PebblePad - not just an eportfolio

Definitions

There is still a great deal of debate about what an ePortfolio actually is and this debate is unlikely to ease because ePortfolios come in many shapes, sizes and colours. Each system tends to be designed for a particular purpose, very often for a particular group of students engaged in a very particular form of study.

Few systems are as generic and as flexible as PebblePad. Some ePortfolios are designed simply to present the user in a good light when they apply for a new job, role or position; others are designed to collate the artefacts of learning for the purposes of assessment and a few are concerned with supporting students whilst they learn. Some are designed to track progress and so seem to be student management systems that have borrowed the label ‘ePortfolio’. PebblePad, is concerned with the process of learning and places the learner at the very centre of the system.

Our concept of an ePortfolio system, which serves as both a description of and a blueprint for PebblePad is this:

A system which allows users, in any of their learning identities, to selectively record any abilities, events, plans or thoughts that are personally significant; it allows these records to be linked, augmented or evidenced by other data sources and allows the user to integrate institutional data with their personal data.

It facilitates self-awareness, promotes reflection, supports enrichment through commentary and feedback from the recipients of shared assets. It grows, develops and matures as the user accesses it, without constraint, over time. It provides tools for aggregating assets in multiple forms; for telling myriad stories to diverse audiences and ensures absolute user-control over what is shared, with whom, for what purpose and for how long.

It is a personal repository; a personal journal; a feedback and collaboration system; and a digital theatre - where the audience is by invitation only.

The problem with this definition is that it is a definition of a system and not of an eportfolio as an artefact. In this sense of the word an eportfolio is simply a story or a presentation:
"a purposeful aggregation of digital items - ideas, evidence, reflections, feedback, data etc - which ‘present’ a selected audience with information about the subject of that eportfolio"

For more about definitions and purposes of eportfolios read my short draft "What is not an eportfolio";

"What is not an eportfolio" (PDF format)
"What is not an eportfolio" (Word format)