Explore ePortfolio Technologies For Free

"An ongoing webinar series has spawned a rich, mulitmedia resource for educators looking to use electronic portfolios for teaching and learning, accreditation, and other student services. The series includes four more webinars through April.

""The Exploring ePortfolio Technologies Webinar Series, a collaborative resource project betweenePortfolio California, EPAC, and AAEEBL, returns this year with seven new electronic portfolio tools to explore. The webinar sessions, which are free to the public, began on January 18 and will run bi-weekly on Wednesdays through April 25.

The goal of this effort is to produce a rich, multimedia resource for educators who are seeking answers to questions about electronic portfolios for teaching and learning, as well as institutions looking to integrate an ePortfolio solution for accreditation and other student services.

http://eportfolioca.org

""The webinars are more than just a sales pitch by developers and service providers on how to use their tool", said Patty Donohue, Program Manager for ePortfolio California. "They are an opportunity to interact with the developers and learn about the philosophy and pedagogy behind their product and how it compares to similar tools offering the similar functionality. Plus, having Trent Batson, Executive Director of AAEEBL organization, interview these developers and keep them on their toes, creates a dynamic that cannot be found in a static set of white papers or a Flash tutorial.”

"The resource also includes technical information, pricing and licensing information, and details about the business operations of the development organization. There is also a handy, side-by-side comparison matrix that can be downloaded or revisited by educators at any time. This matrix will grow as more ePortfolio tools and vendors are added to the resource.

"“It may help educators to know that a particular tool is being used in 59 countries around the world, or another tool is a hosted, "software-as-a-solution", full-service package. These details cannot be found currently in any other resource," Donohue said.

"The resource is housed on the ePortfolio California website and continues to grow with each new webinar session. Based on the response and attendance during last fall’s series (458 people attended the seven sessions and hits to the ePortfolio California resource page has tripled since the beginning of the series) the 2012 series is expected to see similar attendance.

"The 2012 schedule includes PebblePad, TaskStream, iCampus21, Symplicity, 3 Canoes, Chalk & Wire, and RCampus. Click here to pre-register for one or all of the upcoming sessions."

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