Extended Abstract on Competence Based Assessment Considerations within ePortfolio System
The 10th International Scientific ePortfolio and Identity Conference( ePIC2012): Abstracts 2012
Aleksandrs Gorbunovs, Atis Kapenieks, Ieva Kudina

Usually ePortfolios connote with digital environment where people and/or organisations can display their achievements: both individual and collective ones. Nowadays employees are often asked to use ePortfolios to provide evidences of their continuous professional development and growth. More and more educational organisations all over the world break fresh ground and implement ePortfolio solutions into institutions’ curriculum. ePortfolio systems play significant role to motivate learners in order to improve their competencies. Everybody awake to the fact that ePortfolio is not just a signboard which could be used to show others somebody’s achievements. It might be used both for students and teachers: for students – to study, improve learning outputs, assist fellow-students, make peer and self-assessments; for teachers – to tutor learners and monitor their progress, make assessment of study process and provide necessary steps to improve curriculum. Valuation of prior learning and obtained skills becomes more important in finding of the proper learning path for learners. Lifelong learning demands to actualize these desires. At the moment, aspiration for knowledge to meet labour market requirements and responsibility to acquire necessary competences mostly falls upon learners or depends on course attraction, keenness of teaching staff, as well as new motivating educational methods. There is lack of systems which ensure users’ competence based assessment, and there are even less systems which give learner’s real appropriate learning path suggestions and constructive solutions. Student’s learning path depends on learning goals, i.e. competencies which are planned to achieve, and it is linked to the expected learning outcome. Each of us has our own set of competencies where almost each competence might be represented as a cluster of other competencies with their particular number of knowledge, skills and proficiency, making person’s competence profile. Based on this, we can consider that learners’ competences enhancement and further development might be facilitated by assessing their current level of competencies at each phase of learning, activating their group-working and critical thinking, and offering them study materials which are still missed. This paper addresses the problem of assessing learners’ competences levels and giving appropriate suggestions and probable solutions based on these assessments, as well as seeking perspective ways to make ePortfolio systems more flexible and intelligent, which would result in creation, development and implementation of new interactive ePortfolio system. The first algorithmic model was developed and prototype of such system was introduced and conducted for „Business Planning for Open Markets” course bachelor study programme students by the Distance Education Study Centre (DESC), Riga Technical University (RTU), in the autumn semester of study year 2011/2012, from 5 September 2011 to 27 January 2012. This system prototype ensured the record of competences development process, groupwork environment, peer and self assessment fields, feedback review, and possibility of sending learning suggestions to learners (at this stage by tutors only). We have found the correlation between students’ activities in ePortfolio system, on one hand, and their test marks, exam results and achieved competencies, on the other hand. New system encouraged students to think critically; ePortfolio students’ groups with high activity achieved better outcomes rather than inactive ones. The system made it possible to break the neck of the most complicated course themes, as well as make improvements of students’ exercise works – their business plans. The developed experimental system prototype differs from traditional ePortfolio systems by motivating approach in acquiring of competences, involvement in group-work, increasing responsibility both for own and peer achievements, and comparison of scores, study results, assessments and competence development levels along the whole course study period in two educational systems: university’s study portal and ePortfolio ones. The offered ePortfolio algorithmic model ensures the collection of the data (marks and recommendations) from all assessments and opening them up for the appropriate ePortfolio group members; consequently, students have an excellent possibility to improve their outcomes and develop required competences. To solve the problem of creating the ePortfolio expert system which would be equipped with recommendations or suggestions generation tool, the DESC RTU are going to develop new algorithmic model and launch the second prototype of interactive ePortfolio system in futher study years. However, this paper introduces also the first draft of the noted model, as well as our original considerations regarding its design and implementation.


Atslēgas vārdi
ePortfolio, information system, competence, peer and self assessment
Hipersaite
http://www.epforum.eu/2012/abstracts/view

Gorbunovs, A., Kapenieks, A., Kudina, I. Extended Abstract on Competence Based Assessment Considerations within ePortfolio System. No: The 10th International Scientific ePortfolio and Identity Conference( ePIC2012): Abstracts, Lielbritānija, London, 9.-11. jūlijs, 2012. London: Euportfolio, 2012, 63.-64.lpp.

Publikācijas valoda
English (en)
RTU Zinātniskā bibliotēka.
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