I am now making e-portfolio as a part of final fulfillment to graduate from an online program. I was advised to re-organize my own work gradually developed in my mind for a year, by their “competencies” I am expected to have acquired in the program, with checklist chart of what point is passed, clarifying the precise references in my course work with line and page numbers.

In my mind, e-portfolio is an art of reflection on one’s journey of learning; however, this is a complete misconception and in this case, e-portfolio looks as if another way of giving examination under a disguised mask.

Soon, I lost interests and motivation to make a good presentation but decided to give in whatever the adviser demanded. Because I did not feel she deserved being against. She is not the person I hope to listen to the story of my mother and the fight and loneliness I had had in the long journey of learning. 

I really do not know if this kind of e-portfolio making process actually can claim any validity to examine a student’s ability. So much controlled with little room of liberty and creativity. In my understanding, e-portfolio examiners should hold hyper good cognitive, perceptional, emotional, humane ability to be able to be a fair judge from a chaotic looking personal journey of learning that any one piece can never be the same. 

I will normally be graduating sometime in late 2009 or even in early 2010 – I do not care much but will enjoy the merits of using their digital library so much great while the time permits – for free.

There is a big question that sticks to my mind for the past several years – that’s about the ethics of publishing your academic works in the form of paper and/or oral presentation.

I was told by my professors when in college that you can publish the same idea/same data only ONE TIME in paper and ONE TIME in oral; therefore, I have been keeping this ONE TIME rule for about fifteen years already. 

However, I have been attending so many presentations that repeat the same content (or quite similar content) that were presented at other place(s) before – under slightly different title(s): in the extreme case, I saw a person who repeated the same research report with the same slides under slightly different titles six times in a year at various academic conference places of big and small.

Yet, in the conference guidelines are often written that the presentation proposal should be brand new that was not previously presented at any other place (and should not be concurrently submitted in the strict case). Of course, invited talks and keynotes are different as they are expected to present the condensed version of what the speakers have been doing in their careers. The exception apply to books and the like also.

As I give more and more presentations, I realize that it is not possible to give 100% different content because your work is on the work of yours you did in the past naturally. Even so, I think as a general rule, if you are honest enough, your publication (either in paper or in oral) should be at least 50% or more different from the other one if the occasion is for one of those formal academic opportunities, which you intend to list up in your CV later on…

Now I am preparing for the slids of a presentation at the 15th Sloan-C Orland this late October. It will be about the Interaction Equivalency Theorem posited by Dr. Terry Anderson (2003) that gives food for thought on how to improve our teaching and learning in online and distance education. My slight concern is the ever spreading new influenza in Japan and overseas – it is an idea that the presenters will be given at the last minute choice to shift the presentation mode from on-site to online though I strongly hope to go there to make one!

Hello the world!  I’m still new to blogs and am trying to figure it out…Today’s finding: this edublog site can present both languages of English and Japanese correctly – that’s cool!  As this is not certain, I have been hasitating which site to open my blog for a long time…I sure checked the FQA forum but no post was found that asked this issue…Anyway, today’s fininding: it can treat both languages – that’s great to know for a person like me who would like to write  in more than one language.