OSP's freeform portfolio
A while back on the Sakai lists there was some talk about making Sakai a place that integrated with other, new Web 2.0 applications.
When I build and deploy Sakai, I often wonder to myself i Sakai is getting too big for its britches. Its great that anyone can build a tool for this platform, but that has negative consequences too. My sense is that the bulk of the resources are still devoted to development. Tools are released way too early (IMHO) without enough QA. Reviews like the one I just did for the OSP matrix tool are getting done after the tool is already out there being used.
When it comes to building a freeforn portfolio authoring tool, OSP hasn't put forth the resources to do it yet. I recently wrote the list about considering external authoring environments.
I was looking at Google Presentations tonight. It would make a pretty nice portfolio platform. For those of us looking for an easy to use freeform portfolio tool that allows users to author a simple presentation and share it with others, this is pretty attractive. It allows collaborative editing and chat by viewers of the portfolio (what a fun way to get feedback!). If you aren't interested in assessment tools in your portfolio authoring environment, it might be attractive.
If I remember what LaGuardia wanted to do, they wanted to be give out a "stub" portfolio starter that would get the portfolio creation process rolling. Google just let me import and then edit a PowerPoint file.
Wouldn't it be great if a student could "turn in" their URL for their Google "portfolio" (or a MySpace/FaceBook page, etc.) in OSP so that a portfolio evaluator could view and assess it?
I love the idea of separating the student owned authoring and portfolio storage space from the institutional system. If OSP could retrieve and save a copy of the student's portfolio, it would allow the institution to get a copy of the student's work while allowing the student to REALLY OWN their stuff.
With OSP, its the opposite. Students author their stuff in Sakai/OSP and then wonder, "How will I get my stuff out of there so I can use it after I leave here?" The IMS portfolio spec seems to assume that students will want to move their stuff from portfolio system to portfolio system. Export from one place -> Import somewhere else. I would prefer to author and publish external to all institutional systems and show them where MY stuff is.
I think OSP excels as a content management system with a workflow built in for assessment. Prompting students for certain types of information and presenting that information to a board of evaluators consistently is a process that needs to have an information system specifically for that. OSP forms, wizards and templates support that.
We haven't done very well at supporting freeform portfolios. I'm wondering if we should even be in that business.
Sean