From CUNY Academic Commons

COMPARING E-PORTFOLIO PLATFORMS

In our preliminary discussion with Sylvie Richards on Wednesday, April 17, and in the meeting on Friday, we developed a very preliminary set of questions that might be used to frame conversations that fruitfully exchange information on ePortfolio decision-making and implementation. These are focused largely on questions that might assist in comparing platforms. The group consensus was that an online search of existing platform comparisons would add extensively to an exchange among members of CAT. Thanks to Bruce Naples for his edits.
Barbara Walters, Chair ePortfolio Subcommittee

1. What do you want the ePortfolio product to support?
a. Artifact (file) upload capability supporting multiple document-formats such as Text, PDF, DOC, JPG, GIF, and various Audio and Video formats.
b. In-page image/audio/video display from uploaded artifact or remote URL
c. Support for display of complex artifacts such as owner created Web sites (<iframe> capability)
d. Binding a reflection to an artifact
e. Storage space for artifacts – what are the limits?
f. Ability to point to artifacts from multiple access points
g. Web 2.0 Tools: Blogs, Wikis, Groups
h. Social Networking
2. Support
a. What is the expected up-time and what infrastructure must be in place to support this?
b. What kind of technical support is there for the product? What do you need from IT?
c. What kind of support is available for faculty and students?
d. How does the product integrate with other systems, i.e., enrollment data?
e. Are there patches and upgrades to the product, and who applies them?
f. What are the personnel requirements?
3. Privacy & Security
a. What kinds of sharing and privacy options are available? What are the default settings?
b. Can students make their work visible to the world?
c. Are there templates that can be used to create school “brands”? How are these and the information protected when the student leaves?
4. How user friendly is the platform?
5. Many user visual template selections, i.e. “how does it look” ?
6. What are the assessment capabilities?
7. What are the system reporting capabilities?
8. Is it exportable and portable, i.e. what happens after graduation?
9. How much does it cost to buy-in and maintain – product, infrastructure (hardware), personnel, training (student & faculty)?