta-data Specification, Content Packaging Specification, and Enterprise Specifications for potential refinements to support the requirements of ePortfolios applications IMS Specifications

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 35 Real Collaboration The ePortConsortium facilitates and leads the development and dissemination of the ePortfolios specifications and interoperability measures through collaborative efforts among ePortfolios experts and leaders within higher education and corporate institutions.. COM. EDU

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 36 Funding Model Resources to develop ePortfolios interoperability specifications:  In-kind contributions from: ePortConsortium developing members ePortConsortium Corporate members ePortfolios interest communities (EPAC members)  Membership fee from: ePortConsortium developing members ePortConsortium corporate members

A. Jafari, “ePortfolios Interoperability and Standards: What, Why, and How, “ NLII Conference, January 26, 2003 Copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Indiana University 37 Next Steps Before discussing the next steps, should we have a short 15 minutes break???