The document discusses the Career Portfolio Manitoba initiative, which aims to create an ePortfolio system using the Mahara platform for adult employability and lifelong learning in the province. It provides an overview of the stakeholders involved, the essential skills framework used, and benefits of transitioning the existing paper-based portfolio to a digital ePortfolio system. Implementation plans are outlined, and next steps are discussed, including customizing delivery, improving skills assessment, and expanding the system through additional Mahara installations and partnerships.

1. Career Portfolio
Manitoba
Community-based ePortfolio for Adult
Employability
ePIC 2011
July 2011
Don Presant

2. Learning Agents
Accelerated learning systems
E-learning resources & services
Learning community support
Consulting

3. Agenda
• Framing the initiative
• Demo
• Future steps and related Mahara
projects

4. Manitoba & Canada
Small province in a small country
• Challenging geography
• Diverse demographics
– French/English, Aboriginals, Immigrants
• Federal political structure
• Manitoba: “Canada’s social science laboratory”

5. Regional solutions
Inspiration for Manitoba

6. Careers Wales Online
Detail page - ePortfolio Achievements

7. Career Portfolio Manitoba
Current stakeholders: WEM & WPLAR
• Nonprofit partnerships of Government,
Business and Labour
• WEM: workplace education in Essential Skills
• WPLAR: workplace Recognition of Prior
Learning
wem.mb.ca
wplar.ca

8. Canada’s Essential Skills
Contextualized by workplace occupation…
1. Reading text
2. Document use
3. Writing
4. Numeracy
5. Computer skills
6. Oral communication
7. Thinking skills
– Problem Solving, Decision Making, Critical
Thinking, Job Task Planning and Organizing,
Significant Use of Memory, Finding
Information
8. Working with others
9. Continuous learning

9. The Essential Skills Portfolio
Origins and character
• First immigrants, now “general”
– Career changers (younger, older..)
• Reflection on life-wide learning of
Essential Skills for employability
• Build confidence, improve “skills dialogue”
– Make resumes & cover letters clearer, more credible
– Preparation tool for interviews
• More than ES: attitudes, specialized skills
• Product: ring binder, from electronic templates
• 18 hours class time + c. 18 hours of homework

10. The “e” factor
Advantages and opportunities
• Information Management
– Collecting, archiving, making different versions
• Measurability
– Frameworks, rubrics, summative tracking
• Interoperability
– Communication with other ICT systems via APIs, open standards
• Sharing
– “One to many”, digital copies, links to specific pages
• Multimedia
– Video, audio, digital images, online presentations…and scanned docs
• Internet skills
– Online research: documents, networks, Internet literacy
• Collaboration
– Easy to add comments, edit, mentor, coach
• Personal Learning Environment
– Integrated learning environment, professional network, digital identity

11. Essential Skills ePortfolio
Program overview
• Adapt the paper curriculum
• Leverage the “e” factor
• Embed authentic ICT skills
– Useful software, accessible hardware
– Digital identity literacy
• Provide ongoing support

12. Vision for Career Portfolio Manitoba
Career development for life
• For all Manitobans
• Learner owned
• Lifelong
• Lifewide: home, community, school, work...
• Based on (not restricted to) Essential Skills
• Built through partnerships of stakeholders, with
WEM and WPLAR as “anchor tenants”
• Globally aware, locally relevant

13. Choosing the platform
The “Mahoodle” ecosystem
INSTRUCTOR LED
Archiving
Presenting
USER DRIVEN
Mahara tools
Blog, forum, views
Collect, Select, Reflect…
Human capital Networks Artefacts, commentary, dialogue
development Peers, mentors
Employability Other Web 2.0 tools
Skills transfer
KSA asset building
Lifelong learning

14. Implementation
Online tour (careerportfolio.mb.ca)

15. Moving forward
Make it more usable
• Shorten curriculum, customize delivery
– Retire Moodle (for now)
– Versions: Full/accelerated/modular
• Improve skills inventory methodology
• Stream learners
– Computer skills gap training
• Add more exemplars
– Return to work, mature worker, Aboriginal...
• Document more fully
– Manual, more/updated video tutorials

16. Next steps, over the horizon
Mahara as digital Swiss Army knife
• New Maharas for new needs
– Professional Community of Practice
– Multimedia project tool for high school students
• National charity: “science of agriculture”
– Digital Identity Management Project
• Partnerships
– Athabasca University: “Portable pathways to
accessible futures”
• Mahara User Group Canada
– Find it on mahara.org

17. Mahara as “thin hub”
Dynamic interoperability via web services, etc.
Online HE Online
Mentoring Learning Credential
Services systems Verification
Employer HR
Government Management
Information Systems
Portals
Professional
Thin Localized
Bodies Mahara Labour Market
(CPD) Hub Information
Web 2.0 Job Boards,
YouTube Recruitment
LinkedIn Sites
Twitter…
Larger Online Personal
Networks TBA
Communities

18. Useful links
• Career Portfolio Manitoba
– http://careerportfolio.mb.ca
– http://bit.ly/eP_example
• Workplace Education Manitoba
– http://wem.mb.ca
• WPLAR
– http://wplar.ca
• Mahara User Group Canada
– http://mahara.org/group/view.php?id=1008

19. Don Presant
don@learningagents.ca
Twitter: donpresant
Skype: dpresant