The Living Schoolbook

The Open Source Portfolio (http://www.osportfolio.org) is often difficult to explain to folks. There are some aspects to the design of the software that seem to be in contradiction with one another. There is a tension between the belief that portfolios are "student owned" and the technical reality that some of the tools are far too complex for students to use. As a result, implementers of OSP use the flexibility of the tools to attempt to craft an environment that meets the needs of all of the users. The simple fact that the experience is designed and implemented by users who may be two degrees from the users make this a challenging piece of software to work with.

I plan to write a bit more about this "suite" of tools in the coming weeks to help identify some ways that I think implementors can get productive fast, but read on for a brief intro to the tools of the Open Source Portfolio.

The Forms tool

The form tool allows a user (probably someone who is wise in the ways of XML) to define data input screens (forms) that will be used to prompt users and structure data entry into the system that will later be used to construct a portfolio. The user gives the form a name, types in some instructions and then identifies an XML Schema Definition (XSD) file that actually describes what the fields are in the form, the validation rules, and some special display information. Optionally, the form designer may further want to craft an alternative view for the form and will identify XSL (Extensible Stylesheet Language) files that will transform a default rendering of a form to one of design.

Wizard pages

While there is no “wizard page” tool, this structure is used as a building block in both the Wizards and the Matrix tools. A wizard page has a unique name and will present guidance (instructions, rationale and examples) to the portfolio owner. When constructing a wizard page, the designer will be able to add the following “pieces” to the page:

• Forms (from the above mentioned tool) for the portfolio owner to fill out.
• A reflection form for the owner to use.
• An evaluation form for an evaluator to use when assessing the page.
• A feedback form for a portfolio reviewer to use to provide informal comments.

When describing a wizard page, all of these structured data input forms are completely optional. At a very minimum portfolio owners will always be able to upload and attach files to the page.

The Wizards tool

The Wizards tool allows a user to create either a series of screens that further "scaffold" the user through the process of entering the data that will used to create their portfolio. There are two types of wizards in OSP:

• Sequential Wizards can be constructed as a set of pages that are presented one after the other.
• Hierarchical wizards present a nested tree of categories and pages to users.

In either case a the pages of the wizard can be constructed to include guidance (instructions, rationale and examples) to the portfolio user. The wizard author can choose forms (from the above mentioned tool) that will prompt the portfolio author to provide pieces of information relevant to the portfolio. The wizard author also has the opportunity to prompt the user to add reflections along the way, receive feedback from reviewers and evaluators.

The Matrix tool

The Matrix tool allows the designer to construct grids of one-page wizards wizard pages (the same wizard pages as described above). The rows and columns of the matrix are described as “criteria” and “levels” in the tool. A matrix “cell” can be set to be “unlocked” (ready for the portfolio owner to use) or “locked” (unavailable to the portfolio owner). Matrix cells can be set to unlock (top to bottom, left to right, or as the instructor deems appropriate) as the owner submits the cells for evaluation.

The Style tool

The Style tool allows the designer to designate an uploaded css file as a “style”.

The Layouts tool

The Layouts tool allows a designer to designate an xhtml file as a template for a free-form portfolio page. Page layouts can have many different designs (Title over text, two columns, Title, an image and a text area, etc.). Two page layouts come with the software.

The Portfolio Template tool

The Portfolio Template tool allows a designer to prompt the portfolio owner for various wizards, matrices, forms and files that they have and create a polished presentation of all of it. The designer can specify css stylesheets, JavaScript files, images and logos to create a branded look for their users. The designer needs to define all of the pieces that go into making a complete portfolio of this type and designate an XSL stylesheet to reorganize the XML mashup of all of that structured (forms, wizards and matrices) and unstructured data (raw attached files) into a presentation.

The Portfolio Tool

The portfolio tool allows the portfolio owner to either create a portfolio from a template (see above) or to design her own portfolio.

If the owner decides to build their own portfolio, they can choose a style (see the style tool above) and begin constructing a series of pages, each with a predefined layout (see above layouts tool).

If the owner wants to build a template-based portfolio, they are prompted to select appropriate data structures (as defined by the template designer) to fill out the portfolio.

When a portfolio is created, the owner can specify who gets to see it (a user, a group of users, guest users) and for how long or they can make their portfolio public to the world.

Does that sound complicated? It is! Trying to figure out how all of these tools work together to provide a workable solution is daunting...and that is just half of it. Once you have scraped your knuckles for a while, you have to actually design the actual forms, the matrices, wizards, styles, layouts and templates that will produce the kind of product that you think your “client” will accept and portfolio authors will find valuable.