The social networks and internet of tomorrow will mean existing as an ‘internet of subjects’ with our digital identities ‘interwoven together’, according to the views of Serge Ravet, chief executive of EifEL. Addressing delegates at the Learning Forum London this week, Ravet called for developers to create an e-portfolio that can capture our digital stories and relate it to the experience of others. He said: “We don’t want our information to be centralised, we want our data under control. At the moment, we have a fragmented digital identity and we need to make changes in the internet’s architecture.” Ravel put forward an idea of an e-portfolio as an e-patchwork, utilising the network infrastructure of the web. Mr Ravet added, “The key is to interweave our digital stories. The credibility of your story will be linked to other stories.” Dr Helen Barrett, international researcher and consultant shared her vision on e-portfolios. Dr Barrett said: “I really think that in the future, we will remove the ‘e’ from portfolios and learning and regard it as just learning, good learning. A lot of people are already using personal learning environments and web 2.0 sites. I think there is a general misunderstanding of what portfolios are. Portfolios are seen as meeting certain outcomes and not a story of deep learning.” Speaking about her plans to write a book on e-portfolios, Dr Barrett continued, “What I’m hoping to share is a vision of portfolios, looking at the interactive nature of them across a lifespan, but ending at the workplace. It will be a running record, capturing experiences. But my dream is to do e-portfolios with mobile phones."
