Bruce
The problem I see in your model (if I understand correctly) is that is driven by the 'class' concept. I mean is very close to the functionalities provided by an LMS (i.e. dotLRN). The ePortfolio should be integrated to the LMS but should be centered in the student. I mean, it goes across all the subjects and years he spends in Univ (not a single one), and then (hopefully) is a lifelong learning experience, so (if the university supports their account after graduation) they can use it to keep track of their activities as professionals.
There other reasons to make a clear difference with the LMS:
- Univ might alreay be commited to an LMS technology and they would not start trying a new one.
- The Univ might decide to keep them as separate systems if they want to provide support after graduation (scalability, different cost centers)
In our case, if everything goes well we would start witha a group of 200 students, within a single class.
In a year of two, if the project is successfull I would like to see our 3000 engienering students using it across *all* courses.
Of course, if the use of the portfolio is not directly related to an assessment item, they might not care much about it. But, if they could use it as a tool to show prospect employers, then the motivation should be quite high. This brings the issue of having different 'skins' for each student, and letting them show their portfolios in different ways to externals like employers. The subsites model is great for this
cheers
rafael
