Online Personal Learning Environments: Structuring Electronic Portfolios to Support Lifelong and Life Wide Learning

This paper outlines a new vision for “online personal learning environments” which may eventually replace what we currently call “electronic portfolios” in education. Based on the concept of “lifetime personal web space,” this online archive of a life’s collection of artifacts and memorabilia, both personal and professional, has the potential to change the current paradigm of electronic portfolios, mostly institution-bound, and focus instead on the individual or the family as the center for creating the digital archive, which can be used in a variety of contexts across the lifespan, from schools to universities to the workplace. A possible scenario is followed by the challenges faced when developing this service for widespread dissemination. This paper invites discussion of the theoretical foundation for a long-term research proposal, a proposed implementation plan and evaluation study. It is intriguing to consider the notion that every person should be issued “Lifetime Personal Web Space” as proposed by Cohn & Hibbits (Educause Review, October 2004). Their focus was: “Rather than limit people to the e-portfolio model, why not develop a model providing a personal Web space for everyone, for their lifetimes and beyond?” “That every citizen, at birth, will be granted a cradle-to-grave, lifetime personal Web space that will enable connections among personal, educational, social, and business systems.” They quote Vannevar Bush (1890–1974) in his now classic and prescient article “As We May Think” where his paradigm in 1945 was the existing microfilm technology: Consider a future device for individual use, which is a sort of mechanized private file and library. It needs a name, and, to coin one at random, “memex” will do. A memex is a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory. The scenarios provided by Cohn & Hibbitts mostly focus on “Educational Continuity: Less Knowledge Left Behind... a one-stop shop for electronic activities by housing and linking personal content libraries, work spaces, communication networks, and public areas... seamlessly link(ing) individuals to larger communities, thereby facilitating interpersonal connectivity versus fostering social isolation.” (This article was written just as FaceBook and MySpace were