Community College To Host Watershed ePortfolio Conference

• By Trent Batson
• 03/26/08

Laguardia Community College will host a conference, "Making Connections: ePortfolios, Integrative Learning, and Assessment" on April 11 and 12 in New York City (http://www.eportfolio.lagcc.cuny.edu/conference/) on ePortfolios in higher education.

A few years ago, “ePortfolio” was a buzz word. The technology has matured since then. Now, ePortfolios are entering the second phase of growth in the US -- not the “what is it?” phase, but the “how do we do it?” phase. The conference aims to give attendees a chance to get a better handle on ePortfolios in higher education by providing models such as LaGuardia Community College’s nationally acclaimed ePortfolio program, along with sessions on ePortfolio technology and development.

The conference is co-sponsored by the New York Times, which has, through its Knowledge Network, a partnership with the Epsilen system to help make academic content available electronically to higher education.

The rSmart Group of Phoenix, an open source application service provider in higher education, will feature sessions on The Open Source Portfolio, a tool within the Sakai Collaborative Learning Environment. Serensoft, Chalk and Wire, eFolio, Digication, and other ePortfolio vendors will also be present to share information and to support the conference.

The keynote speaker is Kathleen Blake Yancey, the Kellogg W. Hunt Professor of English at Florida State University and co-founder of the Inter/National Coalition on Electronic Portfolio Research. Her work has widely influenced ePortfolio theory and practice.

The Next Generation ePortfolio Initiative, a think-tank for ePortfolio futures, will hold a 3-hour planning session and give a presentation about how Web 2.0 and the Semantic Web are impacting ePortfolios.