The digital portfolio to make formal, non formal and informal learning visible

Training and discussion laboratory Rome, March, 27th 2008

Anna Maria Ajello & Cristina BelardiUniversity of Rome ‘Sapienza’

Overview

1. A brief introduction: the ‘history’ of portfolio2. Assessing NFL and IFL in the European

context.3. A project for recognising NF and IF learning

of young disadvantaged people4. The portfolio as an assessing tool5. The construction of a digital portfolio

The ‘history’ of portfolio: recently

• European Union• Debate about the portfolio as a useful tool to

make visible and to prove what a person is able to do

• From a lifelong and life wide learning point of view

The ancient ‘history’ of portfolio

• Tool used by artists like painters and handicrafts

• to show their best products and their competences to their prospects

Another recent ‘history’ of portfolio• Contribution of cognitive psychology and

sociocultural psychology to the ‘science of evaluation’

• More complex ways of considering learning and knowing

• brought to elaborate evaluating tools –like the portfolio- that could fit for new assessing pourposes and processes (authentic assessment)

Assessing NFL and IFL in the European context

In the European context acknowledged:

1. Important role to lifelong learning (to change the job, mobility etc.);

2. Importance of every kind of learning, acquired in different type of contexts

(F-formal, NF-non formal, IF-informal)

(Rough) differences among F, NF and IF learning

Type of learning Context Certifications Intentional Structured

Formal learning

School, training courses etc. Yes Yes Yes

Non-formal learning

Outside the institutional and

educational contexts (e.g. lessons at home to

learn how to play guitar)

No Yes Yes

Informal learning

Daily life activities (work, leisure, hobbies

etc.)No No No

It is important to make connections among the contexts where several type of learning are acquired in order to promote:

– Personal satisfaction – Active citizenship – Social inclusion – ‘Employability’

In order to do it, is required to develop new validation processes and methods.

Several initiatives in European countries as described in the

‘European Inventory on validation of non formal and informal learning’

by Otero M.S., McCoshan A., Junge K., 2005, ECOTEC

Research & Consulting :

www.ecotec.com/europeaninventory/2005.html

Es: Booklet in Finland, Digital Portfolio in Italy, etc.

Projects managed directly by E.C. and by CoE:

• European Portfolio of languages• European Portfolio for youth leaders and

youth-workers

In.Tra:A project for recognising NF and IF

learning of young disadvantaged people

Aim: recognition of informal competencies acquired by young disadvantaged people with a medium-low level of education

Target group: known to have few literacy- competencies

Tool/method: “user friendly”, not a software for self-assessment

A quotation from an interview with a young Italian drop-out:

M: well, since I am crazy about Bob Marley, the colours of the Reggae’s flag are green, yellow and red. I have a wall full of Bob’s posters, so I put green, yellow and red lamps ….at the background I get reggae’s flag. It’s really cool! I get Bob’s image, on a Reggae background.

Interv:: So you want to put them parallel to each other, like this (with my hands I show the parallel position of the lamps) in such a way that the three colours of the flag are appearing.

M: yes

Interv: And which was ….what do you have to invent? How to attach them to the wall?

M: no, not how to attach them to the wall, I have to invent…I mean I have to find a way to synchronize because you can’t just put one here and another one there…I have to find out how to direct it.

Interv:: oh, oh, I understand. And you attached the lamps to the cable, everything ? Well done! And how did you do it, had you already learnt how to do it, had you learnt it here?

M: my father taught me.

The interviews: some results

The persons who taught the dropouts how to perform are: friends, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, grandparents, parents in-law.

Many of them watched the expert performing an activity and then they “stole” some information about how to perform “with their eyes” and then copied him/her

They tried by themselves, asking the expert for some advice.

E.g.: Maurizio ( 16 years old) - I saw some friends of mine while they were doing it, I liked it so I have tried.... at the beginning they helped me, then I did it by myself.

They learned to do things by themselves just by reading, trying, inventing, or doing.

E.g.: Luca, 17 years old,: - Once the TV remote control was broken, so I opened it because if something was broken I could solder it again.... I tried by myself.

It is ironic that many young disadvantaged people trivialize what they learned in informal contexts, outside school, such as M. who says

I’m able to knock down a wall, but I think everybody can: he belittles himself.

Characteristics of IL:

• everyday life activities - learning result of meaningful activities (Rogoff and Lave 1984, Lave, 1988)

• nature partly tacit (Polany, 1967) - hard to explain verbally and not even aware -

Learning: a process in everyday lives Origins: research about ‘everyday cognition’ and

‘apprentiship in thinking’ (Rogoff e Lave, 1984; Rogoff, 1991),

Learning as participating in situated activities which make sense for people involved.

Learning is a characteristic of every human life from its beginning to the end.

Learning in school

• Different from the way we learn at school: we learn concepts related to disciplines through verbal practices

• Also evaluating practices are verbal

We suggest to take into consideration a piece written by L. Resnick, concerning how to evaluate learning acquired at work through a portfolio and by means of ‘on demand’ assessment

L. Resnick’s description of the portfolio:

methodology of assessment to be used within educational and training contexts

A young woman needs to carry out evidences of her skills to gain a place as a senior apprentice in the workshop of a famous weaver.

1. The young woman’s portfolio would include:woman’s works a letter written by the craftsman in whose shop

she did her initial apprentice work stamped with the establishment’s known seal

few words – added by that craftsman - about the reliability and willingness of work of the aspirant.

certification from the Regional Association of Weavers from which the applicant came

2. On-demand performance assessment : the master weaver could check the applicant’s skills to produce work of the kind included in her portfolio by watching her producing similar pieces of work.

3. A jury to examine portfolios and evaluate performances;

4. Standards explaining the criteria for the kind of work he should include

Another way of considering learning and assessment

Competence: being able to perform well in particular environments

Performance assessment:focused on certifying accomplishments rather than on identifying enduring traits of individuals

During the InTra project we could elaborate a tool for making learning visible –not for assessing or evaluating- through a digital portfolio including:

photos of the works/accomplishmentsvideos to make the procedures with

which the young people carried out their works visible

Portfolio as an interesting tool to make visible IFL acquired by young disadvantaged people.

It is important to acknowledge the differences among assessment, recognition, validation and making visible, etc. !!

Objective of the process of analysis of

competencies

Kind of activities a person should be able to do

Type of proof Kind of shared criteria for the analysis of

competencies

To make visible

Activities chosen by the person that wishes to evaluate its own informal competencies

Products/ outcomes of activities

Interactive (agreement between the tutor and the person wanting to evaluate his formal and informal skills)

To recognise

Representative activities selected by the persons that are involved in the analysis of competencies.

Products/ outcomes of representative activities

Inter-subjective (agreement between more than two persons)

To evaluate

Emblematic activities selected by the key actors of the system, to be realised in formal evaluation situations.

Emblematic products/ outcomes

Public evaluation criteria, shared by the key actors of the system (e.g. Ministry of Education, Vocational training centres, companies etc.).

Certification of competencies

Emblematic activities selected by the key actors of the system, to be realised in formal evaluation situations.

Emblematic products/ outcomes

Public evaluation criteria, shared by the key actors of the system and diplomas/certificates that are recognised at institutional level (e.g. by Regional authorities, the Ministry of Education, Vocational training centres)

To understand the characteristics of the portfolio method we have to

clarify some new concepts elaborated in the field of psychology,

hence we have to connect to the recent hystory of portfolio.

• Contribution of cognitive psychology and sociocultural psychology to the ‘science of evaluation’

• More complex ways of considering learning and knowing

• brought to elaborate evaluating tools –like the portfolio- that could fit for new assessing pourposes and processes (authentic assessment)

Authentic assessment

It is different from testing: performance assessment through the simulation of real, everyday situations

• Questions asked to the students: make sense for them, related to the syllabus (curriculum) covered in the course of the term

• Activities of teaching/learning: several, motivating/appealing

Authentic assessment

Portfolio: broad definition

Significant collection of the works.

It gives evidence to the history of the efforts, of the advances and of the outcomes achieved in one or more learning fields or professional contexts.

Portfolio‘A must for the process’:a) the student’s participation in choosing the

contents; b) The explanation of criteria for choosing the

contents ; c) Criteria for giving the credits;d) Evidence of student’s thinking about his/her

learning process and outcomes

Differences among portfolios related to:

• Goals to be achieved through it• Contents selected• Who is the manager/owner of the

portfolio

Working portfolio

Collection of products made in time

No systematic selection of the products with reasons explained:

it helps in becoming more aware of the process of learning but not in critically analysing important moments in the learning process when the person increased (or not) in terms of learning

It is not assessment

During the construction of a portfolio there is assessment when … the person

•collects products, •thinks about his/her learning process •takes decisions concerning his/her future steps

To think about the practice (about his/her own products and learning processes) positively affects metacognitive and affective/motivational processes :

•increasing awareness, autonomy and responsibility concerning;•practices, products, learning and about oneself as learning person and as actor becoming expert.

Digital instead of paper portfolio • It allows to give evidence both of the end product

through photos of it, and of the process during which the product was made through videos.

• Innovation for the disciplines of evaluation: process evaluation no more distinguished from outcome evaluation (no more dichotomous)

The construction of a Digital Portfolio

• Meeting and interviews between the tutor and the user.

• Tools like a computer, a scanner, a videocamera, etc .

• 5 main phases.

• Tools to be used: A PC with Cd reader and word processor, a Cd Rom with an example of a digital portfolio already completed

• Objectives: to conclude a good working agreement and to start projecting the portfolio

First Phase

• Activities: to analyse the reasons why the user would like to make his/her own portfolio (goals to reach); to explain to the user the objectives of the process, describing what a digital portfolio exactly is, and the extent of both his and the tutors involvement, underlining the importance of the mutual collaboration.

• It is useful at this point to illustrate the differences between the three types of learning.

First Phase

• Tools to be used: a paper folder for each user, a computer, and sheets of paper

• Objectives: Analyse and choose the proofs of formal and non-formal learning to be inserted into the digital portfolio.

Second Phase

Activities: • To Provide the user with a paper folder:

“paper portfolio” that will precede the construction of the digital version on Cd Rom.

• To Prepare a Word file with his/her personal data

Second Phase

• To analyse with the user his institutional education

• To list on a sheet of paper the institutional certificates (formal learning)

• To analyse non-formal learning activities • To think about evidences and to list them

(Certificates, Self-declarations, References like letters from an employer, etc.)

Second Phase

• To sum up all the proofs of the formal and non-formal learning

• To suggest to comment on and to explain the reasons why s/he chose those evidences

Second Phase

• Tools to be used: Software Editor for presentations, a scanner, video captures software, a computer with Cd Rom reader, a Cd Rom, an interview model, sheets of paper.

• Objective: Begin to structure the digital portfolio and to realize a semi-structured interview in order to analyse the user’s informal learning and to favour the process leading to awareness.

Third Phase

Analysis of IFL through a semistructured interview

• A kind of research process in which both the tutor and the user are involved

• The tutor supports the person in the collection of data concerning his informal competencies through a process of active interpersonal communication between the tutor and the young person.

• Useful tools: 2 interview models

• Each interview model covers a specific context of informal training i.e. work and free time.

• The models permit the tutor to take notes concerning the data collected during the semi-structured interview and to summarise consequently the various activity systems in which the young person is competent.

• The tutor asks the user to describe the activities in which s/he has taken part in the various informal contexts and tries to get a particular insight into the methods and sources of learning, into the tools that the person has learned to use in order to realise those activities and into the type of products resulting from it, which are the visible results of these activities.

n. 1

Context :Work

Activity Methods and Sources of Learning

Tools Products Proof

Ex.Mechanic: repaired scooters and automobiles

Observing the boss at work and receiving lessons from him on this matter…..

1.…………2.…………3.…………n. …………

Scooter repaired….

1.A photo of the scooter before and after repair2. A letter signed by the boss of the mechanic shop….

Ex.Helping father in family shop

By asking questions to his father and receiving informative response….

1. ………2. ………3. ………n. ……….

Lists of the materials to buy and the specifications of quantity of each product….

1.List of products ordered and bought2. Photographs of boxes of materials ordered and delivered to the shop….

n. 2

Context: Free Time (Hobbies, Sport, Home)

Activity Methods and sources of learning

Tools Products Proof

Ex.Painting…

Observing friends, reading books titled…Trying by myself.

1.………2.…3.…n ...

painting 1painting 2….

1.photoraph of a painting2.Video recording of the young person painting…

Ex.Cooking

Observing and listening to instructions from mother, sister etc.

1.. …….2.. ……..3.. ………n.. ………

Cakes pasta…..

1.Photograph of a cake2.Video recording of the young person cooking…..

Ex. Repairing the T.V. remote control

Trying on his own to take it apart and put it back together again

1.. ……….2.. ……..3.. ………n.. ………

remote control being repaired….

Photo and video of the remote control being repaired by the youth…..

At the end of the semi-structured interview the tutor summarises all activities that the user is capable of performing, highlighting the person’s informal competencies and then asks him to choose which competencies are the most important in his opinion, and should be included in his portfolio.

• One of the aspects to which the tutor must pay major attention when managing the interview for the analysis of competencies acquired in informal learning contexts regards the tendency of the young persons to marginalise the importance of such competencies.

The tutor must guide the person through the realisation of the digital portfolio without substituting his choices, realising a scaffolding activity (Wood D., Bruner J., Ross G., 1976), which means a psychological support (emotional and cognitive).

The proofs of informal competencies that can be inserted on the Cd Rom are:

• Letters from employers• Photographs of products produced in work-related

activities and in free time• Video recordings.The photos represent static recognition of products and

therefore static proof of competencies that are acquired in informal contexts.

• At the end of this phase the tutor will fix a new appointment with the user in which he will ask him to bring the products to be photographed or the photographs already taken with a digital camera.

• The two must come to an agreement concerning the video to be recorded, in other words on which activity realized in informal contexts to be filmed, on the place where the filming should take place, etc.

Fourth Phase

• Tools to be Used: Camera and digital video camera, Cd Rom Computer with Cd reader

• Objectives: To choose, realize, and insert the photographs into the “informal learning” section of the digital portfolio, to record the video.

• To make and to choose the photos to be included, and to choose the order of the photos,

• with the support of the tutor s/he can write comments near each photo to clarify the type of product or the result of the activity that is being illustrated.

• To make videos

Fourth Phase

• Tools to be Used : Cd Rom. and a computer with Cd Rom reader.

• Objectives and activities: To insert the video film on the Cd Rom, eventually making final modifications to the digital portfolio and to observe the final product; to plann future steps

Fifth Phase

Tutor

Must be fully aware of the characteristics of informal learning (everyday learning) to be able to recognise immediately the fields of activity in which the person who is to realise the portfolio is competent, watching out all the time for eventual trivialisations.

• To be able to validate the personal characteristics and competencies that until that moment were not sufficiently valorised, hence s/he will be able to support the user in a process aimed at self-empowerment.

• To support the young person during moments in which he/she encounters difficulties in verbally expressing him/herself

Tutor

The tutor must be well aware of the two characteristics that qualify the dialogue to realise the construction of the digital portfolio as a guidance counselling interview.

• The first regards the perspective of temporal dimension of the dialogue between tutor and the young person, which must particularly focus on changes and on future plans.

Tutor

• The second characteristic concerns the emotive support that the tutor should offer to the person, responding “ to his expectations of trust and confirmation of the rationality of his decisions” ( Bastianoni P., Simonelli A., 2001). The tutor should demonstrate to be a trustworthy mediator.

Tutor