Abstract
On August 1, 2002, after over a year of discussion, design, and development, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) launched eFolio MinnesotaTM . After 15 months of operations, eFolio Minnesota has over 12,000 registered users and is receiving close to two million hits per month. The effort has experienced double-digit monthly growth since its launch and is well on its way to being adopted throughout the state by the K-20 education community along with the State’s Workforce Center System. This article is intended to provide the reader with a chance to understand the historical factors that helped shaped this one-of-a-kind effort, along with providing an understanding of the design/development process and what the future potentially holds. This article is not intended to go into the history of the electronic portfolio movement; if one is interested in that, one needs go no further than to check out Dr. Helen Barrett’s site at http://www. electronicpor tfolios.com (2004).
TopProject Management 101—Define, Define, Define Your Project
Most projects that are viewed as a “success” can credit a large part of that success to how the project was initially defined, and eFolio Minnesota was no exception to this. The initial assumptions and project structures that helped to shape the development of eFolio Minnesota are still at work, helping to shape the current operations and eFolio Minnesota’s future.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Portfolio: A repository of information about an individual usually used in the context of a education or career activity.
Generation 1 Portfolio: A paper-based portfolio.
CMA (Career Management Account): A federal Department of Labor initiative under the Clinton administration that was intended to provided a Web-based “lock-box” for career and education-related information.
ISEEK (Internet System for Education and Employment Knowledge): Minnesota’s electronic gateway to education and workforce information. See www.iseek.org.
e-Portfolio: An electronic portfolio that is used by individuals to house personal information. An “e-folio” can be thought of as a specialized version of an e-portfolio.
Generation 3 Portfolio: A Generation 2 portfolio that includes tools to assist an individual in developing his or her individual education and/or career goals.
Generation 2 Portfolio: Refers to any form of electronic portfolios. eFolio Minnesota is currently an example of a Generation 2 portfolio.
E-Folio: A Web-based collection of information and artifacts about an individual. For Minnesota this collection is intended to focus on a person’s education or career goals.