Electronic Portfolio
An electronic portfolio, also known as an e-portfolio or digital 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.
Grant Wiggins' defines a portfolio as:
" a representative collection of one's work. As the word's roots suggest (and as is still the case in the arts), the sample of work is fashioned for a particular objective and carried from place to place for inspection or exhibition." (Wiggins, 2000)
There are three main types of e-portfolios, although they may be referred to using different terms:
Today, electronic portfolios are gaining popularity in:
Professional portfolios
Professional portfolios help faculty document their teaching achievement, as well as their other scholarly activities including research and service. The reflective process of portfolio development can promote better teaching, develop fresh thinking about education, and encourage personal and professional growth. Teaching portfolios provide faculty with an opportunity to reflect on their teaching goals, instructional strategies, methods, and materials, as well as student/teacher relationships. Many materials may be included in a teaching portfolio including professional plan (goals, philosophy, reflections), teaching materials (syllabi, lessons, activities, student materials, presentations), sample student documents and projects, curriculum vitae, course evaluations (students, peers, administrators, self), reflections, video/audio teaching samples, recognitions (awards, publications, letters), and professional development (personal plans, teaching innovations, professional activities, service, research, publications, presentations, grants).
Grant Wiggins' defines a portfolio as:
" a representative collection of one's work. As the word's roots suggest (and as is still the case in the arts), the sample of work is fashioned for a particular objective and carried from place to place for inspection or exhibition." (Wiggins, 2000)
There are three main types of e-portfolios, although they may be referred to using different terms:
- developmental (e.g., working),
- reflective (e.g., learning), and
- representational (e.g., showcase).
Today, electronic portfolios are gaining popularity in:
- Schools
- Higher education
- Continuing professional development
- Job applications/professional advertisements
- Therapy groups
- Assessment
- Accreditation
- Recognition of prior learning (RPL)
Professional portfolios
Professional portfolios help faculty document their teaching achievement, as well as their other scholarly activities including research and service. The reflective process of portfolio development can promote better teaching, develop fresh thinking about education, and encourage personal and professional growth. Teaching portfolios provide faculty with an opportunity to reflect on their teaching goals, instructional strategies, methods, and materials, as well as student/teacher relationships. Many materials may be included in a teaching portfolio including professional plan (goals, philosophy, reflections), teaching materials (syllabi, lessons, activities, student materials, presentations), sample student documents and projects, curriculum vitae, course evaluations (students, peers, administrators, self), reflections, video/audio teaching samples, recognitions (awards, publications, letters), and professional development (personal plans, teaching innovations, professional activities, service, research, publications, presentations, grants).
Benefits of e-Portfolio
- Supporting coherent management of a variety of achievements and pieces of work. These can be restructured and viewed in different ways for different purposes, for example, for reviewing learning, planning future learning, or providing evidence for an award or an employer;
- Helping learners take control of their learning and their lives, by reflecting on their activities and planning future directions;
- Providing a learner-centred rather than course-centred view of learning;
- Giving appropriate views of achievement and learners’ work to appropriate people, for example, the learner, teachers, mentors, careers advisers, potential employers, educational institutions to whom the learner is applying;
- Supporting “just in time” or “bite sized” learning, by contextualising which bite of learning is needed at this moment in time and helping place it in the context of a long-term learning journey;
- Facilitating a wider variety and more authentic forms of assessment and accreditation;
- Complementing credit-based approaches to flexible accreditation;
- Providing continuity through a learner’s lifelong learning as they move between learning providers;
- Helping with continuing professional development, by encouraging reflection on practice and linking this with learning activities; and
- Linking learners achievement and work with the skills required by their employers, helping to identify learning needs and “close the skills gap”.
The benefits of developing electronic portfolios includes:
- minimal storage space
- easy to create back-up files
- portability
- long shelf life
- learner-centered
- increases technology skills
- through hypertext links it is easier to make argument that certain standards are met
- accessibility (especially web portfolios) (Kankaanranta, Barrett & Hartnell-Young, 2000)