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E-Portfolios for Preservice Teachers

Katie Hunt

Western Oregon University

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When speaking with my MAT program advisor at the university, I asked what sorts of

things I could do during my program to give myself an edge over my competition. In my mind, I

was thinking of joining certain clubs or participating in certain organizations. His response was

sharp and clear: have an online portfolio. I told him I dont use social media and he laughed at

my answer. That was when he suggested I register for this class to broaden my understanding of

the e-Portfolio and its importance. When emerging from higher education into the workforce in

todays world, it is especially important to present yourself in a manner that is powerful and

succinct in order to catch the attention of those in charge of hiring or promotion.

An e-Portfolio is a great way to accomplish this. According to Lorenzo and Ittleson

(2005), e-Portfolios are a digitalized collection of artifacts, including demonstrations, resources,

and accomplishments that represent an individual, group, community, organization or

institution (p. 2). In other words, by creating an e-Portfolio for myself, I would be creating a

record of myself in a digital platform that would encompass my accomplishments and collection

of artifacts that make me the educator and the person that I am presently.

According to Helen Barretts TED Talk, the e-Portfolio for a soon-to-graduate student is

a more of a reflection of the student as a person undergoing continuous personal development,

not just a store of evidence (TEDxTalks, 2010). With this new understanding, I see that I can

use an e-Portfolio to showcase myself as an evolving educator on a path, rather than simply

rattling off accomplishments. I was more concerned with copying and pasting information from

my resume instead of displaying exactly how I progressed to the MAT graduate that I will be in

June.

For a previous class in the MAT program, we were required to assemble a physical

binder of our accomplishments. I printed out copies of my degrees, licenses, awards, and
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anything else that I could get my hand on physically. I found that my binder became outdated

very quickly and seemed so cumbersome, like handing someone a stack of printed out vacation

photos and telling them to flip through them. The benefit of an e-Portfolio, in addition to easily

being edited, is that they contain not just the literal accomplishments of the user, but also allow

for easy reflection and explanation (AuburnWrites, 2013). The manner in which I organize my

artifacts or the text preceding each entry are valuable tools since the reader may not be viewing

the e-Portfolio while I am in the same room.

When thinking about important items (artifacts) to include in an e-Portfolio, Lorenzo and

Ittleson (2005) recommend a collection of course - or discipline - related plans, strategies, and

artifacts to be shared with colleagues, which often promotes improved teaching and learning (p.

3). These items are import to include in my e-Portfolio because they show my willingness to

teach but also to learn and grow as an educator. Since I am a preservice teacher currently

student-teaching, my artifacts would be mostly academic including my lesson plans and

participation with various student groups and professional learning communities.

The best thing about an e-Portfolio is that the layout and style can also be descriptive of

my personality as an educator. Resumes and cover letters can be dry and text-heavy while e-

Portfolios lend themselves to images and graphics. Instead of telling people about my

accomplishments so far, I can show them by embedding images and pictures from my past

endeavors as a student and preservice teacher. This again would show the creative and personal

side of my portfolio in a way that a resume and application could not. With all of this advice in

mind, the creation of an e-Portfolio is an exciting and useful process that should give me that

little extra edge in the education workforce that I was looking for early in my program.
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References

AuburnWrites. (2013, November 14). What is an e-Portfolio? [Video File]. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=66&v=xvqBORISA5k

Lorenzo, G., and Ittleson, J. (2005). An overview of e-portfolios. Educause, 1-27.

TEDx Talks. (2010, March 10). TEDxASB- Helen Barrett 02/25/10 [Video file]. Retrieved

from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckcSegrwjkA