WHAT IS E-PORTFOLIO?

An electronic portfolio (also known as an e-portfolio, e-portfolio, digital portfolio, or online

portfolio) is a collection of electronic evidence assembled and managed by a user, usually
on the Web. Such electronic evidence may include inputted text, electronic files,
images, multimedia,blog entries, and hyperlinks. E-portfolios are both demonstrations of the
user's abilities and platforms for self-expression, and, if they are online, they can be
maintained dynamically over time.
An e-portfolio can be seen as a type of learning record that provides actual evidence of
achievement. Learning records are closely related to the Learning Plan, an emerging tool that
is being used to manage learning by individuals, teams, communities of interest, and
organizations. To the extent that a Personal Learning Environment captures and displays a
learning record, it also might be understood to be an electronic portfolio.
E-portfolios, like traditional portfolios, can facilitate students' reflection on their own
learning, leading to more awareness of learning strategies and needs. Results of a
comparative research, by M. van We sell and Prop, between paper-based portfolios and
electronic portfolios in the same setting, suggest use of an electronic portfolio leads to better
learning outcomes.

The electronic portfolio is a result of technology being readily and conveniently used in most
classrooms today. They are highly motivating for the students who are encouraged by
exhibiting their work.

E-Portfolio
An electronic porfolio (e-portfolio) is a purposeful collection of sample student work,
demonstrations, and artifacts that showcase student's learning progression, achievement, and
evidence of what students can do. The collection can include essays and papers (text-based),
blog, multimedia (recordings of demonstrations, interviews, presentations, etc.), graphic.

What to Include in Electronic Portfolios

The following table sums up what a simple student electronic portfolio should include.

01) Title:

The title card consists of the student’s and teacher’s names and the academic year. It may
include a picture or video of the student.

02) Table of Contents.

This is a summary of the portfolio. Links may be added to guide the viewer.

03) Samples of work:

Include the first draft and the final draft to show progress. You may choose to include
multiple drafts.

04) Short resume.

This acts as a window into the student’s life and makes the portfolio more personal.

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 05) Student’s reflective notes.

Letter to viewers.

Viewer comments box.

Viewer comments box.

What is an ePortfolio?

An ePortfolio is a collection of work (evidence) in an electronic format that showcases

learning over time. When you think about your ePortfolio and the types of evidence that it
contains, it is important to think carefully about its purpose and intended audience.

An ePortfolio may contain all or some of the following:

• Files of various formats (text, pictures, video, etc.)

• Evidence related to courses taken, programs of study, etc.
• Writing samples (which might include several drafts to show development and
improvement)
• Projects prepared for class or extracurricular activities
• Evidence of creativity and performance
• Evidence of extracurricular or co-curricular activities, including examples of
leadership
• Evaluations, analysis and recommendations

Types of ePortfolios

Showcase/Professional ePortfolios — These ePortfolios are primarily a way to demonstrate

(showcase) the highlights of a student’s academic career. Great examples of showcase
ePortfolios on Clemson’s campus come from Health Sciences, Architecture and

Learning ePortfolios — These portfolios are typically created by a student as part of a

course as a way to demonstrate learning and the learning process. These portfolios are often
shared with other students to elicit peer feedback. Learning portfolios support the idea of
formative feedback as an essential part of the learning process.

Assessment/General Education ePortfolios — At Clemson the use of portfolios played a

substantive role in the assessment of our general education competencies. Using both
formative and summative assessments feedback was provided to colleges, departments and
instructors on the quality of evidence students used in their portfolios to demonstrate our
general education competencies.

Learning: This type of ePortfolio is both student and faculty directed. Students utilize their
ePortfolio for a variety of reflective purposes. For instance, a student may wish to reflect on
courses taken, projects, internships, activities, or programs. Regardless of whether this
reflection is positive or negative, it encourages the student to think critically and utilize
analytical skills to develop a thorough understanding of an experience. Evidence based
reflection is the key component differentiating ePortfolio from other social media websites.
Assessment for Learning: This type of ePortfolio is primarily used for accreditation
purposes and program evaluation. Data may be collected using measurable evidence based
prompts that correlate with the learning objectives of a specific program or accreditation
body. Students play a vital role in the assessment process. A major advantage of ePortfolio
assessment is that it allows teachers and students to share the responsibility of setting goals

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and evaluating progress while also enabling measurement of multiple dimensions of student
progress by including a wide variety of data (Venn, 2000, p. 538).
Showcase: A showcase ePortfolio is a student owned ePortfolio with a collection of artifacts
designed to display the best of that individual student.
There are three major types of ePortfolio classification; developmental, showcase, and
assessment.
1. Developmental (also called learning portfolios, reflection
portfolios, formative portfolios, working portfolios)

• Demonstrates a work in progress

• Includes self-assessment and reflection
• Focuses on the portfolio as a process and emphasizes reflection

2. Showcase (also called professional portfolios, formal portfolios, presentation portfolios,

representational portfolios, career or employment portfolios)

• Demonstrates exemplary work, skills

• Illustrates experience and achievement
• Focuses on the portfolio as a product

3. Assessment (also called summative portfolios, generally used by instructors and educators)

• Assessment portfolios are generally used by educators where students provide work in
the format of a developmental or showcase portfolio. It is typically a systematic
collection of student work demonstrating competencies and achievement of set
criteria, standards, and/or goals (O'Malley & Valdez, 1996).
Types of Eportfolios

Learning
A Learning Eportfolio allows you to collect examples of your learning (papers, presentations,
projects, images) in one place where you can organize them and make meaningful
connections between academics, extracurriculars, and your personal life. This is a personal
Eportfolio that you can choose to revieve feedback from an advisor, a professor, or mentor.

Learning Eportfolios are great for:

• Facilitating reflection
• Setting goals
• Evaluation of skills
• Assisting in conversations with mentors and advisors
• Providing a work space for you to prep materials for a showcase portfolio
• Documenting learning and growth
• Understanding connections between academics and other aspects of your life

Showcase
A Showcase Eportfolio helps you communicate your skills and experiences with others in
your application process, whether it's for a job or graduate school. It's what you take with you
to job fairs on a tablet or smartphone. It's a link you put on your resume or in emails to
potential employers.

Showcase Eportfolios are great for:

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• Communicating your skills to others
• Marketing yourself
• Speaking to the importance of skills and experiences in your life
• Humanizing a resume or CV
• Explaining a variety of experiences

Why to create e-portfolio

E-portfolios as a Guide for Teaching and Learning
As students enter college, most do not imagine being responsible for their own learning. They
believe that, somehow, teachers make them learn or, in some cases, prevent them from
learning. Many even see assignments, required courses, and exams as obstacles to get around
on the way to their ticket to the future—the degree. While there has been talk for many years
about professors moving from “sage on the stage” to “guide on the side,” e-portfolios are
developing as a teaching/learning context where this is likely to happen. The practices
associated with e-portfolio—e.g., designing “authentic” assignments, using engaging and
active pedagogy, periodic self-, peer- and teacher-formative assessments, and requiring
students to reflect on their learning—help to move both professors and students into a
teacher/learner relationship where “guiding” really works. Emphasis shifts from delivering
content toward coaching and motivating students as they try to solve problems that are of
genuine interest to disciplines, professions, or communities. While additional research will be
completed on e-portfolios per se, there is already promise in the fact that good e-portfolio
programs use a combination of practices already shown individually to be effective in helping
students learn. (See, for example, research on such practices in Bransford, Brown, and
Cocking [2000]).
E-portfolios are gaining support as a way for students, faculty, programs, and institutions to
learn, assess, and improve through a mutual focus on the work that students complete over
time—work that can both facilitate and document a range of ambitious learning outcomes.

Benefits
ePortfolio is relevant for:

• INSTITUTION

• LEARNER
When LMS supported mainly institutions, ePortfolio is clearly designed for the individual.
It’s user-centred and is often recalled as Personal Learning Environment. It goes without
saying that it is the learner who gets the most of it. It is claimed that students are generally
more capable of directing the learning on using ePortfolio to support their learning
(Aalderink W, Veugelers M, 2005). Acording to Beetham learning process is captured for
reflection, evaluation and assessment. Many argue (Beetham H 2003; Barrett H n.d.) that
skills and competences gained in different context (be it formal or informal) can be
recognized and developed more easily and efficiently with ePortfolio. Portability of artifacts
and management. Jafari also recognizes ePortfolio and an useful aid in career placement .

• TEACHER/TRAINER
Beetham (2003) claims that ePortfolia provide more information about learners which results
in enhancement of the selection process, improved reaserach and planning. She also
advocates that it enhances collaboration with other organisations due to data sharing and
interoperability of systems. According to Jafari (2004) ePortfolio provides an excellent tool
for mapping learning, also in terms of accreditation and review of the faculties. The results
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 are thus more transparent and easy to be assesed. Simens (2004) also indicates that ePortfolio
can bind learners with institution for more than formal learning cycle, but I do not think it is
of that importance nowadays.

Advantages Disadvantages

Wedded to paper – the use of paper is so

Richer evidence – e-portfolios make the use of
electronic evidence much easier. This might be images,
video or voice recordings. In all cases, electronic
evidence is usually rich and a very good indicator of
learner competency that stands up well to QA.
entrenched in a process that it’s hard to let go.
An example might be the use of an evidence
gathering form in a commercial kitchen. It’s still
possible to use an e-portfolio, of course, plenty
of organisations have a process that blends the
use of paper with the e-portfolio.

Computer-phobia – some people just don’t like

Improves efficiency – reducing the amount of time you
using a computer, and there’s nothing wrong
spend travelling, and avoiding wasted journeys
with that! Many find that once they realise how
altogether, creates more time for you to be getting on
simple and intuitive an e-portfolio can be, it’s a
with other things.
lot less scary!

Smarter working – e-portfolios have a wealth of features

(such as being able to assign assessment plans to Security – concern over data protection and
multiple learners simultaneously) that are designed to privacy issues. Read our security policy here
make working with larger cohorts much easier.

Forgetting passwords and therefore unable to

No lost data access – VQManager has an instant password
reset which puts the user in control

Supports your Green agenda – by adopting an e-

Lack of internet access – VQMobile and the
portfolio you can immediately reduce your paper use to
“emailing in” function allows for offline
as little as you wish, and vastly reduce your vehicle
working
mileage.

Inspection-ready – if you set up your e-portfolio to

record the right data, it means you will always be ready
for inspection without last minute worries.

Scheduling – if your delivery depends upon, for

instance, periodic progress reviews, an e-portfolio will
manage the scheduling of those reviews, sending you
reminders when they’re due.

Instant accurate reporting – waiting for people to fill in

reports, and then wondering whether their reports are
really accurate, is something that e-portfolio users no
longer need to worry about, instead having real-time
information that’s accurate and auditable.

Easier and instant access for IQA and EQA

Reduction of storage space required both physical in

terms of paper portfolios and virtual in terms of server
space required for massive data uploads

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Greater learner involvement – when learners are not
particularly good at recording evidence, relying instead
on their assessors or employers. VQManager welcomes
electronic evidence, meaning learners are encouraged to
use their own mobile devices to capture natural evidence
when and where it occurs.

Scale-ability – the capacity to manage larger numbers of

learners much more efficiently
Steps to Creating an ePortfolio
(modified from Elements of a Professional Academic ePortfolio, Bauer, 2010)

1) Collect and save documents that represent your activities, accomplishments and best
work in your area. Sometimes these are called “artifacts”.

2) Reflect and think about your growth as a teacher as you look over documents.
3) Select from the collected documents those that are representative of your work as a
teacher scholar in your field and that demonstrate competencies such as effective teaching,
creativity, collaboration, research, presentation, publication, mentoring, scholarly teaching,
etc. Create a reflection on each document that incorporates these components: (based on
Gibbs Reflective Cycle, 1988)

• DESCRIBE: What happened to create that activity, teach that class, design that lesson?
• FEEL: What were you thinking or feeling as you were creating, teaching or designing?
• EVALUATE: What was good and bad about that activity, class or lesson?
• ANALYZE: What else can you make of the situation? Why did it go well or not so well? Do
you think students were experiencing the same thing? What kind of feedback do you have
about this activity, class or lesson?
• CONCLUDE: What conclusions can you draw? What specific (personal) conclusions do you
have?
• PLAN: What will you do the next time? What will you do differently, the same?

4) Connect and create cohesion among the various portfolio elements so that the various
elements build on each other and support each other. Make the organization clear to your
reader so they know the journey, pathway or direction they should take.
5) Collaborate and seek constructive feedback from peers, faculty, administrators, etc.
both within your institution and beyond.
6) Locate documents in digital format - maybe on your computer, shared drive, cloud
drive or in your learning management system.
7) Build a skeleton framework in a digital website tool (e.g., WordPress, Weebly) to
start uploading your content.

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ePorfolios: What Will You Build?

An ePortfolio (electronic portfolio) is a digital collection of work over time that showcases
skills, abilities, values, experiences, and competencies through a broad range of evidence-
based learning. An ePortfolio may include a variety of artifacts - or relevant documents and
media files - that provide a holistic representation of who you are, personally, professionally,
and academically. An ePortfolio may function as a venue for collecting and sharing academic
work with faculty members, a tool for inviting collaboration and feedback, a professional
portfolio to share with prospective employers, or a private log of academic progress.
ePorfolios: for Students
ePortfolios can be powerful catalyst for integrative learning and holistic development as well
as a tool for self branding and professional development. ePortfolios can:

ƒ Encourage engagement in active reflection and meaning-making

ƒ Foster reflection on the principles central to an academic discipline and the university
as a whole
ƒ Facilitate the integration of topics and themes across disciplies and over time
ƒ Provide a forum to synthesize work and share that work with others
ƒ Contribute to holistic development in multiple ways, including: personal
development, academic development, and career development
ƒ Provide a resource for demonstrating skills, abilities, and experiences in the job-
search process

ePorfolios: for Faculty/Staff

ePorfolios can foster and provide evidence of student learning across all curricular, co-
curricular, and institution-wide outcomes. ePorfolios enhance learning and provide
opportunities for assessment of learning in the following ways:

ƒ Represent multiple learning styles, modes of accomplishment, and quality of work

accomplished by students
ƒ Provide structure around clear expectations and articulated goals
ƒ Offer the potential for profressive formation assessments that foster improvement
while learning is still in process
ƒ Encourage reflection on learning as well as personal goal-setting and future planning
ƒ Facilitate program and institutional review through sampling and aggregation of data
from individual student portfolios

PORTFOLIO

Various types of portfolio

A portfolio can demonstrate your development. In addition, you can also use it to present
your competences in particular areas. In education you can utilise a range of products to do
this, such as a reflection document, results of assignments, examples or feedback received
from lecturers, fellow students or external supervisors; all are instances of products you can
include in your portfolio.

Three types
There are three types of portfolio in education:

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• A showcase portfolio contains products that demonstrate how capable the owner is at any
given moment.
• An assessment portfolio contains products that can be used to assess the owner’s
competences.
• A development portfolio shows how the owner (has) developed and therefore demonstrates
growth. This type of portfolio will often also contain products from various stages of the
process, stages in which feedback has been received, and possibly also products from work
still in progress.At Radboud University, both students and lecturers can benefit from
assembling a portfolio.
Who can benefit from a portfolio?

• Supported by a portfolio, lecturers can develop their lecturing skills and demonstrate their
educational skills towards obtaining their UTQ (University Teaching Qualification) or ETQ
(Extended Teaching Qualification).
• For example, with a portfolio students can show their development of academic skills or how
they have morphed into competent professionals during their work experience placement or
internship. After completing their studies, students can also use their portfolio in some
instances to demonstrate their work to prospective employers.

1. What is a portfolio?

A portfolio is a systematic collection of student work that represents student activities,

accomplishments, and achievements over a specific period of time in one or more areas of the
curriculum. There are two main types of portfolios:

Showcase Portfolios: Students select and submit their best work. The showcase portfolio
emphasizes the products of learning.
Developmental Portfolios: Students select and submit pieces of work that can show
evidence of growth or change over time. The growth portfolio emphasizes the process of
learning.

STUDENTS’ REFLECTIVE ESSAY: In both types of portfolios, students write reflective

essays or introductory memos to the faculty/assessment committee to explain the work and
reflect on how the collection demonstrates their accomplishments, explains why they selected
the particular examples, and/or describes changes in their knowledge/ability/attitude.
3. Advantages and disadvantages of Portfolio
Advantages of a portfolio

• Enables faculty to assess a set of complex tasks, including interdisciplinary learning and
capabilities, with examples of different types of student work.
• Helps faculty identify curriculum gaps, a lack of alignment with outcomes.
• Promotes faculty discussions on student learning, curriculum, pedagogy, and student
support services.

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• Encourages student reflection on their learning. Students may come to understand what
they have and have not learned.
• Provides students with documentation for job applications or applications to graduate
school.

Disadvantages of a portfolio

• Faculty time required to prepare the portfolio assignment and assist students as they
prepare them. Logistics are challenging.
• Students must retain and compile their own work, usually outside of class. Motivating
students to take the portfolio seriously may be difficult.
• Transfer students may have difficulties meeting program-portfolio requirements.
• Storage demands can overwhelm (which is one reason why e-portfolios are chosen).

Difference between portfolio and e-portfolio

Portfolios, electronic or paper, are spaces where one can collect artifacts and curate
work. An ePortfolio allows for a digitalized collection of artifacts geared towards a
certain purpose and a particular audience. ... ePortfolios can be more than a collection
of artifacts though.

Links

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRwlaOH1slk

https://www.slideshare.net/hassyb/e-portfolio-presentation-35477050

https://campuspress.com/student-digital-portfolios-guide/#chap3

https://www.instructables.com/Eportfolio-With-Google-Sites/

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