Магистрант Жанадилова М.Б., к.п.н. Тургинбаева Л.В.

Региональный социально-инновационный университет, Казахстан

Южно-Казахстанский государственный педагогический институт, Казахстан

A NEW OPPORTUNITY IN LANGUAGE LEARNING: THE ONLINE E-PORTFOLIO BUILDERS

E-portfolio has become a popular tool in education all over the world. For that reason there are already a number of various solutions for both schools and individuals to maintain portfolios. There is no need to create a new e-portfolio system or to buy a commercial and customised product if one abandons some of the requirements and suggestions mentioned in the previous chapter. Software provided for free differs considerably in many aspects; available solutions range from templates to quality and extensive environment. This article provides an overview of various approaches to keeping an e-portfolio and their description with respect to a possible use.

An example of such a solution is a project called Digital Portfolios Made Easy. Learners are provided with files to modify and online instructions. Files are intended for download and offline changes and only later can be uploaded and published on the Internet (or sent by email, copied to a flash drive, etc.).

These are online services where one can request an account, often for free. Their main disadvantages are that the service is not guaranteed and that there is usually little or no possibility to configure e-portfolios. Four services are presented and briefly described in this section.

Myeport service allows users to create eleven types of pages, each of which can have any number of instances. All types are explained and supplemented with an example page. Users can upload files, add a blog or a calendar, create or contribute to discussions, maintain wiki pages or include surveys in their accounts. Published portfolios are available to absolutely everybody to read or contribute. A great disadvantage is that a user has to think about the structure of learning portfolio and how to use the page types efficiently. A portfolio can be saved on a computer.

Zunal aims at adults. Users are required to be at least 18 years old and the site layout and provided examples also indicate it is not suitable for children. This builder is very simple to use; a user decides which module to add by clicking and then fills text fields (titles, descriptions, etc.). Clear explanations and examples are provided. Modules can be added more than once so it is possible to have more than one portfolio in one account. Some of the modules may generate its content automatically (e.g. a module Résumé). The service offers well-arranged and complex structure while still allowing personalisation. Reflections are suggested all over the portfolio. The content cannot be saved on a computer by a simple click or tool.

Teacher portfolio is a special project by Cambridge ESOL with firm structure. It is not suitable as a language portfolio. However, it is a very useful site to maintain a professional teacher portfolio and furthermore it is supported by a respected authority.

The online e-portfolio builders are generally simple tools with some limitations. Two of them were already mentioned in the introductory paragraph of this section. Besides the minimal age requirements there can be limited storage or lack of co-operation or assessment tools. Teachers may need to comment on their students’ work which is not possible in most e-portfolio solutions. An electronic language portfolio needs a clear structure but also some room for modifications (e.g. comments on the learning process or simple notes).

An e-portfolio is a powerful instrument of reflecting, self-assessment and self-culture. It is advisable to make a choice of the most suitable tool with respect to teachers’ preferences and students’ needs. There are many things to be taken into consideration: the number of students, the number of uploaded multimedia files per student, available space on hard disks, the Internet connection speed and software available for students and teachers. One must take both advantages and disadvantages into account when planning to use an e-portfolio efficiently to study.