An Annotation Framework for a Virtual Learning Portfolio

As a person learns, a significant amount of information and knowledge is accumulated, and a challenge faced by both instructors and learners is the ability to maintain a personal portfolio that manages this. Traditionally a variety of physical media such as, photocopies, images, and books were collected and personal observations and annotations were added. As electronic technology has advanced particularly on the internet, this has created some interesting opportunities. Web based portfolio systems fulfill some of the requirements and allow for the acquisition, management and retrieval of the information and knowledge. Once the portfolio has been captured, how can the information and knowledge contained within be extended and updated? This paper describes a framework that can be used to enhance a portfolio that allows both the owner and users to add annotations both in and out of context. A prototype system is described that has been developed to demonstrate the feasibility of such a framework.