17.09.2014: At the eLearning day of FH Joanneum in Graz the Austrian chapter of EUROPORTFOLIO was founded. The founding of this Chapter also is the starting signal for an exchange of information and expert's know-how about ePortfolios in German language.

"Evaluation of Open Learning Scenarios" was the topic of the 13th eLearning day at FH Joanneum. Of couse, ePortfolios were the tool that was present in many papers on self-determined learning. Thomas Strasser of the University of Teacher Education Vienna (PH Wien) held a presentation about implementation strategies for ePortfolios in Higher Education, another implementation at FH Technikum Wien was presented, as well.

In a workshop on ePortfolios and Open Badges, Klaus Himpsl-Gutermann (PH Wien) and Andrea Ghoneim (IMB of Danube University Krems) introduced participants to the network EUROPORTFOLIO. The website of this network is devoted to collect ressources on ePortfolios, thus forming an inventory for getting started with ePortfolios and for deepening expertise in the field. The website is also forming a network of ePortfolio experts and practitioners in order to ameliorate the exchange of good-practice examples, implementation strategies and didactic scenarios. The announcement of events and national exchange of information in the framework of Chapters is another part of the networking project.

The workshop was the founding event of an Austrian Chapter of EUROPORTFOLIO. Klaus Himpsl-Gutermann for the team of  the University of Teacher Education Vienna (PH Wien), Peter Groißböck for the team of PH Niederösterreich and Andrea Ghoneim for the team of IMB at Danube University Krems are looking forward to a vivid Community of Practice within the Austrian Chapter of EUROPORTFOLIO.

The second part of the workshop was devoted to EUROPORTFOLIO's products. The participants discussed the EUROPORTFOLIO matrix and also could throw a frist glance at the Competency Recognition Framework and the Wiki for ePortfolio Implementation Guidelines.

The participants agreed that these products will be valuable resources for working with ePortfolios. However, short and easy ways to enter - maybe even via examples for practice should be provided. MR Helmut Stemmer from the Austrian Ministry of Education (BMBF) proposed to create an easy access to complex topics via short videos and descriptions. The recommendations will be realised by the Team of Interactive Media and Educational Technologies of Danube University Krems in Cooperation with the other project partners of EUROPORTFOLIO. Participation of associated members will be welcomed!

Many thanks for the support of the founding of an Austrian Chapter go to the KidZ Initiative of the Austrian BMBF which supports the participation of the Teacher's Universities Vienna and Lower Austria to participate in the project. The project EUROPORTFOLIO and the participation of the IMB of Danube University Krems is supported by the European Commission.