Telstar

6.6.1 ePortfolio integration options at the Open University

Three options for integrating references into the Course Website were considered. The decision as to which option to select was greatly influenced by the decision by the Open University to cease development of the MyStuff ePortfolio environment.

Option 1

This option makes use of the existing MyStuff ePortfolio solution in use at the Open University. MyStuff already has limited support for storing resource metadata, and includes functions such as annotation and sharing. A large number of students are already using the MyStuff ePortfolio solution.

Option 2

This option envisages using a student’s existing RefWorks account (available to all students studying with the Open University) to store references, but developing additional tools to enable this account to be viewed from within the OU online environment. This would require an API for RefWorks to be available.

Option 3

As with option 2, this option also envisages using a student’s existing RefWorks account to store references, but rather than integrating this directly with the OU online environment, it uses a ‘Widget’ approach to enable interaction with references in the RefWorks account in any Widget compatible environment. This would require an API for RefWorks to be available.