Why use the OSP? Realizing electronic portfolio software is in the beginning stages of development, the University of Minnesota is using OSP because the open source community associated with OSP provides opportunity for creating an evolving portfolio system reflecting needs of multiple, international users. Furthermore, the UMN is using OSP because of OSPI's stated vision (Monterey meetings in 2003) of creating a standards-based portfolio system, which is capable of being portable between different institutions, and interoperable with complimentary learning environments (SAKAI).

Background and Context The UMN began a pilot electronic portfolio project in 1996. From the outset, individuals envisioned the UMN portfolio as an enterprise application intended for comprehensive use with multiple users within the university community. Early sponsors included the school of fine arts, freshman orientation programs, and advisement. The first version of the software was available for use by all UMN students, faculty, and staff in 2000. Since 2000, the UMN has made four additional upgrades to the software. In 2003, the UMN contributed its portfolio code to the open source community, and it became the original code base for OSP. The most recent UMN Portfolio software is built on OSP 1.5, and plans are in place to use OSP 2.x as the source of the next UMN upgrade. Implementation efforts have focused primarily on project sponsors, and on programs expressing interest in the current software. All students at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) are introduced to portfolio through college writing assignments in Composition courses. A Knowledge Management Center (KMC) has been set up on the UMD campus to help students, faculty, and staff use portfolio individually or in classes. A UMN Portfolio Coordinating Committee is working to develop strategies for portfolio implementation. Additionally, the UMN technology help desk is providing services to assist users with portfolio. This includes answering the help line as requests come in and providing written materials and training on portfolio. University of Minnesota Portfolio website

Goals, Users, Processes, and Activities The goal of the UMN portfolio is that it is used by and useful to all students, faculty, and staff. Since the UMN portfolio is the only tool available to all individuals for managing both system and self-reported educational and professional records in a highly secure, web-accessible, computing environment, it is intended to be used by all members of the university community and their guests. To this end, multiple processes and activities are being identified and piloted throughout the university. Some of these processes include the following: Advisement - all academic advisors may access their advisees' profiles through portfolio Student Development - in selected programs students are supported to build and share portfolios to meet academic standards. Capstone courses are in place for portfolio presentations and evaluations. Program Assessment - Portfolios submitted by students are used in the accreditation process to demonstrate how standards are being met. Career Development - Students are guided to maintain a portfolio of career documents in portfolio; this includes resume, cover letter, references, work history, and work samples demonstrating competencies. Faculty and Staff - UMN faculty and library staff may use portfolio for promotion and tenure processes. It may be used in performance appraisal and professional development goal setting as well. Employment - student, faculty, and staff employees share profiles of relevant information with employers through Portfolios. Access to records - increasingly students, faculty, and staff are using portfolio as a secure, universally accessible place to store and retrieve records and works in progress. This is especially useful when studying abroad, for example, and as a backup in case one's computer is damaged, lost, or stolen. Folio Thinking - as learners develop skills for self-assessment through reflection, the portfolio becomes an ideal repository where users may identify learning outcomes, and recording evidence of that learning. Lifelong learning - graduates of the UMN are encouraged to continue using portfolio upon completion of studies, thereby facilitating and formalizing the process of continued learning. University of Minnesota Portfolio Support Portfolio Orientation Manual

Impact of Use Weekly usage statistics are monitored. Whereas these data indicate, among other things, the number of users, the amount of information uploaded, the numbers of guest accounts, and the areas of portfolio most commonly used, the impact of use has not yet been sufficiently measured. Research projects, such as one on the impact of portfolio use on audience, are in the beginning stages. Anecdotal evidence is beginning to accumulate about the beneficial uses of portfolio, especially as an asset during the hiring process for college graduates. Rigorous studies need to be done to assess the actual impact of multiple types of electronic portfolio use.

Challenges, Issues, and Innovations There are many challenges with portfolio; perhaps the greatest challenge is managing expectations. The software is going through a process of intensive, continuing development in order that it meets the needs of many different users within the university. Because it is intended to be an enterprise application, this rigorous process takes more time than one would like because it must take into account multiple business processes and business owners. Thus, it is particularly challenging delivering a robust portfolio system, which makes all customers happy. A recent comment summarizes this perfectly. In response to when do you need the assessment part of portfolio, an associate dean responded, "Yesterday. " Along with the managing expectations, is the challenge of communicating what, exactly a portfolio is and what it is not. Many faculty members, for example, confuse portfolio with a course management system. Furthermore, since portfolio functionality is expanding with each new build, the task of communicating a definition of portfolio is difficult. Many people look at it, and judge it by its current state, unaware of its on-going development. Even a bigger challenge is teaching users to use portfolio wisely. For example, the task of guiding users to become reflective thinkers is very difficult. Thus, integrating portfolio into the curriculum is essential, but the curriculum must be adapted to guide learners to reflect in meaningful ways about the record of their learning in portfolio. Further assessing readiness for implementing portfolio is a necessary step. Departments and programs that have recently mapped their curriculum to outcomes and standards are in a better position to integrate portfolio into the curriculum. Another critical thinking skill associated with the use of portfolio is how to manage one's own records responsibly. Since portfolio enables users to selectively share learning objects with selected viewers in discrete portfolio presentations, users must understand not only with whom to share materials and when, but what materials are appropriate to share. Finally, since the intended goal is to have portfolio used by all members of the university community, and not only a select few, support systems need to be in place to train and provide technical assistance for all users, including those wanting to edit and upload multimedia samples of learning.

Recommendations OSP is currently going through major improvements, which will make it a more useful portfolio system. The next release is not the last. Therefore, our advice is to actively participate in the OSP community, both as a recipient of free, open source portfolio code and implementation ideas and as a contributor of ideas to the next generation of this software. Participation can include attendance at SAKAI/OSP conferences or membership in an OSP workgroup.

Technical Information about this OSP Implementation Project OSP 1.5 The application connects to existing UMN administrative systems, including PeopleSoft, to display student information. Existing authentication processes, such as Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) and x.500, are used to authenticate users. The reference implementation uses open source server components, such as Linux operating system, Apache Web Server, Jakarta-tomcat servlet container, and Jakarta-commons Database Connection Pooling Oracle 10