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2. Problem
E-portfolios aim at the creation of a learning environment which is perfectly adapted to the challenges of a modern, knowledge-based work environment and the acquirement of essential skills and individual competences. The main focus is no longer on the acquirement and the correct reproduction of knowledge but on the learning process itself. In other words, the development of new knowledge by identifiying, using and combining existing knowledge.
An essential part is the element of social learning or, thus, the possibility to involve others in the learning process. Subsequently, e-portfolios are not only used to present final results but to include suggestions of other persons at a very early stage in the thinking process which ultimately initiate a process of critical reflection.
Take a written paper for example: Initial ideas are created online. Then other course participants (students, lecturers) are invited to directly comment on the ideas (and vice versa), in an organised peer-review-process. The outcome of this process is a final version which has been improved, changed and redeveloped from initial, online published ideas.
An essential part is the integration of external information sources. For instance, parts of thematically comparable papers or even individual discussion contributions taken from e-portfolios of other course participants.
The outcome of this kind of webbased co-operation is a network of linked pieces of information, so-called hypertext, which has been created by several authors.
The possibility of putting information into context and to embed single pieces of information (micro content), makes the e-portfolio a dynamic learning room. Such dynamic learning rooms are better suited for meeting the requirements of learning in modern knowledge society than the static reproduction of knowledge could ever be able to.
However, a fundamental obstacle still needs to be overcome. This obstacle is the uncertainty of how long linked text objects, which have probably been created in co-operation with others, are available. At present, there is no accepted principle for authors to rely on when it comes to including online text objects in the personal e-portfolio.
In order to solve this problem, two aspects need to be taken into consideration: First, it is decisive that the institution which provides the e-portfolio develops a transparent strategy determining how content shall be handled in the future and, most importantly, how long it shall be available. Developing such a strategy is necessary in any case, regardless of the possibility to transfer content between systems and institutions. On one hand because owners of e-portfolios naturally have a strong need to use their personal learning space in the long term and on the other hand because regarding the generated hypertext structure all of its co-authors are affected, too. Since the topic of developing long term content strategies is already widely discussed, this article focuses rather on a different aspect which has not been discussed as extensively.
Even if institutions like universities can provide a solid framework, owners of e-portfolios still need to comply with certain rules when it comes to working with, most importantly, deleting previously published content.
Since, at present, authors don't have the possibility to signalize others how the available content can be used, an essential precondition for the formation and development of dynamic, long-term (even lifelong?) hypertext structures is missing. This problem is the origin for the following considerations:
The simplest way to solve the problem of reliable availability would be to leave online published information untouched and accessible under the same internet address forever. However, this is clearly hardly realisable due to economic reason. Who should provide the necessary financial means?
