John Gordon Building an ePortfolio for vocational learning in a Scottish Context

eportfolio for Modern Apprenticeship, A project developed by Scottish Enterprise Lanarkshire

Modern Apprenticeship? A system of industrial training Two components Knowledge and understanding based learning Practical training

The Actors in the System The candidate Their Employer The Training Provider The awarding body The local tutor/supervisor/guide The source of payment (Scottish Enterprise)

The Drivers  A Smart Successful Scotland  Objective- 25,000 Candidates  Information Technologists, plumbers, construction workers, cooks, etc  Building a Learning Industry  Using the results of eLearning  Construct content in Scotland localised to Scottish Needs

How the Actors Interact The following slide shows how the system works without a technological infrastructure

Training Provider Portfolio Apprentice e-skills UK City & Guilds CTS Employer Workplace Training Assessor Next

The Portfolio Very Much Paper Distributed over various organisations The candidate is enrolled by The Employer The Training Company The Awarding Body, and Scottish Enterprise, who subsidise training via grants. There are many people checking the various documents and there is much travel between sites for verification purposes.

Barriers to take up of Modern Apprenticeship Bureaucracy Multiple registrations Multiple payment claims Choice Limited by local provision Flexibility Inflexible delivery of underpinning knowledge Resource limitations Business demands No of assessor visits required

What are the goals of the project To develop a model for the online delivery of Modern Apprenticeships To inform further development work in this area. To address the barrier of Bureaucracy One point registration Automated payment claims Automated notification of completion To Provide Choice Online provision extends reach

The ePortfolio Project One registration One ePortfolio Interfaces to all of the other systems Less paper, less travel Using Internet, using The candidate owns their own portfolio

Project model…... Internet Technology Underpinning Knowledge Workbased Training Assessor Internal Verifier External Verifier E-Skills UK City & Guilds CTS Training Provider Portfolio Online tutor next

What do we need from a traditional ePortfolio System Academic ePortfolio e.g. ePortfolio for Lifelong Learning from Nottingham – a Jisc eFramework Reference Model

Thin Portfolio Content Defined by Sector Skills Council Web Services Not Implemented

The SEL eP Competence Based Evidence Gathering Engine Communications Infrastructure Interfaces to all actors Single point of entry Adapts to SE business rules (regulations for grant payments)

Modern Apprenticeships Online Centre Coordinator Web Browser Registers Candidate Auto Candidate Uploads Evidence Assessor Auto Internal Verifier Assesses Evidence Auto Candidate Auto next

Deployment Model Scottish Enterprise The paymaster Awarding Body eLearning Systems Portfolio Portfolio Server Candidate s and Verifiers

Modern Apprenticeships Online Uploading Evidence & Mapping it to the standards Uploading Evidence & Mapping it to the standards Candidates’ View

Modern Apprenticeships Online Assessors’ View

Online Course Content (Underpinning Knowledge) Online Course Content (Underpinning Knowledge) eLearning System

Modern Apprenticeships Online Internal Verifiers’ View

Architecture

Project Status April 2006 Theresa to update Many candidates in various sites 3 subjects eSkills UK, City and Guilds, Scottish Enterprise, IT4All and Cumbernauld College 2 MLEs – SABA and Learnwise

key lessons learned: Breaking new ground, therefore an uncertain and difficult process There were major difficulties of integration Technical issues around implementing the system Issues for Employers – is it easier/harder for them to release candidates for training Future work and overall implications for the future of this at national level Further integration will be required for other actors in any new environment

The way forward The project is now proven, exploitation is required We have made the decision to go opensource We wish to develop a community based on these technologies The source code will be released subject to appropriate licence

Integration to Professional Development We would wish to integrate the SELeP to Professional Development Schemes such as the British Computer Society To link to HR systems in SMEs and large organisations

Economic Development Tools To develop the SELeP as an economic Development Tool – to manage skills development in an economic region To investigate hoe labour need statistics can be integrated to HR and vocational learning statistics

The SELeP Community We wish to establish the SELeP open source community Please contact us if you wish to join We need further pilots for new interfaces with other bodies We need developments in the portfolio to integrate with mainstream academic approaches.

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