{"id":262,"date":"2023-09-10T13:34:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-10T20:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0277\/?p=262"},"modified":"2023-09-10T17:53:39","modified_gmt":"2023-09-11T00:53:39","slug":"eportfolios-getting-a-second-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0277\/eportfolios-getting-a-second-life\/","title":{"rendered":"ePortfolios getting a \u201cSecond Life\u201d?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Cartoon
Avatar of Andrea, contemplating if she missed an opportunity when she passed on Second Life in 2008 <\/em>
Source: Bitmoji App<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After reading (and listening to the serialized podcast of) Martin Weller\u2019s book 25 Years of EdTech<\/em>, specifically the chapters spanning 2002 through 2011, I find myself conflicted on which technologies have relevance to the world of corporate digital learning where I work today. But, it\u2019s not what you might be thinking – the ideas in Weller\u2019s book presented during the decade above all <\/em>have some relevance to the learning world I work in today, although often the concepts have evolved and are leveraged differently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One concept Weller presents which I feel is even more present in 2023 than it was in 2008 where the author placed it is that of E-Portfolios. Weller describes E-Portfolios as they existed at this time as a digital archive of a student\u2019s learning artifacts which would demonstrate their accomplishments in a class or school program (Lorenzo & Ittelson, as cited in Weller, 2020, p. 101). Weller continues to describe that in 2008 these E-Portfolios were sometimes seen as an addition to more formal certification programs, where these digital profiles would instead demonstrate to employers the specific skills an employee is able to demonstrate (p. 102). This potential of E-Portfolios 15 years ago is not far from how I see them being used today by Instructional Designers, Experience Designers, and eLearning Developers looking for new employment or career advancement. In these technical digital learning roles it is very common that candidates are expected to have an E-Portfolio they can show to potential employers to demonstrate their skills with practical examples. In addition to this, recruiters will often ask these eLearning experts to complete a specific development task to reinforce that they are able to apply the skills they demonstrated in their E-Portfolio, often in a short time span of a couple of days. In this way I believe E-Portfolios have evolved past their initial role in 2008 into a crucial place in the recruitment process for eLearning jobs in 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I would argue E-Portfolios are experiencing a second life (at least in recruiting for Ed Tech roles) the concept of the Second Life virtual world platform was absurd to me. I remember the emergency of second life vaguely, and I think it\u2019s only a distant memory as Weller positions it in 2007 when I was a new Mum and quite sleep-deprived. What I do remember at the time was thinking the whole concept of Second Life to be absurd, and Weller seems to pick up on that, describing institutions developing their own \u201cislands\u201d with virtual lectures delivered by instructors represented by seven-foot tall purple cats (p. 98). While I recognize I\u2019m picking from the most absurd examples possible, I think it is fair to say that Second Life did not deliver the lasting influence we may have thought it would in 2008 when some schools made significant investments in developing these virtual landscapes, and has been replaced in popularity by The Sims without the same adoption by higher learning instituions. However, I\u2019m sure we could make an argument that virtual worlds have continued to evolve in the world of gaming and Virtual Reality (VR). A work colleague of mine has developed an international online community where he delivers Sunday church sermons, which is quite impressive to someone like me who is largely removed from gaming culture which I know inspired him to develop his VR church. While Second Life itself did not end up being a platform with lasting influence, I believe we can still see its influences in these types of VR ventures which allow users to experience communication and interaction in a simulated environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Weller, M. (2020, February). 25 Years of Ed Tech<\/em>. AU Press\u2014Digital Publications. https:\/\/read.aupress.ca\/projects\/25-years-of-ed-tech<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After reading (and listening to the serialized podcast of) Martin Weller\u2019s book 25 Years of EdTech, specifically the chapters spanning 2002 through 2011, I find myself conflicted on which technologies have relevance to the world of corporate digital learning where I work today. But, it\u2019s not what you might be thinking – the ideas in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":294,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lrnt523"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0277\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0277\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0277\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0277\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/294"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0277\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0277\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":267,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0277\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262\/revisions\/267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0277\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0277\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0277\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}