The practical application of e-portfolio at the Open University of Ca talonia: assesment of competence based learning

Th e paper presents the results of the piloting or pilot test in a virtual classroom 1 . This e-portfolio was carried out in the 2006-2007 academic year, with students of the Doctorate in Information Society, at the Open University of Catalonia. The electronic portfolio is a strategy for competence based assessment. This experience shows the types of e-portfolios, where students show their work without interactions, and apply the competence-based learning theories in an interactive portfolio system. The real process of learning is developed in the competency based system, the portfolio not only is a basic bio document, has become a real space for learning with competence model. The paper brings out new ideas and possibilities: the competence-based learning promotes closer relationships between universities and companies and redesigns the pedagogic act. In today's society, there is a demand for new professional competence, largely based on the service economy. Th is places demands on the institutions responsible for higher education, to promote the consolidation of combined theoretical and practical competences. In this context, if we aim to promote the development and strengthening of personal and professional competence, we must create a closer relationship between the world of education and the professional sphere. Several authors have already raised the question of linking concepts related to competence, for example Edwards (1993), who poses the question of "life-long learning" to demonstrate the need for a more profound approach to the workplace, and for the strengthening of competence throughout a lifetime. In the field of education, this effort is being made. Evidence of this can be found in the notable increase in the experimental use of tools like e-portfolio in recent years. Nowadays we find many examples of its practical application, where the student exhibits his or her work using an electronic portfolio as a folder that contains diverse examples of his or her academic performance.