Tuesday, January 19, 2010

E-portfolios for information literacy

Thanks to Thomas Hapke, who identified (on his blog) a full text online Masters dissertation (in German):
Schmall, S. (2009) E-Portfolios als Element von Personal Learning Environments. Potentiale des E-Learning 2.0 im Kontext der Vermittlung von Informationskompetenz [E-portfolios as a part of personal learning environments: potential for E-learning 2.0 in the context of learning information literacy]. Koln: Fachhochschule Koln.
http://opus.bibl.fh-koeln.de/volltexte/2009/244/ From a quick scan of the abstract it looks an interesting work, which is identifying the value of e-portfolios in terms of developing skills in creating and communicating, and (if available to other students) peer-to-peer learning. Considering specifically the concept of "Rechercheportfolio 2.0" (search portfolios) the author considers "Welche Standards und Qualitätsmerkmale E-Rechercheportfolios aufweisen müssten, um als effektives Mittel zur Vermittlung von Informationskompetenz geeignet zu sein" [What standards and quality indicators e-search portfolios must adhere to, in order to be effective means for learning information literacy].
This is particularly interesting to me since I'm marking e-portfolios at the moment, and will be involved in another set this coming semester ... By the way, I couldn't quite decide how to translate "Vermittlung" here - I considered "teaching", "learning", "developing" and "facilitating" ("mediating" is definitely too passive), comments from German speakers welcome!
Photo by Sheila Webber: Partriach's Ponds (where the opening scene of "The Master and Margerita" takes place), Moscow, December 2009

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hi Sheila,

I just started to embark on a FOLIO InfoSkills e-learning course organised in Sheffield and your blog and other publications were mentioned on the reading list so I've finally made it to your blog.
Obviously, in this context the e-portfolios topic is of great interest to me. I've only read your summary / comment so far, but will read the original text, too.

As regards 'vermitteln', I would probably use the term 'teach' or 'successfully convey / pass on information'. The emphasis on the actual process of conveying information rather than the learning (although that's part of it and the outcome).
Hope that helps.

Ute