Teachers’ ePortfolio
Estonia , 2005 to 2007
Compendium: Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
Background
The ePortfolio is a project for the development of a new open-source e-portfolio tool (with the acronym DIPO) and its implementation in the context of teacher education. ePortfolio demonstrates a practical way of making use of professional qualification standards and modern Web 2.0 tools for planning, documenting and presenting a teacher’s own professional development.
The motivation of the initiative
Estonian teachers use ICT mainly for activities with their students whereas the role of technology in professional development planning has hitherto been insignificant. Recently approved professional qualification standards for teachers are not known and not used by teachers.
Participants
Tallinn University (coordinator), Haapsalu College , University of Tartu
Aims and targets
Objectives of the initiative
- To support teachers’ professional development with the help of an innovative web-based ePortfolio system.
- To develop the educational technology competences of university staff and teachers through all three levels of teacher education — initial training, induction year and continuing professional development.
Target group
Students, university staff, mentors and teachers involved in all three levels of teacher education: initial TE, induction year programme, in-service teacher training.
Methods applied to reach the objective (technological and/or pedagogical)
The technological method of the project is a participatory approach. The pedagogical methods included the development of a new reflection model (called Saka circle) that is intended to guide the user of ePortfolio through five steps of deep reflection on one’s own professional development experiences.
Strategy and actions
Level of implementation
National.
Implementation
The implementation was structured around an analysis of existing e-portfolio platforms, design sessions with representatives of all target groups, pilot testing of early prototypes in the context of school practice of student teachers and extensive testing of later versions of ePortfolio within the induction year programme. Moreover, the in-service teacher training course DigiCommunity was used.
Monitoring and evaluation
Funding/Cost effectiveness
Budget
Not available.
Sustainability/Transferability
Outcomes/impacts
Achievements
Specific results
More than 800 registered users and 220 in-service teachers passed the 40-hour course on professional development planning with ePortfolio.
Success factors
Lessons learnt
The project has shown that the best way to implement new technology-enhanced learning systems and tools is based on clearly defined needs, an innovative pedagogical model, cooperation between key actors in the field (in our case, teachers’ union, state examination board and all major teacher education institutions), synergy of pedagogical research and software development, and a long-term sustainability strategy.
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