ELT: DASS Autonomy Development using ePortfolio

Moodle as a learning management system supports the realisation of e-learning and blended learning scenarios. With the help of a virtual learning environment in Moodle, the teacher develops units for self-directed learning, as well as virtual classrooms for collaborative work. ePortfolio systems such as Mahara focus on the learners themselves and offer them the opportunity to design their own personal learning environment. In this case, the learners themselves take on an active role as designers. The teachers act more as assessors and supporters in classifying the artefacts (Weiß 2018: 15).

What is a portfolio?

The portfolio is usually known as a collection of drawings, certificates, projects and other results of a person's work. Particularly in the creative and artistic field, such as among photographers, designers and architects, the portfolio is a kind of business card and provides an insight into a person's skills and professional expertise. But the portfolio is also used in the context of schools and universities.

In addition to the classic paper portfolio, the ePortfolio as an electronic storage medium has become more widespread with the development of technology. Key aspects of the portfolio concept are explained using the two definitions (Münte-Goussar 2019: 18f):

"A portfolio is a focused collection of work that shows the learner's individual efforts, progress and achievements in one or more areas. The collection must include the learner's involvement in the selection of content, the criteria for selection, the definition of assessment criteria and evidence of the learner's self-reflection." (Paulson et al. 1991, cited in Häcker 2007: 127; cf.2006: 4; ibid. 2008: 12; Brunner et al. 2006: 36; Hornung-Prähauser et al.2007: 21; Müller n.d.: 8)

"E-portfolio is a digital collection of 'skilfully crafted works' (=lat. Artefacts) of a person who wants to document and illustrate the product (learning outcomes) and the process (learning path/growth) of their competence development in a certain period of time and for certain purposes. The person concerned has independently selected the artefacts and organised them in relation to the learning objective." (Hornung-Prähauser et al. 2007: 14; Hilzensauer 2006: 4)

The following can be derived from these definitions:

• The portfolio or ePortfolio is a collection of artefacts, i.e. learning outcomes, performance records, excerpts from examinations and other objects selected by the individual.
• The aim of the collection is to document and visualise not only the learning outcomes, but also the process of skills development.
• The portfolio also includes references to the learner's self-reflection.
• The selection and organisation of the artefacts is carried out by the person themselves.

• Inclusion of interactive communication and networking options
• Integration of diverse digital portfolio components (images, videos, etc.)
• Flexible accessibility
• Flexible exchange and expansion options
• Facilitate the distribution of work materials and presentation
• Electronic storage and management of data
• Promotion of media skills

• Showcase portfolio (showcase, best works portfolio, presentation portfolio), which contains the best and most significant work of a learner from a longer period of time – can also be used across subjects.

• Working Portfolio (Celebration Portfolio) as a collection of selected work by a learner on a specific subject or topic. The portfolio can also help teachers to plan lessons in a needs-based, target group-orientated and goal-oriented way.

• Assessment portfolio (status report, assessment portfolio) shows what a learner has learnt and is used to measure performance and thus to award grades. The form of the portfolio is more formal than others. The criteria for assessment are best developed with the learners themselves.

• Development portfolio (time sequenced, process portfolio), which documents the work over a longer period of time. It serves as a basis for self-evaluation and external evaluation on the basis of predefined learning objectives and contains reflections and analyses of the (un)developed competencies.

• Application portfolio as documentation of achievements. It includes CV, introductory letter, diplomas, certificates, letters of recommendation, etc.

• Combinations of different portfolio types – combine characteristics of the above types and are usually the most common.

• Clarify the objective and context of the portfolio work: Before starting the portfolio work, the objectives, procedure and framework conditions are clarified. The formulated goals are formulated by the learners into sub-goals and entered into their portfolios.
• Collect, select and link documents: Learners produce and collect their digital artefacts and choose those that reflect the achievement of their sub-goal.
• Reflect on and control the learning process: The work with the portfolio is accompanied by constant reflection, in order to identify suitable learning paths and to track the achievement of goals. 
• Present and share ePortfolio documents: The portfolio content is given to others to view and comment on products and processes. Learners can decide for themselves the degree of publication of the portfolio. The publication can be available to all interested parties or only for certain persons (e.g. a learning group or individual teachers) or individual/non-public. 
• Assess and evaluate learning processes and competencies: In the end, not only the products, but also the processes that led to the achievement of the goal should be mapped. The ePortfolio can serve as the basis for performance assessment.
  

• Document the results in a writing or presentation programme of your choice (Word, OpenOffice, PowerPoint etc.): The common PowerPoint software can be used to create the workspace on which the text blocks are placed. PowerPoint can also be used to link multimedia content that is stored locally on the computer. In this case, the documents are saved locally on the PC. It is recommended to create a clear folder structure where the individual files and associated artefacts (videos, excerpts from the work, programming code, etc.) are stored by topic. If the portfolio is to be sent for feedback in this way, cloud services can be used.
• Journal plugin, which can be integrated as an additional plugin, gives learners the opportunity to reflect on the content of the module. This answer can be made available to the teacher by the learner, but is not visible to other participants. Journal only consists of the text field, digital content cannot be uploaded.
  
• Mahara plugin - Mahara is an open source e-portfolio, weblog and social network. Mahara can be used to enter products from the degree programme, such as lesson sequences, project results and much more. This personalised learning environment provides a space for presentation, explanation and reflection. The advantage of the platform is the ability to form a community and easily submit the portfolio for feedback or peer feedback – as a personal learning environment (PLE) can complement Moodle. The common name for Moodle+Mahara is Mahoodle, and the two systems can be connected with each other via this functionality. Moodle administration can also set the option to export the individual files from Moodle to Mahara.