Just finished reading the eponymous JISC report above, and didn’t want to let it go without making a few reflective notes.
I think what stands out for me is just how much technology is going to change HE over the next few years. It’s not exactly news that the old transmission model of learning has been on the ropes for a few years now (although I wonder how far that perception has spread outside educational circles.) The case studies featured in the report show how the influence of what I am calling “reputational assessment” (but only because I can’t think of a better phrase) is growing. I don’t think it’ll be enough to have a 2:1 or even a first in a few years time. Students will have to expose themselves (so to speak) on the web – I think they’ll be expected to do something like I’ve done with the lifestream and web 2.0 portfolio on this blog, but on a much bigger scale. If employers are already Googling potential candidates to assess their suitability for employment, then a surely a degree classification will have rather less predictive value than the student’s public portfolio.
That means that educational providers are really going to have to get their heads around the implications of providing resources, managing this kind of activity across diverse hardware platforms (There’s an interesting aside on p.43 of the report about the importance of choice of mobile phone ownership and tarriff is to students self perceptions.)
Interesting because this is similar to the issue about online presence being integral to academic identity which I blogged about recently. I can see the potential for an e-portfolio to replace a traditional CV (and say so much more about an individual) but it would be a siutation that privileged digital competency. I wonder if ’employability’ could be the tipping point where those yet to engage are persuaded that it might be in their best interests – or create new business opportunities for being someone’s digital self – now there’s a thought!
I do take the point about privileging digital competency. But then you could say that the old CV/Application form method privileged those who happened to have the right skill set. Which, as you imply, suggests that it is in an indvidual’s best interests to acquire the right skill set and to keep it up to date.