A cool tool that can be used throughout your lifetime for storing personal educational records and accessing e-learning resources is the open source application ePortfolio. According to a media release dated Feb 18, 02003 at the University of Minnesota Duluth where ePortfolio began its life in 1995:

The project was spear-headed by Chancellor Martin. UMD Associate Professor Paul Treuer came up with the idea, and was joined by the U of M web development team, to create this innovative new system of managing personal records and creating a lifetime educational history. Under the leadership of Kari Branjord, Director of U of M Enterprise Applications and Web Development, the system has undergone rapid progress. ePortfolio is currently used by 23,000 U of M students, faculty and staff. Under the university's "Technology for Life" plan, students may continue to use and enhance their personal ePortfolios throughout their lifetime.

An outgrowth of ePortfolio is The Open Source Portfolio Initiative (OSPI) that was established in January 2003:

The OSPI founding partners include technology experts from the University of Minnesota, the University of Delaware and The RSmart Group, (a technology company specializing in educational applications). The OSPI group will oversee the ePortfolio as it expands to include contributions from multiple partners. The mission of the OSPI project is to collectively build non-proprietary Java Enterprise architecture so that it is robust, inexpensive and portable.

Visit the UMD ePortfolio Demonstration site at http://eportfolio.d.umn.edu and the
Open Source Portfolio Initiative (OSPI) site at http://www.theospi.org

8:41:25 PM    comment []  Google It!

Came across this portal software, uPortal, for academic institutions. Here's the blurb from the JA-SIG (Java in Administration Special Interest Group) Web site:

uPortal is a free, sharable portal under development by institutions of higher-education. This group sees an institutional portal as an abridged and customized version of the institutional Web presence... a "pocket-sized" version of the campus Web. Portal technology adds "customization" and "community" to the campus Web presence. Customization allows each user to define a unique and personal view of the campus Web. Community tools, such as chat, forums, survey, and so on, build relationships among campus constituencies.

uPortal is an open-standard effort using Java, XML, JSP and J2EE. It is a collaborative development project with the effort shared among several of the JA-SIG member institutions. You may download uPortal and use it on your site at no cost.

7:37:30 AM    comment []  Google It!